You might just be bee obsessed if you’re here! Welcome! My name is Carol, and our bee obsessed journey began long before we started beekeeping. My husband, Andrew, is the true and original bee obsessed in our family.
For years, Andrew studied honey bees. He involved the whole family with honey bee books and videos. Andrew and our daughter, Emma, took an online beekeeping class through Penn State Extension. Andrew joined online Facebook groups where there was an overload of opinions and information.
We even had beehives a couple years before we had bees!
Because our daughters spoke so much about their dad’s obsession, their art teacher offered us an amazing opportunity. She gifted us with two bee colonies, and this pushed us right into the bunny…er…bee? hole.
One short week after receiving our colonies, we discovered swarm cells in one of the colonies. So there we were, making our first split just days after beginning our adventure. And we learned how easy it is to increase our numbers.
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 listen and watch the bees go about their day. You would find our lawn chairs set out in front of the hives.
We learned that you just might be bee obsessed when your kids like to find and catch the drones for pets.
We set out swarm traps and started catching swarms. There’s nothing quite like the sight of swarming bees! Ok, it may be a little startling to be surrounded by a cloud of buzzing bees at first. And then they start dropping little yellow gifts of poo on you. I first thought it was starting to rain. Duh.
By our second year, we had 22 colonies from swarms and splits. And–well–about five years later, we’ve grown some more. We now have 50+ hives in our apiary. Andrew says we’re still under 60 colonies (ok, technically we have 59). Once you start down this path, it gets addicting fast!
Seriously, you know you’re bee obsessed when you start to lose track..or count..of all your hives!
We’re here to share our passion for bees, and to help others who have been on the fence about becoming beekeepers. You don’t have to be a beekeeper to be bee obsessed!
You gotta know you’re bee obsessed when your daughter tells you she won a drone, and you’re thinking—you’re getting a bee?
Yes, we keep trying to think of all of the ways we’re bee obsessed.
Do you have some more bee obsessed ideas for us?? We’d love to hear from you! Contact us here!
