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.