Bees Are Our Complicated Friends

I always imagined having bees in the orchard would be simple. You get bees, they make honey, end of story? Right? Oh no, was I ever wrong! We were able to get 3 bees nucs in 2020 and right from the start I did it all wrong because even google cannot teach you everything. By the grace of mother nature and my father's ingenuity, my 3 bee nucs survived the winter and we vowed this year we would do it differently. I was able to find a local beekeeper who has been keeping bees in the area for 50 years!! Bill has let us spend almost every weekend with him while we help him with his bee farm and learn his techniques. Learning from someone who has seen it all has proved invaluable. This summer we are at 15 beehives all in different stages of development but I have learned which ones need some help and which ones can provide that help. They really are the most fascinating creatures, they just like to test us whenever we think we have them figured out. We will have honey this year. How much? We won't know til middle of August. What I do know though is that we are providing them with a very healthy environment with lots of food options for them and they in turn have done wonders for us. So much in fact that we had way too much fruit but that is a completely different story. Thank you bees for all you do!