You may have noticed that I added a new tab at the top of the blog this week - for Bees. We're doing bees this year - and hopefully for a very long time. Wish us luck!
We took a class from Rog Graham at Graham's Bee Works in Morgantown, Indiana last week and the first question he asked us was: Why do you want to keep bees? Most of us want to be a little more self-sufficient. Some of us were in it for the honey, and some of us [like me] are in it for the bees.
I've said for a long time that I"m a worker bee by nature and I've wanted to keep bees for a very long time. When I told my mom that we were taking the class, she mentioned that a very long time ago, my grandfather kept bees, too. Clearly, it runs in the family. Let's hope I'm successful.
As we learn about bees and beekeeping, I'll be keeping you posted here. There's a lot to learn and it is fascinating information. Eric and I have to tear ourselves away from the internet. Thank heaven [I do!] for the www. Everything we need to know is out there, posted by wonderful people trying to share their experiences.
Bee factoid: Honey bees, Apis mellifera, are not native to North America. They were brought over from Europe in the 1600s. Their name comes from Latin and means 'honey' [melli] 'bearer' [ferre]. It was a misnomer. It took early scientists a while to figure out that bees don't carry honey, they make it from nectar. Carolus Linnaeus tried to change it to Apis mellifica, which means 'honey maker', but the official rules of the zoological nomenclature dictated that priority is given to the older name.
For more great info about honey bees, see the Wiki article here.
