Can I say, I did not expect this, but the experience of hiving our bees was unbelievable, and one most people will never have! It was just the coolest thing to be in the midst of a huge swarm of bees and watch them start off in their new home. I can see why people get addicted to this hobby. Just FYI, since I know bees sometimes have the bad reputation of stinging people, as we have done our research and reading in preparation for this, we have come to relize that honey bees are actually quite gentle, and usually so intent on their business that they could care less about other things, such as people! In fact, many experienced beekeepers don't even bother to suit up when hiving their bees or checking on them. Kayla and I, being the novices that we are, weren't quite ready to trust the books completely, so we got fully suited in preparation for hiving our bees, but Ben and Curtis were right in the thick of it, helping us, without any protection on at all, and were just fine. The exception to the gentle bees is in the fall when they have a full hoard of honey they are guarding, or of course, when people bother them.
Anyway, we are looking forward to a bountiful harvest! I kind of have to chuckle a bit, because neither Kayla nor myself cares much for honey. Kayla is mostly doing the hive to pollinate her fruit trees, and I am mostly doing it for educational purposes. That being said, I do love honey in granola, and bread, and I know local honey has a lot of good health benefits!
Here's to the bees!
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