April 9, 2014
2014 A to Z Blog Challenge
A Rural Life
Day 8
H is for Honeybees
We’ve reached the second week of the 2014 A to Z Blogging
Challenge! This is the fourth year I’ve participated in the challenge, and this
year, 2014, is all about My Rural Life. It’s sort of like middle America meets
urban sprawl meets Walton’s Mountain. It’s my life and the forces that come
together to make my unique world.
So thanks for coming along for the ride in the 2014 A to Z
Blogging Challenge.
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I promised a long time ago I'd tell you about my grandfather's beekeeping. Today's the day to deliver on that promise. One of my earliest memories is helping my grandfather make frames for honeycomb. Not many people around here kept bees, but Pop was known for his honey. And like everything else, if Pop was doing it, I could be found lurking at his shoulder, learning. (I must have been a real nuisance to my dad and granddad, always following them and asking bazillions of questions.)
Keeping bees is easier than you might think. The bees do all
the heavy lifting and you just help them along. The older folks in the community would call my
grandfather with a report of a swarm and Pop would hitch the wagon to his
tractor, load an empty hive he kept at the ready, and off he’d go to see if he could capture the queen. If
I got away before my mother realized what was happening, I’d tag along. Pop and
I got away with all sorts of things as long as my parents didn’t catch us. My
parents didn’t think BEES were an appropriate hobby for me to adopt. (They
didn’t like tadpoles and crayfish, either.) All in all, they were correct, but
when I officially retire, I might see if I can find and capture a swarm to keep
a hive.
The pictures tell the story. I think I was in my twenties
when I took them. Pop spotted a swarm along the back stone fence on what had
just become my property, a gift from my grandparents. My grandmother called and
said he was working a swarm so I grabbed my camera and went to watch.
He spread a piece of plastic and set the new hive on it. For
some reason, Pop only ever used aged scrap wood for the hives. I suppose
anything harmful in the wood and/or paint had aged out and no longer posed a threat to the bees.
Anyway, once the hive was in place, Pop would cut the branch the swarm was
hanging on, carry it to the hive and careful lay it on the plastic sheet. The bees
would spread out and he could spot the new queen and get her inside the hive. Then all the worker bees followed her in and Pop would temporarily block the hive entrance to trap them so he
could transport it to its place in the row. Bee charming is an art and he
rarely got stung.
Honeybees - all our pollinators - are threatened these days,
and it IS a serious matter. I’m grateful that scientists and biologists take
the problem seriously and are working on solutions. The world is not going to
be a nice place if we lose pollinators. Less fruit. Fewer veggies. Fewer
flowers. Fewer trees. We need honeybees. Even if you’re a city dweller,
plant a flower on your balcony and feed a bee. You might be helping to save
more than one tiny life.
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You didn’t really think you’d get away without a
brief book promo, did you?
brief book promo, did you?
For more information please
visit the book page at
Highway Nights is available at Amazon
https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/highway-nights-by-kc-kendricks.html
Highway Nights is available at Amazon
KC Kendricks
My home on the web- Between the Keys:
Visit my bookshelf at:
Social media links:
My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com
Life through the eyes of Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com
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