So many choices in our world today. I sometimes am thankful for this period of downtime, in Corona Virus time… because there is so much to think about and so many important decisions to make. I like to take the different viewpoints and ponder all of them, take a few days or weeks even to consider all the facts, and how my decisions might affect others. Because we do after all live in a world where decisions made by others affect us.
I spent a lot of time in my garden this spring and early summer, quarantined at home like so many of us are. I watched my beehives change and grow. My tomato, cucumber, lettuce, and green beans all flourished, but the squash, broccoli and Brussel sprouts didn’t, some just didn’t grow, some were eaten by bugs. My wildflower garden boomed because of the extra attention I was able to spend on it, therefor my bees and other pollinators benefited. All because of decisions, after long thought, that I made to steer them in a direction I thought most beneficial. Working from home made me very relaxed and happy, and that produced a happier family with good meals on the table and lots of clean laundry with no complaints. My decisions however may not have worked for others. But it takes a village, right?
I haven’t been a beekeeper for very long, but I do know there are many different viewpoints, and many many decisions each individual beekeeper must make in order to produce what they feel is…what? Happy bees? Lots of honey? More bees? More queens? Varroa resistant bees? Lang hive, top bar, long hive? Swarm or not to swarm? To treat for varroa and other pests or try and learn a natural non-chemical way to manage your colonies. I started this process four years ago as a hobby and a way to help the honeybee and the environment. Others do it for a living. I am so thankful that I have met and spoken to many different people in this club and heard many passionate different points of view. I have been able to, as a new beekeeper, in this awful time of solitude and corona, truly learn so many different ways to explore this intricate world of beekeeping.
I hope to hear from many of you and your different opinions, problems, mistakes, results, bad stories, and good, and I hope to publish all the various stories, questions, opinions and pictures here in this newsletter so our club members can benefit from all of it! Whether you’re a “new-bee”, young or old, or you’ve been doing this for 50 years. By putting all the different information out there, we can help each other AND the bees lead a happy healthy life!
Submissions can be sent to editor@BackYardBeekeepers.com