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The Hive Survive and Thrive

Bees Here Now It's been a few days. The bees have been busily cleaning the hive (dead bees, detritus from the inside, etcetera), and are now busily buzzing the neighborhood, discovering our wealth of maples, red buds and other early bloomers.  Like them, I am so looking forward to full Spring and its promise of hope, and more blooms from our dandelions, tulip poplar, mint, coneflower, milkweed, and others. One species beauty is another’s food. ✦✦✦ I've come to feel connected to the hive, but not in a fond way; there is no love, mutual or otherwise.  If anything is mutual, it's the exclusivity of our value systems.  It's an exchange of respect. Roots I decided to become a beekeeper when I went to unwind in our front yard garden of wildflowers and native plants, shortly after reading about the decline of bees and the consequences that decline is having on our food supply.  As I unwound amid the greenery, I noticed the plethora of di
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March 26.  2017. With minor difficulties (it looked a lot easier on youtube) and major trepidation, I just installed my first bee package. The queen is being well cared for, the clan (don't like the word, colony; too Christobal Colon for me) is well fed with sugary water (more at watery sugar) and a bit of pollen patty. Will check tomorrow to see how the clan is doing.  Also, expecting to refill the watery sugar (with a sou pçon of lemon oil); hope it doesn't rain o'er me. Feeling hopeful. It took a few minutes to get used to hanging with a couple of thousand bees, and a few unexpected happenings in the process.  The Brookside demo and youtube videos were enormously beneficial, but no experience can be precisely the same.  What I learned today is that, in the bee dance that all beekeepers must dance, the bees are leading.  And, if you try to take the lead away, you'll trip over your own feet. Grateful for this listserv and the MCBA's Beekeeping
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