Getting Started

We met our beekeeping mentor (Ron, our new friend whose hives and brunch we enjoyed last year--isn't that ironic?) for lunch on February 22. This kind and patient man helped us search the Walter T. Kelley catalogue and make a list of all the needed supplies. Inadverdently, the list brought us into talking about beekeeping styles and practicalities. And we can already see from class, a couple books, and talking with people, that beekeeping is much like, say, gardening. There is a basic structure to the practice and rules of thumb you can generally count on, but beyond this, everyone develops their own reasoning and style. With factors such as weather, current information and research, blind luck, experience, supply companies, regional climates, cultural practices and available resources....beekeeping can be beautifully complex. There is a quote by John Muir which aptly describes the way we are learning to view life and the interrelationship of all things: "When we tug at a single thing in nature, we find it attached to the rest of the world."

So, we've already made some decisions. Nothing too radical: we'll use screened bottom boards to help with mites and ventilation; we'll use only shallow supers so that all the hive parts are interchangeable, and no super becomes overly heavy (such as filled deep supers); we'll use wood for all parts except for the durable plastic inner and outer covers; we'll use beeswax instead of plastic comb. The bees will already be medicated, so we won't need to worry about medicines until hopefully fall. The rest seems fairly run-of-the-mill: hive tool, veils and hats, gloves, smoker, queen excluders, entrance reducers, burlap, entrance feeders....

On February 28th we placed our order, including two 3 lb. packages of Italian bees with two Italian queens. The woman taking my order on the phone was so patient and helpful, which is a comfort since I feel I don't know the meaning of half of what I say, it's like a different language! We'll meet her March 28th in a nearby town to pick up the equipment, and two members of our beekeepers club will bring the packages up the afternoon of April 8th. This will save us a lot of trouble and driving time! It's almost 60 degrees today, and sunny. I see perennials pushing through the ground, robins and birds everywhere singing, and the long strands of web from ballooning spiders....spring is coming and so will our bees.