Bees Pleazzzzz

My father used to have many interesting hobbies. Every year he had the most amazing garden and we had the best fresh vegetables all summer long. My mother would spend long days canning beans, corn, tomatoes, etc. for the winter so we rarely had to buy vegetables from the grocery store.

When we moved to the country and had lots of property, he started a small orchard which was something he always dreamed of having. Now in addition to the fresh veggies, we had all the fresh peaches, apples and pears we could ever want. Again my mother would can peaches and homemade applesauce to store for the winter.

His most fascinating and “exotic” hobby was beekeeping. He kept anywhere from 2 – 6 active hives and had them located in our orchard and on my uncles farm. I spent many fall days helping to box and jar honey. For a long time after I left home I simply couldn’t stand the thought of eating honey. I was just so sick of it. Luckily I love it again and always have a container of honey in my house.

Recently Richard has taken an interest in keeping bees. This past weekend he went to a bee shop in Snohomish, WA and picked up a starter hive. He has the hive painted and set up in the back yard and today he goes to pick up the bees. It’s a very strange flashback for me and I’m not sure how I feel about it. If you want to read more about his adventures in beekeeping, check out his bee blog.

Unfortunately my father's health doesn't allow to keep any of his hobbies any longer but he is happy, I think, to see someone in the family take an interest in at least one of his hobbies. We are getting a large package soon from my father containing a lot of his unused bee equipment.