Wednesday, July 24, 2013

beekeeping = dangerous business

 a slightly tongue-in-cheek look at our beekeeping week

Here you will find a DO NOT DO list for beginning beekeepers... like us...

1.  Do not go into the hive more than necessary.  These are, as a fellow beekeeper put it, bugs in a box.  They are wild things; we pose a threat each time we go into their world by possibly introducing pests, possibly crushing bees or their handiwork, possibly dropping a heavy frame of honey and bees (like I did last night), possibly (probably) alarming the bees unnecessarily which possibly (probably) incites them to stinging protective measures.


2.  Do not forget to tuck your pants into socks, thick socks, not thin summer cotton socks with cutesy verbiage on the sides.  (my ankles got 7 lovely stings, right through those cotton socks...)

3.  Do not forget to tuck all of that pant leg/heavy sock mess into some ankle boots or wellies.  (my husband received one sting last night just above the top of his shoe and through his sock; below is what it looked like this morning in the ER...)

4.  Do not leave tools, camera, sugar-syrup pitchers, debris, or even dead or dying bees strewn about the bee yard area.  The pitchers will be filled with hungry bees in moments, that tool you left will be rusted, your camera will be a total loss, and those bees become land mines.  (my sweet doggie, Scarlett, stepped on a stray bee this morning and ended up at the vet after I pulled the stinger out of her pad; now both bee stung patients are resting...)

5.  Do not try to mark your Queen while sweaty, cranky, and crammed into your smallest bathroom with your mate, particularly if one or both of you has never done this before.  The Queen will wear the results for a long time.


6.  And most important...
Do not forget for a moment
why you started this great beekeeping adventure.
Do not let the setbacks
keep you from a lifetime of joy and grace.
Do not allow the stings
to keep you from protecting and nurturing
these wondrous creatures.


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4 comments:

  1. LanetteJuly 24, 2013 at 5:51 PM

    I love that you stenciled the back of the bee suit. Complete awesomeness. I hate that your camera is a complete loss!

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  2. Flannel Jammies FarmJuly 24, 2013 at 5:56 PM

    Fortunately, the camera is fine... this one was a word of caution. It's really easy to forget about it in the midst of all the bee-ness and before you know it you're inside looking out the window at your Canon nestled between hives, covered with bees.

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  3. Cheryl C.July 25, 2013 at 11:15 AM

    So were the bees stings from 2 different visits to the hive? Looks like your ankles/feet made out better than Tom's! What did they say about the blister /cellulitis on his ankle?

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  4. Flannel Jammies FarmJuly 25, 2013 at 11:27 AM

    Yep, Cheryl, 2 different visits... hence number 1. on the DO NOT DO list! My ankles definitely made out better; more stings and lots of bad swelling, but not the massive blister that Tom's sting grew into. Bless him, the husband is going in today for a recheck. Not sure why he had the reaction that he did, but he's getting some good treatment and is working from home to day with his foot up.

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