Honey Bees in the Garden

         On our little homestead we have an very small orchard, with apple, plum, cherry, prune and pear trees. Their bloom signifies the beginning of spring and the arrival of every kind of bee around for miles. Amid our apple trees and grapes the mason bees emerge from hibernation to go to work. These amazing bees are hard workers and pollinate all my trees. Of course with the help of the local bumblebees and honeybees also. My husband and I love to watch all the bees working and doing their thing. This is when my husband got it stuck in his head that he wanted honeybees. I, on the other hand, was kind of leery of this idea. I asked him where on earth was he going to put them, we use every inch of this property. He didn't really know, he just wanted honeybees. We did some research and found some building plans for a hive. At this point I was still hoping he would lose interest in the idea of beekeeping. That evening he disappeared and I found him in the garage starting on the hive. At that moment I knew he was very serious.
       We visited the local bee supply store and bought a book on beekeeping. We also checked if we could buy a package of bees, but they were all sold out. ( yay! ) They put us on a waiting list just in case they had any cancellations. ( oh.) Evidently beekeeping is very popular in our area. I could tell my husband was very disappointed, I felt bad for him. So I did a little research, did I say a little, I mean a lot of research on honeybees. My husband in the mean time talked to a friend that has honeybees. He wanted to get some experience working with the bees before we got any. Come to find out the friends hive was about to swarm, so he told my husband he could give us some bees. I was a nervous wreak. Where were we going to put them? We have neighbors, we have children( young and old ), we have dogs. This was me in panic mode. My husband evidently wasn't worried at all. He had it all figured out. My daughter was just as freaked out as I was, she hates bees. My son was okay with it. He was so okay with it that when it was time to get the bees he wanted to watch ( without a bee suit). I didn't want any part of any part of it, so I stayed in the house. After it was all said and done I asked how it went and they all said really good. No one got stung, I was amazed.
      We brought the hive home and got it all set in place. My husband choose to put the hive at the end of our thorn less blackberry row, I was not a fan of this, but that is where they are.

We kept the bees closed up for the night and the next day so they could settle. Then it was time to open the entrances so the bees could get to know their new home. (I was so nervous.) We placed grass and leaves in front of the opening so the bees couldn't just pour out and fly away. Slowly, but surely they all came out and the air was filled with bees flying in a circle around the hive. I stayed quite a distance from the hive still being unsure about them. After awhile they all filed back into the hive and went to work. We watched the hive I would say for hours. The bees were hard at work coming and going getting the new home all clean, feeding, and gathering pollen and nectar. They were so interesting and fun to watch.
        Everyday my husband would come home from work, he would say hi to everyone and go straight out to the garden and his bees. Anytime we couldn't find him we would go out to the bees and sure enough there he would be sitting in a chair watching the bees. This forced me to get to know the bees and get over my nervousness. I am happy to say that I love having the bees, they really are a joy to watch. Our kids even like them and we all help when it is time for hive inspection. Our bees are very gentle we can open the hive with out bee suits. My husband wears a bee jacket, but this is because he is handling them and wants to be protected just in case. It has been a great experience for our whole family. Some evenings we all sit in front of the hive like we would a TV and just watch the bees. Some of our family members think that we have lost our minds, but I know we haven't. We just really enjoy the beauty of what God has created for us to watch, it is magnificent and very calming.