My supplies

Here I am with my bee suit on and my bee hive!  Can't wait till spring for my bees. 

First Class

Honey bees date back as early as ancient Egypt.  There is a decline in our honey bees called the colony collapse disorder.  The life cycle of a bees life is relatively short. The queen life span is 2-5 years, worker bees 1-4 months, drones 40-50 days.  

Bees live in hives made by man or bees.  Bees are very beneficial to us, our agriculture depends on the honey bee for pollination.  About a 1/3 of our food depends on bee pollination to grow.  Do you like almonds?   We would not have them unless the bees pollinate them. Over 1 million hives are taken to California to pollinate the almond crop each year.  

Things about honey I didn't know:

-  Honey never spoils.  

-  Honey has antibacterial qualities. 

I saw honey in the frame, pollen in a jar, hive boxes, supers and the bee suit, veil and gloves.

We talked about many of other things, but this is all I have for today.

Getting started

I was at the Tractor Supply Co., saw a book on beekeeping thought it would be fun.   A few days later I got the book "The Backyard BeeKeeper" and started reading.  The more I read the more I thought, "I want to be a beekeeper!".  I ordered catalogs and found a guy in Overland Park to order supplies from and found out that he teaches a beekeeping class at the community college.  So I signed up! I start classes on Aug 21 and I'm excited!