BEE nice.

Out of the gates every beekeeper we have encountered has been so very nice. Obviously beekeepers are just people, too, but we’ve yet to have a bad experience personally. Our small group of beekeepers have thus far proven to be responsive, respectful, patient, and kind.  It began with the Eastern Beekeepers Association, I had reached out for insight online and a representative responded by providing his phone number. That first in depth bee conversation eased a lot of my initial overwhelming feelings. From there we met the beekeepers at the local bee store and the sump pump repairman that also kindly shared his number and offered to have us out to his bee yard. I’m hoping these bee connections will continue to grow and am excited to meet and speak with others that have an interest in bees.  

Now, being a beginning beekeeper myself and having had such wonderful encounters with beekeepers, I have started to self-reflect on some of my behaviors. In general, I try to behave. But now that I am associated with beekeepers as a whole the pressure is on to make sure I am able to maintain this kindness and generosity that has been shown to us. I hope to one day be successful enough with beekeeping that I am able to assist a beginning beekeeper the way others have assisted me.  

Funny story – our world is an interesting place these days…stressful, unpredictable, hostile, and confusing on several fronts (unless you are talking bees, so far that has been pretty uncontroversial). So many opinions and ideas embedded with all the information that may or may not be accurate. People vary in the way they manage their stress. Behaviors of the world, good and bad, never cease to surprise me. Bad behavior is one of my pet peeves. But then I will have to check myself and my bad behaviors, too. Take for instance unknown callers – I don’t have a lot of patience for them. I’m often not overly nice to them…not mean, just not nice. Typically, I won’t answer the phone if I don’t know who it is. And then I ask myself…when/why did I ever expect only people who know me to call me???? Nonetheless, the other night the phone rang and I did not know the number but I answered. It had been a heavy day and thankfully I answered nicely. Someone asked for “Will” and I politely responded with “I think you have the wrong number”. He then read off my phone number and I respectfully said “yes, that is this number but there’s no Will here”. He thanked me and hung up. Now normally I might have just answered without saying anything and quickly hung up or hung up immediately after telling them they had the wrong number…why I didn’t this time…well, that’s a longer story. It was about 20 minutes later and the same number is calling again. This time I again answer kindly and he asks for me. I confirm and he goes on to explain that he is my bee mentor!!!! My bee mentor – through the Eastern Beekeepers Association!!! A nice gentleman that was reaching out to his mentees and simply got names and numbers crossed. We went on to have a pleasant conversation and I’m so excited that this beekeeper of forty-one years is willing to help me through my first year. And I’m ever so thankful I was nice when I answered the unknown number.  

-Worker Bee 2021