Giving back
I am super excited to tell you that I am taking up beekeeping! Because I have decided to use Bee Venom Therapy for Lyme I feel I should be giving back. Yes, a bee dies when it stings you. Yes, I have thought long and hard about it, cried about it and ultimately decided that this is the right thing to do. By the way I forgot to mention we only use honeybees for therapy. Not yellow jackets or bumble bees.
The average life span of a honeybee is about 6 weeks give or take. The worker bee literally works herself to death in the summer foraging for pollen. “Workers are the only bees that most people ever see. These bees are females that are not sexually developed. Workers forage for food (pollen and nectar from flowers), build and protect the hive, clean, circulate air by beating their wings, and perform many other societal functions.”
My friend Sandhya and I are taking classes through SEMBA (Southeastern Michigan Beekeepers Association) The classes are held at Tolgate Education Center and Farm and run from early spring to early fall. Our first class was overwhelming to say the least. It lasted about 5 hours and we have 5 instructors that speak on a rotating basis. Clay, Richard, Winn, Bill and Tim. All with their own take on things and each one quirkier than the next. This is gonna be fun.
There are about 40 people in our class and they range from young to old. It’s pretty cool to see so many people wanting to take up backyard beekeeping. Sandhya and I decided to assemble our own hiveware. Some people ordered them assembled but we decided we wanted to learn the anatomy of the hive and all of it’s parts. And when I say parts man are there parts!!!! Sandhya is a natural with the power tools. I however am not. Good thing I have her around… Today we assembled our Brood Boxes. "Definition. brood box. (Noun) In beekeeping, the portion of the hive in which the queen is allowed to lay eggs and create a nest. Separated from the "supers"(where only food is stored) by a perforated screen through which the queen cannot pass." Its early spring if you can't tell by our flannels but we can hardly wait for bee delivery day in May!