"I found a pretty good deal on a truckload of beekeeping equipment. Would you be willing to help me look after some hives?" Asked a friend of mine. I pictured a few saturdays a year going out to the hives and coming back with buckets of honey.
Yeah, so that is totally not what happened.
I found a beekeeping class taught in the area and recommended to my friend that we take it. Since he was going to have all these hives, i volunteered the yards of a few friends. They thought if there were going to be bees in their yards, they should probably take the class too just in case there was something they needed to do and my friend J and I couldn't get to them quickly enough.
Six of us sign up for the class which meets weekly for three months. By the end of the second class, J has decided that setting up away hives is not in the cards for him this year. The rest of us still kind of like the idea of hives in our yards. Life goes on.
Spring is approaching and it is time to get serious and figure out what we're going to do. The truckload of beekeeping equipment is not quite the pot of gold we expected. Much of it is damaged, all of it is in need of powerwashing and fresh paint. Are there frames? sort of.
We decide that forming a co-op is the way to go. J pitches in equipment. I pitch in yard space and buy one nuc. Another couple buys a second nuc. And my friend D buys frames and has the powerwashing equipment and paint. I help wash and paint. The couple and D handle assembling the frames, putting in and wiring the wax foundation. We're ready!
I found a beekeeping class taught in the area and recommended to my friend that we take it. Since he was going to have all these hives, i volunteered the yards of a few friends. They thought if there were going to be bees in their yards, they should probably take the class too just in case there was something they needed to do and my friend J and I couldn't get to them quickly enough.
Six of us sign up for the class which meets weekly for three months. By the end of the second class, J has decided that setting up away hives is not in the cards for him this year. The rest of us still kind of like the idea of hives in our yards. Life goes on.
Spring is approaching and it is time to get serious and figure out what we're going to do. The truckload of beekeeping equipment is not quite the pot of gold we expected. Much of it is damaged, all of it is in need of powerwashing and fresh paint. Are there frames? sort of.
We decide that forming a co-op is the way to go. J pitches in equipment. I pitch in yard space and buy one nuc. Another couple buys a second nuc. And my friend D buys frames and has the powerwashing equipment and paint. I help wash and paint. The couple and D handle assembling the frames, putting in and wiring the wax foundation. We're ready!