Making some progress

My hives are ordered and still "pending" at Dadant (https://www.dadant.com/catalog/index.php). I have no clue when they will actually ship. Combine that with the fact that I haven't contacted any of the mentors and it's looking kind of iffy for this year.

I went to the Thursday night Richmond Beekeeper's meeting. They had the president of the Ashland Beekeeper's Assoc. as the speaker. It lasted the whole 2 hours and bored the crap out of me. He just covered a small subsection of the things we learned in the beginner's classes. The worst things was that he was a 5th generation beekeeper and he didn't really provide any new insight at all. The only interesting thing was when he talked about his grandfathers bee yard in a stand of Black Locusts. He was talking about how his grandfather had to get ladders to stack the supers up high enough to keep up with the honey production. If only he could have brought some pictures of that.

In a funny note of generational beekeeping - it may turn out (if I ever get my hives and bees) that I will be at least a 3rd generation beekeeper. When I brought up getting some hives to my mom she mentioned that she had some hives with her father when she was in 4H. I chuckled and told her that everything old is new again. This may be wishful thinking, but with some urban pushes in Europe maybe Urban beekeeping will catch on a little more here in the states. The biggest problem is ignorance about bees. And the complete bull about "killer bees" just makes it worse. Then there is a special level of clown like this maroon . The University of Florida should be ashamed of themselves for hiring this "Entomologist". Feral Colony does not equal Africanized Honey Bee.

Off of that soap box and on to the next. I'm sitting down at the RBA meeting and this older gentlemen sits down next to me - so we chat before the meeting got started. We chatted about where we worked and what we did. I'm going to guess (and I'm always terrible at guessing this, but) that he was 65+. At least old enough to know better than to bring up politics in a first conversation; but he decided to take it one step further and make homophobic comments to boot. Maybe I come off as someone you can make obnoxious comments to and be assured that I will agree with them; I hope not. In any case I don't think I will need to worry about ever having to talk with that douchebag again. He has been talking about keeping since 2000 and as his parting words to me at the end of the meeting, "Maybe I'll start next year". Don't let the hive entrance reducer hit you in the @ss on the way out, douche.

Didn't get much done with the garden this weekend, other than some watering. I just have 2 more small beds to prep then just care and maintenance until the second planting comes up.

Garden Check

Really started in on the garden this past weekend and finished up the planting last night of the first round of seeds. Planted: 3 tomatoes (2 roma, 1 beefsteak), 70 onions (no clue why I went overboard with them), kale, beets, sweet peas, and swiss chard. It got kind of cold last night, but I doubt anyone got hurt because of it. The salad greens mix and radishes are already up and going to be ready in 2-3 weeks. I have cleaned up my herb garden and getting it ready. The rosemary in it is still the saddest one I have ever seen, but it does has some stiff competition from the mint and balm. Still have one bed to finish up and just add the rest of the compost - but it has a while before it is out of the shade.

Herbs:
Tomatoes: Creme Brulee
Not really garden related because unfortunately I can't grow my own vanilla beans :(

Getting started

Ok. I've had four 3+ hour classes of beekeeping and one 3 hour field trip. I have a list of possible mentors in my area and a local beekeepers association meeting coming up this week. So I'm only missing a few things from this next hobby: Bees and someplace to store their little butts.

The sweet wifelette would like me to be practical and wait until I have a mentor and a place to put the hives, but practicality is for the weak. You have no motivation unless there is something urgent to push you a long. And really how long has she known me? Practical is not my middle name.

I only need a couple of things to get started: 2 hive bodies, 2 deeps, 4 supers (with frames), 2 wire bottom boards, 2 stands, foundation (for 80 frames), hive tool, smoker, eyelets and punch, wire, press, and a little protective gear (I don't mind getting stung but if I can avoid it I will). This may look like a lot, just because it is. I will still need to find a mentor that is just as persnickety as I am (that may be tougher). The problem is I have already formed a lot of beekeeping opinions without owning a single bee. For example: I don't want to use a lot (or any if possible) chemicals on my hives - so that eliminates an Italian queen and means I need a Russian or preferably hygienic Michigan or Minnesota queen. I also don't want to get a bee package from northern Georgia or elsewhere; because I would rather get a Nuc from a local beekeeper. (I formed this last opinion after talking with the state apiarist - so there is at least some education behind that opinion). I will also need a mentor that has some space in one of his beeyards for two more hives, because the wifelette is not crazy about having 80 to 140K bees around her with her bee sting allergies.

I guess I'll see how many of these opinions I can keep in the long run after I get a little experience. Susan just wants to know how long it will be until I tire of them and switch to some other hobby. I have tried to explain that they are not like hockey, aikido, WoW, or any of the others I have done over the past decade. They are living and not wholly dependent on me, but pretty close. It would be like deciding that I don't want to care for Bloo anymore. Any of the others I walk away from and the vacuum I left was filled before my butt passed through the door. If I walk away from this then I have stranded thousands of living creatures to fend for themselves against preditors and diseases.