Leap Fearlessly: September 2014

My BFF Michelle and I have a tradition that each year for Christmas we make each other’s gift. This last year she and her husband bought a beehive kit and assembled it for me (lots of work!). I’ve been saying for a few years that I’d like to be a beekeeper. She took note of this and gave me three boxes (called supers) with twelve trays (or frames) as my Christmas gift. This has definitely become my favorite gifts she has given me. It's more than a gift, it was the start of a new hobby and passion.

My dad was almost as excited as I was when I got the hive. Beekeeping has been something he has wanted to do for many years. We both got ourselves a copy of "Beekeeping for Dummies" and started reading. I fell in love. The more I learned about bees and how they live and work, the more fascinated I was by the little creatures. They are absolutely amazing and natures most lovely example of teamwork and industry.

We had the hive and soon started collecting other tools we would need for this new undertaking, including bee suits. In February we ordered three pounds of bees from the Bee Supply store in Ogden. Three pounds of bees is roughly 12,000 bees. The majority of bees that make up a hive are female. One queen, thousands of female worker bees, and only a few hundred male bees called drones. The girls arrived in April and it was exhilarating introducing them to their new home.

This is how bees travel when they are ordered and shipped.

Installing the bees into the hive.

My dad and I have loved observing our bees, learning all we can about what they do and how they do it, all the different jobs of a worker bee, how they communicate, all the work that goes into the making of honey, and how the queen controls the entire hive. We learned by trial and error but overall we've had a successful first year as beekeepers.

Last weekend my dad and I were able to meet up with some friends who helped us extract the honey from part of our beehive. A friend of my dad, who also keeps bees invited us to join his friends who own the equipment and are experienced with the process of extracting honey.

I really liked watching and learning the process and even got to help a little bit. It was exciting to see how much honey we could harvest from our first season keeping bees. We came away with 25 pounds of raw honey. My dad and I are excited and we are already making plans to add another hive next year. The honey is seriously delicious and I am currently working on a label and ideas for jarring it.

Here are a few pictures of the process.