For about a year now I have been bugging my mom to get a beehive. My parents live on a couple of acres surrounded by state land and my mom has the most gorgeous flower garden you have ever seen. Last summer we planted our first vegetable garden and this year we doubled the size. All these factors are perfect for my parents to have a beehive on their property.
I’d talk about the dying bees, send her articles and videos about bees and beehives, and talk to her about how perfect her yard is for beekeeping. Plus it would be a sweet hobby to do together! Finally in January of this year I received notification that MSU Extension would be holding a backyard beginning beekeeping webinar later that month. I paid the fee, signed us up and told my mom the date.
We set the webinar up so we could watch it on the television and my mom and I took notes as my dad took screenshots. It was a great class, and I highly recommend it. By March my dad had beehive started and then in April we took a free class from Turtlebee Farms where we learned much of what we learned in the webinar but we got to see a lot of the actual equipment and learn from an expert in person. That day we dropped off our beehive so that Farmer Tim Bennett could start a nucleus (nuc) colony in our beehive.
In early June we picked up our beehive and set it in the middle of my parents’ properties on the west side, facing east. It was so exciting!
Our beautiful handcrafted beehive.