Early on I would question my parenting in regards to these bees. Is it irresponsible to allow a kid to bee keep? What if we are allergic to bee stings? Should I get the kids tested by an allergist prior to undertaking this new hobby? But what an ordeal to put them through for what I understand to be a miniscule chance of being severely allergic. Ultimately, I tried not to think about it and when one of us got stung my best plan was to doctor the sting quickly and take a drive for ice cream…which just so happens to be next to the hospital…you know, just in case. 

Once the bees actually arrived and were on site the grandmothers began to raise concerns. One in particular insisted on calling the pediatrician for an epi pen. Reluctant as I was just sure they don’t just hand those things out, I called to appease both her and my own curiosities. After all, if I had called for one and they didn’t prescribe one I had done all I could. I did feel silly calling in and explaining our situation. I even asked if they’d ever received a question like this before to which she responded…”well, not exactly this question but we do get a lot of strange things”. With that she said she would have a nurse call me back. The nurse explained that bee stings hurt. Be sure to get the stinger out. And I could have up to 30 minutes before a reaction would take place…this was a bit of a relief because I thought I’d have way less time! She explained what to look for…swelling of the face, blue lips/nails, belly breathing, flared nostrils, vomiting…all bad things. And would you believe they called in a prescription for an epi pen…just in case. Good for anyone to use. Whew. Who knew? I guess better safe than sorry is the way to go. And after all that, the price at the pharmacy pick up was $218.00 and I almost left without it! Again, better safe than sorry…we have an epi pen. And as long as I can remember where we keep it and how to use it properly…no one dies. No pressure there. 

My concern is growing more for stings outside of the bee keeping. During hive inspections we are as prepared as can be. However, hanging out in the backyard or mowing the lawn…this might be more likely times for a bee sting. Sigh…you can bet the first sting will warrant a blog all of it’s own!

As for the bees, we’ve been letting them be. We are feeding sugar water (1:1 ratio) in gallon feeders on each hive. In a week’s time they have consumed about half. On rainy days when the bees don’t want to fly I suit up and quickly go peek to make sure the feeder is still full. Hopefully there is a good nectar flow and they are opting for nectar over sugar water. Feeding is supposed to increase comb production which then increases brood and eventually will increase honey…if my understanding is correct. I’ve diligently started keeping a bee journal to document all observations and actions taken on each hive. Our next hive inspection is this week so it will be exciting to see how things are progressing in there. I was hoping the first brood box would be 80% full and would allow for the second brood box with a new 8 frames each to be added but that might be overly optimistic…I’m just not sure. But either way, I better quickly assemble the last of the frames and foundation just in case they are needed…how exciting would that be?!?!?!? I’ll keep you posted on progress.

In the mean time the kids and I have started a project based learning unit on honeybees. I might be more excited than they are but I’m hoping the activity will offer some expansion on our bee keeping. It’s May and they are simply ready to BEE DONE with school…aren’t we all?!?!? I mean, if I can’t hold their interest with bees, it’s fair to say it’s time for summer!!! We’re ready, epi pen and all!

-Worker Bee 2021

We finally finished the third part of our bee class with master beekeeper, Jane Sueme. The little beekeeper and I had the opportunity to suit up for a hands-on experience. We ventured down to her shop where she has three hives sitting beside the parking lot. There were several in attendance and I was anxious to see what this bee business was all about. This was our first up close experience with opening a hive. I debated taking the little beekeeper as I wasn’t sure what to expect but he was so excited I couldn’t tell him no. He listens well and can follow directions so after asking permission and not receiving an answer I just decided it wouldn’t be an issue. Looking back, I probably should have just left him at home. It was several hours of being suited up and standing. We did get the chance to see and hold frames of bees. He was nervous and didn’t want to drop the frame, so he did not choose to hold. As all the frames are being passed around and bees are buzzing he says to me: “Mom, I think there is a bee in my pants”. I was 99% sure there was no way a bee had made its way into his pants and assured him he was fine but in my head I’m thinking “what if he DOES have a bee in his pants”. I remain calm but can see that he just doesn’t look well…taking on a weak and peaked look. With that it dawns on me that we’ve been standing for hours in a bee suit without water, and I don’t even know what he had for breakfast. In talking to him he’s now saying he doesn’t feel well. Now remember, all this conversation is happening in full bee suits and we have masks on. I quickly grab a hold of him as I’m afraid he is going to pass out and escort him away from the group to sit on the curb of the parking lot and run to the car hoping there is a bottle of water in there. Fortunately, there was a half full bottle, hopefully no more than a day or two old that he sipped on. After getting the mask and bee suit off, sitting for a bit and having some water he did start to feel better. I missed a bit of the end of class but ultimately needed to get him something to eat for lunch. I’m happy to report that there was no evidence of any bee in his pants but it did start having me question if he indeed would be cut out for all this. In the end though, if it has to be, I guess it was better him than me! Ultimately, glad no one passed out and looking forward to our next experience where it will be on our terms and with our own bees. 

-Worker Bee 2021

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 

It’s spring and just because you are distracted with bees doesn’t mean everything else in life stops. It’s never a good sign to have a strange stench in the basement. It only took a day or so to realize the sump pump had quit working. With more rain in the forecast, I quickly called a company I found on the internet. They were extremely helpful and quickly had a plumber out to our house the next day to do the repairs. When the repairman arrived our garage door was up and he noticed our bee hives in the garage. Would you believe he is a beekeeper!!! Who cares about the sump pump, let’s talk bees. And that he did. He kindly shared insight and encouragement and even left his number for us as a reference. In the short conversations with him it was becoming apparent that my “book smarts” was inferior to his “street smarts” with bees. Here I am reading and trying to learn but there’s nothing that replaces experience. He was fortunate to have some connections to veteran beekeepers that shared their ways with him. He also seemed to be the jump in and take it on kinda guy, learn from your mistakes, see what works. Meanwhile, we’re here taking classes, reading books and trying to plan it all out perfectly…it feels like such a disadvantage.  All while my son reminded me (after watching the second bee class session) that one rule of beekeeping is “don’t over think your first year”. Making mental notes to myself and soaking in all this wisdom found outside of the books. If nothing else, I can justify the INSANE cost of the sump pump repair with hopes of having met a fellow beekeeper that might be willing to share his secrets to success.   

-Worker bee 2021 

We’ve had bee fever for a few months now. It’s been a pretty huge effort prepping our apiary simply because it required manual labor to clear a space. Trees came down and were hauled away, leaves raked, gravel laid and hopefully soon we will have our hives in place. This probably could have been simplified by putting the bees in the yard but with kids, dogs and the thought of having to mow around the hives we decided to try and place them a little more out of the way. We’ll see whether or not this was worth the work or not in the future. To give credit where credit is due…one individual took on the majority of this task. He’s hoping this is the extent of his bee involvement.  

The little beekeeper and I picked up our assembled hives (because I thought we had more important tasks to complete than trying to figure out how to properly put those boxes together) and jumped into the painting of the hives last week. Choosing a paint color was a little stressful. Traditional white vs all the other options available. Our understanding is color doesn’t matter all that much. We ultimately decided on a light (I hope it isn’t too dark) natural brown color. Nothing too exciting. But both little bees have big ideas on how to add some character and décor to each individual hive. I guess in the next week or two we will be busting out the pallet of colors so they can put their artistic touches on each. I’ll try to breathe deep and relax through that process. Stay tuned for those pictures. We did discover that when you have the hives (deep brood boxes and shallow supers) stacked and you paint…they will stick together!! Fortunately, our drone bee was able to muscle them apart for us. Next time we will paint them individually rather than all stacked as a hive. 

We also will be finishing our beginning beekeeper class through Isabee’s this week. I’m still hoping the Eastern Beekeepers Association will provide a mentor for us. I’m blessed to know a few beekeepers – being a former teacher landed a few connections with other teachers that have been into beekeeping for some time now. They seem willing to help as they are able which is a huge comfort.  

There have been a few moments that second thoughts have popped into my mind. We purchased some local honey from the bee store and I was reminded that I’m not even sure I like honey. I mean, it’s okay. And while $10 seemed high for a little jar of honey that was half consumed that day with eight biscuits, I thought to myself I could buy a ton of honey for the amount of money we have invested thus far. Compounded by the aggravation of sticky door handles shortly after that biscuit and honey snack…the realization that with honey will probably come a lot of sticky everything. There’s also the dreaded thought of “what if we are part of the 1% of the population that is severely allergic”. You know the anaphylaxis reaction where you swell suddenly and can’t breathe…but what are the chances, right? Or maybe I should call the pediatrician, see if we should have an epi pen on hand just in case? Do they even do that? It’s understood that as a beekeeper YOU WILL BE STUNG. But even at that, there’s something about the undertaking that intrigues me. The life cycle of the bees and their organized social societies within the hive. It’s not just about honey. It’s interesting. And while it’s still to be determined as to whether we will love it or hate it, I’m hopeful we’ll not only love it but be successful with it. Time will tell…

-Worker Bee 2021

We would like to thank you for taking an interest in our bee adventures. I was torn about “blogging”.  Our interest is bees, a concept very distant from the tech world. We have one blogger in the family but that content offers very specific insight/help to the world of data and analytics. This blog would be something very different. We are not professionals. We’re not even sure what we are doing. But we are trying to learn and thought sharing our story might help others find direction as they begin beekeeping. The blog also serves as an opportunity for our kids to learn about digital responsibility. If nothing else, a few friends and family members can follow our story from a very candid perspective presented here…in our blog.

-Worker Bee 2021

Greetings and welcome to our journey of beekeeping. We are starting from ground zero – taking on this new hobby as a family. The pressure begins when you jump in and spend hundreds of dollars on bees. Ready or not, they are arriving at the end of April. That leaves a few months to prep the apiary and educate ourselves as much as possible. We’ve ordered books, joined the associations and signed up for classes. We’ve yet to meet a beekeeper that isn’t friendly, supportive, and ready to help. It’s convenient that the only bee store in St. Louis county is located fairly close to us. I’m sure we’ll be there a lot for all our beekeeping needs and supplies.

The family has fallen into a few overlapping roles/categories as we embark on this adventure…

Financials – hopefully we stay employed and can afford our new hobby because I can’t imagine how many years of selling honey at a very high price it will take before we come out “ahead”.

Apiary Prep – clearing and setting up an appropriate space for the bee yard.

Bee Education – someone should probably have a good understanding of bees and their behaviors.

Beekeepers – we have purchased two full (head to toe) bee keeper suits.

Blogging – a new concept for three out of four of us

Technology – blog design, updates, and maintenence

Honey – harvesting and all the fun things that come with successful colonies

And so it begins…

-Worker Bee 2021