We’ll See What Happens

2024 was, without doubt, a very difficult year for us. Sparing all the details, we experience a number of traumatic events that worked hard to derail us, turn us upside down and drop us to our knees. Fortunately, I was able to stay true to my beliefs that things always work out in the end and that life isn’t promised to be easy or fair. I believe that with every setback, there’s a potential lesson or “push towards other, better endeavors.” Challenges are meant to be conquered. Get up, wipe off the dirt, and move on.

We have walked through the darkness and have been met with Springtime and renewal that promises to bring some surprises and brightness.

For example, I have decided to set up a bee hive. As a way to give me a glimmer of hope for a great New Year, I order it back in December. In February, because I couldn’t wait any longer, I assembled it on the dining room table. In March, with the hope and anticipation that it would be found by the local bees, we placed it at the North end of the Pond Meadow.

Most people who choose this hobby purchase a queen and her workers, either for local pick up or through mail delivery. But, I have decided to simply follow the idea of “if you build it, they will come.” All summer long, I film honey bees around our property collecting pollen and nectar from the many sources of wild flowers and vast sections of red clover that we planted years ago in a hay field. I have no clue where the local bees keep their hives, but I am guessing they are located in natural cavities because I have not seen any man-made hives on our widely spread out neighbors’ farms.

There are folks who claim it’s a waste of time following my path of hoping that native bees will take ownership of an artificial hive. However, I’ve also read that local bees can and do often set up shop in a nice, new, well structured man-made abode. That’s my hope. I’m envisioning bees and manifesting their arrival.

I’m not the sort of person to feel a need to shape, manipulate, take over or otherwise control Nature. In the first year, I don’t foresee the need to routinely open a hive to check on the new tenants. They know how to do their business and I doubt they want to have the sanctity of their home invaded just out of the curiosity of a big person. In the first year, honey will be produced and stored. It will not shared with the humans, but to sustain the hive’s survival over winter. So, I won’t need to harvest the sweet stuff from the new residents for over a year. That’s not to say that I haven’t indulged myself by acquiring a smoker, goat skin gloves and a bee keeper’s suit with hood. That’s just another step in the manifestation process!

I did, however, set up a hive the way most references suggest. The hive I purchased comes coated in natural bee’s wax which is described as an attractant. I also added food to entice a new swarm to consider moving in, since the cupboards are already stocked with the goods they enjoy. I ordered both bee pollen patties as well as a sugar water feeder that sits at the opening of the hive. Everything is in place.

We waited for the weather to break, which is when local bees choose to travel about checking out the neighborhood after remaining inside their hives during winter’s wrath. Then, we set up the hive where it will get south facing sun, but be blocked from the strong Westerly winds by a row of trees.

Now, we wait! Wish us luck!