The makers of liquid gold

The weather is absolutely gorgeous in the Willamette Valley today. Not one single gray cloud to be seen in the vast blue sky..... Is there anything more joyful looking than a robin's-egg blue sky? Well, besides the smiling face of a sunflower that is. ;D I like to just look up...up...up into all the sky's wonderful blue beauty and think of absolutely nothing other than the bluey- blueness of the sky.

While wandering around outside today (enjoying the blue sky), I heard the most glorious noise.... The busy hum of bees!
They were everywhere, collecting nectar from the flowers that have bloomed so well this year.

Some people are known as "dog people" others may be "chicken people", but I think I am more of a "bee person". :D I really can't explain what makes me love bees so much, after all they're just bugs that sting to most people. In the height of summer, I like to sit in the middle of our clover patch while wearing a bright colored shirt and watch all the bees land on me only to find out that I have no nectar to give them.

I ache to have my own bee hives someday.... I just don't know when it will happen. The thought of being an official "bee keeper" thrills me to no end.

I think I would be content with just two or three hives. Each hive containing over ten thousand bees. (scary huh?)

My family doesn't understand how a person could want to face 10,000 bees and call it an enjoyable hobby. Frankly, I don't understand it myself, but I think it's along the lines of how some people enjoy keeping horses, even though there is a risk of breaking bones or even getting killed while around them! Horses, are an enjoyable hobby, just like bees; and there's a risk to everything in life, it just depends on if we are willing to take the risk and enjoy the good parts while learning from the bad parts.

Yes, I would also want the extra honey that the bees produce (sometimes over 70 pounds in one "nectar flow"!) but I also would like to have them just to watch. Bees are so funny the way they bumble and trip over each other trying to get in to the hive. And the way they will go in circles over and over before realizing that the hive entrance is in the opposite direction.

Having bees would also provide a good source of income for me (as I lack a job right now). Honey prices have sky rocketed to over $20 a gallon! I would probably sell my honey at a more reasonable price though. :) So, in all the bees would provide pollination for our garden, amusement, a source of income, a new experience on our little farm, and a huge supply of that wonderful liquid gold: honey.

I'm hooked for life on beekeeping. :D

~Caitlyn