Bee Boxes

For as long as I can remember, until the day he passed away, my grandfather kept bees.  When I went for visits, he let me help him with honey collection.  It was fascinating.  Now that I have a large enough piece of property, we've decided we're going to do the same.  The plan is to put the boxes along the property line at the back part of the yard.  Since the back portion of the property is surrounded by farmland, there's no one to bother, and the bees will help with pollination.  So, today, we went and got bee boxes, enough for two hives.

We then went to the home of a master beekeeper to ask him questions and to find out about procuring some bees.  It was marvelous.  He showed us around, letting us peek into some of his boxes, and even letting us sample some fresh honey right from the comb.  Mmmmmm ...

We then walked over to a section of the property away from the bee boxes to get out of the sun and talk some more about what we would need to get started.  That's when it happened.  A lone bee on a mission flew right into my forehead - BAM! - and then either thought she got tangled in a few strands of my hair or actually did, so she stung me.  Owwie!  We don't even have our own bees yet!

It smarted like the dickens for a few minutes, but it subsided.  Once we got home, I took this picture and then splashed some cold water on my face.  Glad that's out of the way!