bees & honey

the bees have arrived!

This was a big day. My graduation from bee school. This was far from a cap and gown affair, though.   Donned in my bee veil I joined my colleagues, fifty or so other hobbyists of varying degrees of eccentricity, to receive not a diploma, but a box of 18,000 bees and their queen. Yes, this was a moment of truth. After hours of Saturday morning bee classes and much reading on the subject, do I really have the nerve to handle a big box of bees? Not just handle them. In order to place these creatures in the hive we have built for them, I must shake this big box of bees. Vigorously shake it. In the end, our bees went peacefully to their home. Now they're tucked in inside their hive on the hill and tonight I'm feeling like a bee mama, fighting the urge to go check on them one more time.  I know that's not wise, though, so I'll worry a bit about my bees until the dandelions arrive.

preparing for our new adventure!

Yes, fresh snow on the ground here and yet we reached a sunny 70 degrees on the deck. Such is spring in our neck of the woods.