My name is Bob Rhone. I live in North Haven Connecticut and thought this would be an awesome place to document my ongoing adventure to the wide world of beekeeping.
Where to start? I guess I don't know exactly where I caught the bug for keeping bees, but now that I'm into it I have become a sponge for information about bees and honey. The more I learn, the more reasons I find that keeping bees is a good choice. First of all, there are a variety of things that are hurting the population of Honey bees in North America. Most of these problems are hurting the large industrial bee keepers who have hundreds of hives. Considering that almost a third of the food the average person eats is pollinated by bees I figure having a hobby hive is a really good way to help the bees stay populated, healthy, and continue to keep veggies on our plate. Also some local honey harvested by me sounds pretty awesome.
So I bought the Beekeeping for dummies, got onto bee source the bee forum website, and read lots on Michael Bush's website. I tried to hunt down some hive boxes and material to start things up. I started on Craig's list, and I was really lucky because I found a woman in Hamden who lives in my parents neighborhood who was selling an unused hive setup. I went to her place and it turned out that she was really cool. She is a retired Social Studies teacher and an organic gardener. Her house was full of eccentric things, there are solar panels on the roof and her front yard had no lawn it was all shrubs and mulch. When I went into her house there was classical music playing and their was an antique dictionary open on the table. I ended up staying at her house and talking about gardening and bees and all kinds of other interesting things. An hour later when I was driving home with my three medium supers, and all the equipment I would need to start my hive, I thought if these are the kinds of people and situations that beekeeping is going to introduce me to then I know this is going to be awesome.
So, equipment in hand, I ordered my bee package from Reseska Apiaries in Mass which I will be picking up on April 20, 2012. In the mean time I thought I would prepare my backyard and build a stand. So I built the stand and had lots of conversations with my family and asked lots of questions on the forum and kept reading. With some thought and reflection I decided my backyard might not be the best place for my hive. Mainly because my town has a zoning law against keeping any animals in a yard less then 2 acres.
My next step was to find a place fit for my ladies. I placed an ad on Craig's list. I mean it worked well once, maybe I can get lucky twice. The inter-web Gods were looking down on me and sent me 5 responses which were all viable options. I picked the coolest one, a man in Woodbridge with a 12 acre hay farm. We met up and he gave me a tour of his place. It is pretty much bee heaven. There are 12 acres on his property and next door to him another 20 or so all of which is undeveloped. He is actively planting and growing garlic and might be planting some buckwheat in the spring.
Also his farm used to be the home of about a half dozen hives kept by an older man who isn't around anymore. Which is really just more confirmation that this is a great spot for my bees. Me and Phillip (the farm guy) picked out the spot on the northwest edge of his property where the bees will live, and my excitement levels have just about maxed out.
The next steps will happen over the upcoming weeks. I will install my bees on the 20th when they arrive and then I will be on the hunt for new hive bodies and frames so I can add honey supers when the time is right. I purchased three medium supers from the organic garden lady and that will suffice for the brood boxes. However I will need more mediums to collect honey for harvesting. So that is the next investment. As more things come up and I experiment keeping bees I will keep this thing going too.
I hope the pollen world is in my favor and I can't wait to start buzzing.
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