Rachel wrote, "SO YOU JUST CAUGHT MY ATTENTION!!!!!! YOU KEEP BEES!!!!! This is what I
want for Christmas!!!!! MORE THAN ANYTHING!! I did all my research
& want to keep bees so bad! I've planted borage & other bee
loving flowers. I had the neighbor till up 1/4th acre for a wild flower
meadow I planted & the only bees I got where little green striped
ones that looked more like a wasp than a bee :( it breaks my heart!! I'm
going to buy all the supplies. My suit, smoker & a suit or 2 for my
boys so they can learn to help & have a healthy respect for them. I
do have to talk to all my neighbors ab using herbicide & chemicals
first tho!! Otherwise it'll b a lost cause. Any advice on beekeeping?
I'd love to know anything u think is important for me to know, that
reading won't tell me. Also, do u have pics ? Do u harvest a little
honey from the bees or allow them to keep it ? I truly respect the fact
that u keep bees!! It's so awesome. More ppl should keep bees if it's a
possibility. I've been wanting to for a few years but my neighbors
opposed back when I lived in the city. Now, I'm in the country &
many ppl in this area keep a lot of bee houses & provide honey for
the local stores. It's great!! :) :) :)"

My response:

" I do have to talk to all my neighbors ab using herbicide & chemicals first tho!! Otherwise it'll b a lost cause. "
You
are braver then I- around here, at least, you don't comment on what
neighbors should or shouldn't be doing, or you might find the opposite
of your requests happening. Conversely, I would never be asking my
neighbors if I could do what I want. Be ready for every yellow jacket
nest or sting to be blamed on you, and it never hurts to share that
golden stuff to the grumpy neighbors whenever possible.
"Do u
harvest a little honey from the bees or allow them to keep it ?" I take
an occasional frame when it is drawn wrong, as I run foundationless. I
don't have much interest in harvesting the sticky stuff for resale, as I
am much more interested in colony management.

My youngest daughter really enjoys 'playing with the bees,' especially when her job is to use the smoker. This is at a neighbor's apiary, who started this spring.

None of my apiary images are small enough to share on the web. Someday, I'll try to resized them so I can post.

Omg!!! I envy you!! I will keep bees!!! And I'm going to talk kindly to my neighbors about the benefits & ab using chemicals. We're out in the country here in Brooksville (or what us beach/city Floridians would call the country.) It's funny u say that ab me asking my neighbors not to use chemicals bc I'm a very honest person- sometimes, too honest - even when I mean no harm - it can cause harm :( And it's not my intention!! I had a bad experience with my close neighbor in st pete! It's a long story & she's my mothers age but I upset her ( she was seriously crazy!!) and it started world war 3 !!! It got so bad She's one of two reasons why we moved FAR AWAY!! It's a long story but we felt like prisoners in our own house! I have 4 boys & she wasn't worth going to Jail over & allowing her stunts to get to me. Anyways my neighbors now on one side farm cows on 20 acres & live far back behind me & the ones on the other side moved from Clearwater beach to start veggie farming. All of them are really cool ppl and even tho they use a lot of Herbacide & bug sprays, I think if I talk to them about it & they know they'll benefit from the extra pollination on their veggie plants - I don't think they'll mind chilling out on the herbacide & bug sprays. I could be very wrong but it's worth talking to them about it ! Our neighbors are within viewing distance but not very close. We only have 3 acres - one guy has 20 on one side and the family up on the opposite hill has 15 acres. Every time they grow veggies, he asks my boys to go over & help him pick them & he sends crates over. In return, when I grow flowers I'm always cutting bouquets & sending the boys over with vases full to give them. We don't always agree tho! My dogs get out & get his dogs going- which annoys him & he had to invest In heavy curtains bc I spray my plants in the evening w/liquid compost & use my flood lights to see what I'm doing. He used to txt me to turn my lights off bc they're shining in his living room but they had no curtains up. After turning my lights off 5 min after turning them on and abandoning spraying my flowers every night bc he'd txt me to turn them off - I kindly talked to him about investing in some curtains & I took the flood lights down off my barn so he didn't get upset as much & the flood lights on my house I re- adjusted them to point downward so I can still see at night but it's not shining towards his house . He's a lot like I am - his wife is more laid back & passive & he's more outspoken like I am so we butt heads sometimes but we both try to be respectful to each other- it's about give & take & we all try to be considerate of each other bc we are neighbors. I make sure my boys go over to offer help if he's outside working but we also try to keep our distance to allow each other our privacy.

Anyways I'm totally off subject!!

Such gorgeous photos! And good on you for keeping bees!! It’s a very worthy cause/hobby :)