The Life of the Bee

Last August, while going through the used book section of the D.I., I found a book: The Life of the Bee, written in 1901 by a Belgian man named Maurice Maeterlinck. It is a beautiful little book about, as you might suspect, the life cycle of honey bees. It's the kind of book that you would like to take with you in your pocket on a walk up the hill. I spent two months reading it last fall. Much like honey, it is best in small bites.

Let me share a page with you: (From "The Swarm".)

"The bees give their honey and sweet smelling wax to the man who attends them; but more precious gift still is their summoning him to the gladness of June, to the joy of the beautiful months; for events in which bees take part happen only when skies are pure, at the winsome hours of the year when flowers keep holiday.... They teach us to tune our ear to the softest, most intimate whisper of these good, natural hours. To him who has known them and loved them, a summer where there are no bees becomes as sad and as empty as one without flowers or birds."

These past seven days have been a week spent with the bees; The bees did, indeed, provide opportunities to listen to the soft whisper of natural hours. The week was filled by other things too-- work, school, snow and wind-- but the minutes we spent with bees were good ones.

I can't take any of the credit for the hard work that has gone into this week. My dad has spent all winter getting ready-- building hives, frames, screens, nucs, covers, and feeders. I've been lucky to step in and do the enjoyable work after he has done the heavy lifting.

Earlier this spring, we discovered that a local beekeeper in Santa Clara sells bee packages, so on Monday David, Dad, and I drove to Santa Clara (a lot closer and more enjoyable drive than the one we had last year.) We purchased four packages and installed them. It was a great day.

We'll have three types of bees now, Minnesota Hygienics, Italian Three Band, and Golden Yellow.

First you pull the cork from the queen's cage, place the queen in the hive box, and pour the bees in on top.

All in for the night. We now have seven hives between us.

Coming soon: The story of the swarm that my dad and I caught today. Exciting. Stay tuned.