Bees

Since I have a decent size garden (it will be even bigger in 2014) and lots of  fruit trees and almond tress, it only makes sense that my next step in the self-sufficient lifestyle would be to start beekeeping.

Why beekeeping? Lots of reasons.

1. To pollinate my crops. Some fruits and veggies don't require pollination but a lot do. Including about 30 things that I'm growing. And nothing pollinates better than the honeybee.

2. To help the bees! Bees are disappearing in record numbers across the planet for various reasons. As an animal lover, I want to do my part to help keep these little guys (gals) around.

3. Honey!

4. As a homage to my late grandparents, Jack and Ann, who had about 5 or 6 hives during the 70's and 80's. Fun story: When I was 3 years old, me and my cousin (also 3) snuck out of my grandparents house and walked about 150 yards to their beehives that were nestled on a hill by their garden. One of us thought it would be a great idea to put a stick in the entrance of a hive and rattle the stick back and forth. Obviously this was a bad idea. We were both stung over 100 times each! Our screams brought the adults running to us. They got stung pretty good too as they brushed the bees off of us. We hauled butt to the nearest hospital which was 30 miles away (we were in nowhere Mississippi). Thankfully nobody died. I never blamed the bees for stinging us. They were just defending their home and doing what comes natural. But I did give those hives a wide berth for a few years afterwards.

5. To share a hobby with my dad. At 65, he's retired and needs something to do. Here's a picture of my dad. Handsome huh?

6. Just to enjoy the bees company. One of my favorite places to be is my backyard. Now I'll have something really cool to watch.

There are other reasons but those are the highlights.

Now Dad and I have to decide what kind of hives and bees to get. We want at least 2 hives. We are leaning towards getting either Russian or Italian bees. Both are good bees known to be gentle, productive, etc.

As far as hives go, we are leaning toward the 8 frame, medium super, Langstroth hive.

There's also the standard 10 frame deep hive. But when full of honey, this weighs a lot more.

Another type is the top bar hive. They look like this.

Part of me wants to have 3 hives. Two for the backyard (where the garden is) and one for my front porch. My porch is pretty long and I think a top bar hive would go nicely where that red bench is. Plus I'll be growing 5 different varieties of gourds next year in my front yard. They require pollination too.

What do bees like to gather nectar from? Here's a partial list.

I already have most of these things growing in my yard and I plan on planting a lot more this fall and next spring. 

Besides subscribing to Bee Culture magazine and American Bee Journal magazine, I've bought and read the following:

Beekeeping For Dummies

The Backyard Beekeepers Honey Handbook

The Complete Idiots Guide to BeeKeeping

From A to Bee: My First Year As a Beekeeper

The Barefoot Beekeeper 

Honey Bee Hobbyist: The Care of Keeping Bees

Keeping Honey Bees

Build Your Own BeeKeeping Equipment

Robbing the Bees

ABC and XYZ of BeeKeeping

Natural Beekeeping 

The Thinking Beekeeper 

Top Bar Beekeeping 

From A to Bee: My First Year as a Beekeeper 

The Hive and the Honey Bee

I figure between all those magazines and books, along with YouTube videos and monthly meetings with the local beekeeping association, I should know what I'm doing. But like most things, experience is the best teacher.

So the next time you see these guys...

...ask us about our bees.