June 28th, 2010    Buzzing Bees

Our good friends Ken and Jay invited us out this week to experience something totally new -- our first date with beekeeping. They've just begun their relationship with these incredible animals, and Jay took us out under the friendly guise of us 'helping' him with the hives. Well, perhaps we were some help, but mostly we feel like he was just giving us a chance to explore something that we've always been very interested in.

Rebecca, who had never been stung by a bee or wasp before (and thus had no idea if she was allergic), stayed near the safety of the car as Jay and I suited up and he showed me how to smoke the bees, how to remove the different sections of the hive, and how to check on the honey-making. He has a wonderfully natural and friendly way with the bees, using no chemicals and letting the bees keep large amounts of honey over the winter instead of feeding them refined sugar as many beekeepers do.

Protected in our white suits, we were soon surrounded by the steady buzz of bees, and the scent of the pine-smoke and the honey was simply delicious. When our mission was accomplished, we went back to the car to find that Rebecca had ended up getting stung after all. She had been taking pictures and a passing bee had unexpectedly bumped into her. In her compassionate way, she wasn't worried at all about the sting -- only that the bee died (as honey bees get only one sting in their lifetime, the effort kills them).

Jay and Ken sent us home with a bottle of their honey, and the offer to let us keep a hive with them next year. What awesome friends! Now, off to sip a little of that honey . . .