beehive – Page 2 – Meredith May
August 24, 2015 August 24, 2015 by Meredith A. May11 Comments on Grandpa’s Last Beehive	
August 5, 2015 August 5, 2015 by Meredith A. May4 Comments on Relocating a Beehive	
Apiculture, Beekeepers, Beekeeping, Bees, Entomology, Environment, honeybee, The Honey Bus, Urban Farming	
Bee Lesson Number Four
July 20, 2015 by Meredith A. May1 Comment on Bee Lesson Number Four	
LESSON FOUR – Fear is 99% Wrong
Bees are more afraid of you than you are of them. A bee does not want to sting you – because it knows it will die if it does. When a bee plunges its barbed stinger into your skin, it rips from her abdomen, disemboweling her.
Working with bees all my life, I’ve discovered that these fearsome creatures are actually gentle, only stinging when I am clumsy and accidently step on them or squish them with my finger. In fact, bees will head butt my veil, warning me to back away from the hive when they are ready for me to close the hive back up – typically they lose their patience after about 90 minutes.
I can put my bare hand into a hive of bees and scoop up a handful without getting stung, if I do it slowly, gently and with good intentions. It actually tickles.
Another important bee lesson: do the thing that scares you because that is the only way to dislodge your fears.
July 6, 2015 July 6, 2015 by Meredith A. May1 Comment on Bee Lesson Number Two	
June 29, 2015 June 29, 2015 by Meredith A. May1 Comment on Bee Lesson Number One	
In the weeks since my grandfather died, I’ve been thinking a lot about what he and his bees taught me about life. A hive is a social community with rules of behavior and cooperation and love, which becomes more visible the longer you share your life with bees.
Everything I know about being a good person comes from Grandpa Frank Peace and his bees. For the next five Mondays, I will share a bee lesson, to get the week off to a good start.
LESSON ONE – Family First
The hive is a matriarchy, with a queen mother and tens of thousands of daughters. They can’t exist apart, because the queen is the only bee in the hive that lays eggs, yet the queen can not feed herself and stay warm if not for the comfort and care of her daughters, who bring her nectar and water droplets and gather round her to keep her warm at night. The queen’s signature pheromone is what helps the daughters navigate home from their foraging trips of up to five miles in search of flowers. Mothers and daughters must live in harmony for the whole family to thrive.