Welcome! My name is Carol, and our bee obsessed journey began long before we started beekeeping. I loved to garden, and my husband, Andrew, had a passion for honey bees. We wanted to help the honey bees, and we always tried to plant pollinator friendly gardens to attract and to watch the bees!
Andrew really wanted to do more for bees; he wanted to try beekeeping. For years, he studied honey bees. He involved the whole family with honey bee books and videos. Andrew and our daughter, Emma, both took an online beekeeping class through Penn State Extension. Andrew joined online Facebook groups where there was an overload of opinions and information.
As much as Andrew wanted bees, he hesitated to get started. He didn’t want to be a bad beekeeper. He was worried about buying bees just to lose them over the winter.
Because our daughters spoke so much about our journey into learning about bees, their art teacher offered us an amazing opportunity. She gifted us with two bee colonies, and this was the push we needed into beekeeping.
One short week after receiving our colonies, we discovered swarm cells in one of the colonies. As new, nervous beekeepers, we were thrown into our first split just days after beginning our adventure. And it wouldn’t be our only split of the summer!
We loved sitting outside and watching the bees come and go. We watched them return with legs full of pollen. We found it relaxing to simply listen and watch the bees go about their day. And we learned that a colony can grow quickly! Our new hobby quickly became an obsession.
We set out swarm traps both on our property and our friends’. We started catching swarms, and we were very fortunate to be able to experience the beauty of more than one swarm of bees!
By the fall of 2021, we had 22 colonies from swarms and splits. Beekeeping does take some hard work, but we found it rewarding. And we were hooked on this new hobby.
We experienced some loss over our first winter, but then we grew to 28 colonies in 2022. We’ve made mistakes, discoveries, and we’ve experienced many disappointments and successes.
We joined a local bee club to learn more, to share our experiences, and to help fellow beekeepers. In 2022, we were able to pay our gift forward to help others who wanted to become beekeepers.
Now we have 50+ hives in our apiary and in some other locations. Once you start down this path, it gets addicting fast!
We’re here to share our passion for bees, and to help others who have been on the fence about becoming beekeepers. And even if you don’t want to be a beekeeper, there are many ways to help the bees and your local beekeepers!
This is for all the honey bee obsessed people who want to learn more about bees and beekeeping!
Do you have questions or comments for us? You can contact us here!
