I have to admit that when we decided to have bee hives on our farm I was quite apprehensive. The idea of purposefully keeping stinging insects... well that just seemed a little crazy. I don't like getting stung. The area swells great big and my tummy feels nauseous.
But I have come to appreciate these hard workers. They gather pollen and nectar for their family (even if it is a very large one). They clean house. They babysit. They guard. They keep the hive warm in the winter and cool in the summer. They are usually not aggressive towards others. You mind your own business and they will mind theirs.
This year we started with eight hives that survived the winter. We had the usual ten to twenty percent hive loss. One simply died because it ran out of honey stores. Another hive was just empty. So as the spring temperatures warmed we split the bigger hives. Some of them two or three times. So now we have 15 hives (along with a swarm I collected and brought to a friend's farm). And as a result we have not been swinging in the trees chasing swarms. We added many supers above the deeps and gave them a top and bottom entrance. I am hoping that we did good work suppressing swarm activity and that it wasn't just a good year for "non-swarming". But regardless, it has been a good year in the apiary.
I've been stung twice this year. At the same time. It was my own fault. The bees innocently climbed up my pant leg and when they couldn't get out they resorted to stinging. Ouch! But now I tuck my pant legs in my socks preventing that curious bee from investigating. Last year I didn't get a single sting. Well, not quite. While I was weeding the green beans a teeny little native black bee was probably getting the salt off my back and when I stood up got trapped and stung me right on my gluteus! Another ouch. A pretty funny episode I'm sure. Here's this lady weeding in a T-shirt and pants hitting her bottom and jumping all around. Needless to say I now tuck my T-shirt in as well.
So I'm learning to love bees.... at least honey bees and big rumbly bumbles. I'm still not too fond of wasps and hornets. But the others provide such great pollination and honey that I've developed a working and loving (?) relationship with them. Perhaps it is a little nuts. But it sure is amazing. Now, when I see a honey bee flitting from flower to flower I stop and talk to her. "Are you finding some good nectar my little one?"
Perhaps I've spent too much time in the sun.... ☺
Today's Journey Joy - learning to love stinging insects
