Our beekeeper stopped in today, got me off the tractor in the steep part of the Nectarine Orchard, bless his heart. It got me thinking how much work goes into bee management. My grandfather kept bees. I remember the hives were always right across the bridge on our way up to the bus stop in the fall. You had to walk slowly through the late afternoon swarms to keep from attracting attention. When we wore yellow we had to brush the honey bees off our shirts. My sisters would remind me in the morning as I got dressed and I’d hunt for less interesting clothes.
Now that Jason’s taken over we don’t have to worry as much about the honey bees. Diversification has some serious advantages. Jason took a big hit over the last ten years with all the collapse issues, but he’s attentive and he’s way ahead in the management department, so he recovered quickly. Listening to him talk about his bees you’d think he was discussing cattle. It’s similar; livestock health, keeping weight on, feeding hives in low nectar areas. We grew up with Jason and always thought he’d become a cattle rancher. Turns out he’s doing something a lot more useful as far as we are concerned. He’s still wrangling, just a different sort of critter.
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