Maggie and I visited the bees this weekend. She’s five and wants her own hive. No one ever told her that she’s supposed to be afraid.
We cleaned the hive, inspected for mites, and took out some honey frames. Her family watched proudly from a safe distance, and took this picture of Maggie pointing out a drone.
Life is good.
May 7th, 2007 at 11:46 am
This is awesome!
I have always wanted to learn bee-keeping, even though I am kinda allergic (but not deadly so) to stings. I have noticed on a couple of the geocaching walks I have taken that some people in the country have hives - do you think they would teach me?
May 7th, 2007 at 3:31 pm
Remember if you give me honey I will in exchange make mead of it!
May 7th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
That is so great. Of course I learned to be afraid before I was able to become interested in them. Oh well. I’ll live vicariously through Maggie. :D
May 8th, 2007 at 9:50 am
I have wanted to try mead ever since reading Beowulf.
May 8th, 2007 at 2:24 pm
Maggie is my granddaughter and is truly a child of nature. We are expecting a visit to Santa Maria, Ca next month. I’ll ask about the bees.
May 8th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
You’re fantastic, Erica. I’m amazed by you and what you can do.
Maybe one day you’ll have to show me bees.
That’s hard for me even to consider, but part of me is interested if you wanted to show me.
May 9th, 2007 at 10:07 am
Mead! Yes, Mead! How about some methelglyn? Or methylglyn, if you insist?
Please let me know when it’s ready to drink! I’ll be there!!
May 9th, 2007 at 10:23 am
Just goes to show you what you can complish when folks don’t hold you back! What a great picture :)
May 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
It was an honor to host a young scientist. The bees were on their best behavior.
May 10th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
As a refreshing, if unsettling, change from the usual political news on the Diane Rehm show this a.m. [npr], Diane interviewed beekeepers and biologists about “Colony collapse disorder” that’s made anywhere from 20-70% of the honeybees in N. America disappear. Scary, and it’s nice to know there are young beekeepers, one of the most telling parts of the interview was about just that (there aren’t many). The interview can be found at http://www.wamu.org/programs/dr/07/05/10.php#13178
drew