Sunday, April 1, 2007

Alright, already! I'm blogging!

Last weekend, March 23rd, I started a new hobby. To add to my ever growing list of oddities and eccentricities, I have decided to become a beekeeper. I have not told a whole lot of people about this... but the reactions have fallen into 2 categories. One is that people (especially those who are critter-people, and those who are polite...) have said they think it's the coolest thing ever and "you should start a blog!". The other category, which so far just includes my sister Beth, laugh hysterically for an inappropriate amount of time, and then question my sanity. But that's Beth. She laughs when she sees a car wreck too. All I can say is, "no honey for you!"

So why on earth do I want to keep bees? An accident, really. There was a colony of bees living in dead locust tree in the woods near the pool of a condo where I used to live. The Stratton House residents wanted them dead, dead, dead! The sooner the better! Luckily our manager knew you didn't call an extermintor to kill bees, you call beekeepers to take them away! I by chance ran into them doing the deed on my way to work one morning. I got there in time to witness the entire operation. They were old geezers, retired phone company guys. And they all kept bees and sold honey at the Arlington Va County Fair. One guy did the work while others stood around smoking cigarettes and chatting. The Beekeeper smoked the colony out of the tree trunk. A gang of them lighted on the chain link fence. He knew the queen was in that mass, found her quickly, put her in a little box, and proceeded to put the bees and big hunks honeydripping comb some kind of receptacle. I was completely mesmerized. I thought right at that moment, "one day, I'm going to keep bees". I ran into this gang every year at the Fair and always got some honey... maybe made by those very bees that came from the locust tree behind the Stratton House condo pool. I liked the idea that I knew those bees. And those geezers. I always regretted that I didn't ask them if I could come over and see their bees.

Fast forward to this January. I now live in Marietta, GA. I'm reading the Home and Garden section of the paper and notice under the lists of classes and events that there is a one day beekeeping short course offered at the Atlanta Botanical Garden sponsored by the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association. Hmmmm... why not? I have a decent sized yard. My husband Alan keeps an organic garden. And for once, I have no homeowners association to tell me I what critters I can and cannot keep! So I thought I'd see what exactly is involved in this. I'm not quite a retired geezer yet and didn't want to take on the equivalent of a part time job.

The short course was fantastic. Professionally presented, technical enough to be serious, personal enough to be welcoming and encouraging... overall a great experience. Considering I was in a bit of a depressed funk at the time, this bee thing had some potential for me. It has a certain meatiness to it. It would require some serious study and research in order to do right. It would require involvement with new folks who know more than I do, have opinions, and don't mind sharing. It's a definite departure from everything else in my life, which is feeling like cool fresh air. So here we are, about 8 weeks later, and there are thousands of bees in a little box in my back yard.

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