Beekeeping

I am once again behind on blogging.  A few weeks ago I went into the bees and started to write a blog post about it.  I never finished it and since then our friends Paul, Amy and Clara came to visit and they went into the bees also.  Amy wrote up a really great explanation of what they learned and included cool pictures they took while they were out there.  You can check it out here.  Here is my experience and an update on life in the bees:

This past week has been really rainy.  So rainy that Jason hardly worked Thursday or Friday.  Rain is not ideal beekeeping weather.  Because of that we geared up for Jason to be gone all day Saturday and possible part of Sunday.  I took the boys yard-saleing that morning and around 10am Jason calls me and asks if I want to meet him out in the bees.  You see, never in either of Jason's careers (Apple and beekeeping) have I ever really known what the heck he actually does.  With Apple I would listen politely and nod when he talked about work, I would try (unsuccessfully I'm sure) to ask intelligent questions, all the while knowing I would probably never REALLY understand what he did.  So far beekeeping is the same way, except that I think I could actually learn about it and Jason assures me that if I could see it I would understand it better.  Not to mention that everyone has questions about bees and it wouldn't hurt me to know a little so I can answer those questions. We have talked a lot about me going out and working with him.  While we were dating I visited him in North Dakota for a week or so and helped a little but that was a long time ago.  So when he called and said it was a good day, I jumped at the opportunity.  My lovely mother in law had called me earlier saying she wanted to see the kids, so I called her back and asked if she wanted to see them for a few hours a her house and she agreed.  I hurried over to the shop, found the purple bee suit (yes the girl suits are purple), hopped in Jason's truck and met him out there.  He was actually in Lincoln where I grew up and the country out there is so beautiful.

When I got there and got all covered up, Jason showed me how to split a hive.  Basically they are taking a full hive and taking some of the unhatched baby bees (brood) and putting them in a new hive.  They then come back a few days later and put a new queen cell in the hive.  It was so fascinating, I loved it.  I got to see lots of baby bees hatching and Jason and I found a couple of queens which is tricky.  One of the workers brought a frame over and showed me a queen hatching from her cell, it was seriously the coolest thing.  I also got to see lots of bees covered in pollen entering the hive.  Now when the boys and I go on walks we pay special attention to the bees.  I'm so glad Jason had me go out with him.  Here are some pictures of the yard we were in.

I get asked a lot how we are liking the career change. So far Jason is really liking the beekeeping thing.  He enjoys being outside most days (despite occasionally bad weather and his allergies).  He also is having carpal tunnel problems, but has been wearing wrist braces at night that have been helping.  I like the change so far for the most part.  When he is in town we see more of him, but he has been and will continue to be out of town WAY more than he was at Apple (he never really had to go out of town then).  We are gearing up to head to North Dakota.  I have really mixed emotions about the North Dakota thing.  Part of me is SO nervous about being in the middle of nowhere and having nothing to do and no friends.  Not to mention that we don't really know for sure, when we leave, where we will live, when we will come back etc.  I am trying to go with the flow, but sometimes it is hard for the planner in me to do that.  On the other hand, I am really excited for this adventure.  The idea of picking up and taking off with my family for the summer could be really fun, and in a way not knowing exactly how everything will play out is kind of fun.  Our kids are young and not in school so there is nothing holding us back.  We have a few road trips planned (in our minds) for the summer and look forward to exploring a new part of the country.  We would love visitors so if anyone has been dying to visit North Dakota but didn't think it was possible because you don't know anyone there, it is your lucky day :)