Monday, September 13, 2010

Say Hello to My Little Friends

It is a little known fact that Tony Montana was an avid beekeeper.
Scarface and Tony Montana (c) Universal Pictures.

Obviously, I like bees. I don’t know if you’ve figured that out yet, but it’s true. I like the bees themselves, the honey they produce, the comb they build, the amazing and complex society they maintain- every aspect of this hobby is satisfying in its own unique way.

I anthropomorphize bees fairly often. Bees to a beekeeper are like pets; what cats and dogs are to most people. Talking about them, I might mention that they were in a mood (good or bad), or that they just wanted to be left alone for a while. There’s a good reason for this. Every hive I've worked with has had a different personality. An individual bee is just a bee, but a hive has a unique personality or character that is the product of a huge number of variables. Genetics, weather, food supply, and more all play a part in determining a hives personality. We’ll talk about all of those things later.

For now, I want to introduce you to some of my little friends.

This is a bee.  There are many like her…
…But these are some of mine. Emma, Isabella, Emily, Madison, Ava, Olivia, Sophia, Abigail, Elizabeth, Chloe, Samantha, Addison, Natalie, and a few of their nearest and dearest.

The above are a few of the bees I help keep in Brooklyn with my neighbor, P. When I lived in Ohio, I maintained several more, which are now actively maintained by my father (who has taken quite a shine to beekeeping.) Throughout this blog, I'll be using pictures of my bees to illustrate my posts, as well as pictures provided by other beekeepers. I'll be sure to mention when the bees (or pictures) are mine, and when they aren't.

For now, I'll leave you with a few more pictures from the Brooklyn Apiary.

Beekeepers are known to dress in the height of fashion.  Real horrorshow.

Miranda, taking a break.

Workin' hard.

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