Learnings from Bees

In 2005, I apprenticed as a beekeeper with Br. Rick at Earthworks Urban Farm of the Capuchin Soup Kitchen.  I learned that one bee can produce a tablespoon of honey in her lifetime.  That the hive society is mostly female and that males (drones) are solely there, for a period of time, for mating.  Bees have an intricate, beautiful, and meticulous system for roles, space, and so much more.  I would spend a number of hours just watching the bees fly in and out of their hives.  In other words, I fell in love with bees.

Fast forward to 2019, my partner, en, built me a topbar hive.  I had only used langstroth hives before.  Topbar hives have limited space, but are supposed to better align with what bees prefer.  It was an opportunity to relearn and remember.  I would say that I did a mediocre job as a beekeeper, at best.  ><

In 2020, the hive swarmed.  I think it was because I made a mistake and did not put in enough bars for the bees.  When bees swarm, they are really chill because they have just stored a lot of honey for the trip, the queen is with them, and they are moving together with a purpose.  We caught the first swarm...but then it left again.  This time, it went high up in a neighbor’s tree.  En and friends went up and brought it down and we passed that swarm to our friend Erin who had worked with topbar hives before...Then the same hive swarmed again.  This time, the swarm landed in a low spot.  We caught them and put them into a langstroth hive. 

Fast forward to May of 2021, one more, I get a call from Erin saying that the hive that we gave her swarmed!  She offered it back to us.  The queen that swarmed would have been the original queen from our original hive!  Her coming back to our house would be such a homecoming and full circle!

This was the impetus for me to finally clean out the hive that was in the langstroth hive.  The bees did not make it over winter and I was afraid to open the hive because I did not want to find a bunch of dead bees.  With this possibility of the queen and her family coming back home, we opened the hive.  Inside we found that the bees had probably frozen over winter and 1.5 boxes of untouched honey!  My guess is that the hive was too small to keep warm and move around to get to food.  I am sad that the bees died while having food just out of reach and, this was our first time getting honey from the bees.  Or as Br. Rick used to say, first time to collect rent for giving the bees a house. 

We quickly worked the rest of the day to clear out enough space for the bees that were coming back and to process the honey enough to be able to take it indoors.  Later that evening, en went to Erin’s and brought the bees home.  He put the bees into the hive and left them for the night.

The next day, we were not sure if the queen made it into the hive because it did not seem like the bees had settled down.  By mid-day, the bees had clustered outside of the hive.  This meant that the queen was not in the hive.  At that point, we should have scooped the bees into the hive, but we did not act fast enough.  By mid-afternoon, the bees were gone.  :(  We looked all over but could not find them.  

I sure hope that they found a good home.

For us, although we do not have a new/old hive, we have honey, honeycomb and some amazing lessons from the bees:

• Life moves in life’s own pace, space, and way.  The more that we pay attention, listen, and follow nature’s cycles and rhythms, the more we will align our bodies and souls with the world.

• We never know what will happen in the future.  We can only plan so much ahead of time and then we need to let go.

• If you lose your hive, you can still get honey!

What lessons are you learning from nature and nature’s rhythm?