I'm not a beekeeper yet, but I'm doing everything possible to get ready. I've taken a beginner's class, purchased my hive, recently painted it, and have been contemplating where it's going to go on my homestead. I'm reading up on bees every chance I get and I hoping to read a lot more! Before I actually order my bees, I need to get a sturdy fence in place to protect the hive since we've found bear droppings on our property (we live in the mountains of California) and a water source to keep them hydrated and alive.
So anyway, this weekend, when I got a chance to visit a friend's hive, I grabbed my gear and made a "bee-line" to her homestead. Seriously, you don't think I was going to miss an opportunity to get up close and personal with bees, do you?
Aren't they beautiful? In my excitement, I forgot to take a picture of the lower frames and capped honey as well as the brood. I had set my camera down so I could handle some of the frames and got so involved I forgot all about taking more pictures. But one thing I know for sure... I still want bees. In fact, I came home and started calculating how much it would cost to buy a second hive. I'm thinking one is not enough!
Earlier in the day, I just happened to have a chance to meet some new beekeepers in my area. We immediately struck up a lovely conversation and I hope to get to know them better. Since there's no beekeepers group in our area, my friend and I are talking about getting one together. Beekeeping is absolutely fascinating as well as complex and it would be awesome to learn from one another.
Do you have bees? Or plan to have bees? I'd love to hear about it.
