Buzz, buzz, buzz

I am hoping that one of my "themes*" for this year will be bees!  I have had the hive boxes and frames and gear for two years.  The first year I decided I was too busy and didn't know enough yet.  Last year I had planned to get a swarm from someone EE had met at work, but when he called about getting it, the guy didn't collect swarms anymore.  Then I hemmed and hawed about purchasing bees and then it got too late.  Besides, I hadn't decided where in the garden to put the hive.  It has to be sunny, but I don't want it to be too hot.  It has to be out of the way, but I want it convenient for when I want to go and sit and watch the bees.  It has to be hidden from the public, but easy to work on if needed.  Yikes!

I have read blogs, books, websites, and catalogs. I have recently become obsessed with beekeeping podcasts.  I took a class at at UC Santa Cruz awhile ago.  I think all that information has given me paralysis!  Also, the beekeeping resources, like the chicken ones, seem to be mostly about disease!  It's hard to believe there are any healthy bees or chickens in the world from reading about them!  So many diseases! 

Anyway, today is the day.  I have worked up the courage to talk to actual, real, face-to-face people!  There is a group that meets for breakfast on the first Saturday of the month at a local restaurant and I am on my way there!  (BTW, when I do something like this where there will be lots of strangers, I pretend to be my Seattle friend. I don't actually tell people I am her, that would be weird--I mean that I channel her personality!  I pretend that I love meeting new people and it will be so interesting.) Once I have actually met local beekeepers I can get some answers to the questions I have.  The resources I have read are about climates different than ours. I don't have to worry about having my hive high enough off the ground that it doesn't get covered with snow, for example.

I hope to come back ready to start my beekeeping adventure! I know this isn't the reason to keep bees, but isn't that hive pretty? ;-)

*A theme is like a resolution, but more vague. So you don't start out making it and thinking you will probably fail. ;-)  I am stealing the idea from a knitting podcast I have become obsessed with (Knitmore Girls).  More about themes and podcasts in my next blog post!