Bee-frastructure

Getting bees meant they needed a home.  Many boxes of bee hive parts arrived by mail.  George with little help from Jacob set about to assemble the bees new home.

Jacob got some good building and bonding time in with his Dad.  He helped keep George reminded in the fact that this was suppose to be fun.

Oh, Mr. serious.  He has spent many peaceful evenings in the garage tinkering with hives.  He apologized once for spending so much time out there.  I assured him it was just fine!  I have had many evenings of peaceful reading in bed...

Bee School

2011 Chatham County Beekeeping School

An 8 week course sponsored by
the Chatham County Beekeepers' Association
and the Chatham County Center of North Carolina Cooperative Extension

 

 

The next stop on the road was Bee School.  George has been to Beer School, why not Bee School.  We are so fortunate to live in a rural county with an interest in taking care of bees and teaching others.  For 8 weeks me and the boys watched movies and ate mac n cheese on Monday nights while George went off to Bee School.  The book, Beekeeping for Dummies, was a good start into gaining the written knowledge we needed to start this whole event.  But the practical knowledge was absent.  Luckily in Bee School, George got alot of education and a field day of looking into hives and really learning the practical skills needed.  The networking and talking to folks really got him even more excited about getting his own bees.  For those who know George, he really likes talking to folks.  I have always said about him that he could talk to anyone, anywhere about anything, anytime.   Much to our delight, that networking led to a new friend and an adoption... 

The Bee Tree

It all started in 2009 when we noticed a feral honey bee colony living in the huge old sweet gum tree on the edge of our yard.  We spent hours watching the coming and goings on of these honey bees.  You could just stick your hand and camera in the big hole in the base of the tree and take pictures.  We were delighted, excited, fascinated and had a great garden that year. 
A year later they were gone... 
That got us thinking... 
Maybe we should just get some more bees.
(see the honey comb inside the tree, just out of reach)