Beekeeping? What was I thinking?

I have to admit that there are days that I wonder why I became a back yard beekeeper. But then, after I go out and take my time and work my hive behind the house, I'm glad that I stick with it.

It wasn't so rosy at the beginning. I got a rocky start in my venture as a beekeeper, once the bees arrived anyway.

The month or more before that was as smooth as silk. I bought by hive, built the pedestal to put my hive on, had some stumps ground down and planted new trees, and even had a few dry runs of putting my equipment together. I have to admit that things were great and I was excited, even though some of my friends, family members and neighbors looked at me as if I had lost my mind. After all, bees sting, and some people tend to lump all bees together, to them the honey bee is no different than a hornet, a wasp, or a yellow-jacket. All they know is that bees have wings, they're small, and they sting.

Then my bees finally arrived..and it was a total disaster. It wasn't the apiary's fault, it was the shipper, and it was a total mess. But more on that later in a different post. It is quite the story indeed.

But not all was lost and I'm finally having some fun with my small colony of girls. I have fun watching them come out of the hive in the morning, fly over the creek nearby, check me out when I'm working in the yard, and fly out around the hive after being cooped up after rain storms. It is amazing.

So stay tuned. I plan to post on my trials and tribulations as a new beekeeper, and what works for me and what didn't. Even though I have books and access to unlimited information on the Internet (and don't forget YouTube), I've found out that some things just don't work, least not for me.

I hope you enjoy my blog and if you have questions or suggestions, please hit me up with an email.