Bee happy....

Today we introduced the bees to the hive. My friend Marion is one of THOSE women. The kind of women who are supremely capable. She knows how to do so very many things... including how to care for bees. I am grateful for her letting me use her hive and for the way she so generously shares her knowledge.

This is the box that holds the queen. It is covered by other bees... which we knocked into the hive before putting the queen in her box there. With luck the bees will let her out in a few days by eating the sugar "cork" that keeps her in.

We wore exotic, comely outfits while we installed the bees. People driving by slowed down and stared. One neighbor yelled, "I just LOVE you." She finds me amusing. The bees never offered to bite us, but it was nice to be engulfed in netting while thousands of bees buzzed around us. I've wanted to keep bees for years, but never thought it was within my scope. I find that aging makes me more comfortable tackling challenges I previously thought too scary, too complicated, too MUCH. I hope this works out well and that the bees thrive and produce harvest-able honey. If not, I tried, and enjoyed the process.