living the dream, one bee at a time

so...i confess, i am a bit of a nerd. if i were to do school all over again, i think i would study farming or horticulture. yep, i would like to be a farmer. not a commercial farmer or anything, just a family farmer, able to partially sustain my family off my land. i enjoy fresh, homegrown foods and worry about all the chemicals, preservatives, and hormones that are regularly pumped into our food. i dream of living in on a piece of land (maybe in texas, the pacific northwest, or mid-atlantic area) where i can have a large garden, raise some chickens and maybe a goat or a cow, and some bees. also, my dream house has a wrap-around porch. just a little perk.

i think there's something truly theraputic and rewarding about working with your hands and creating. i don't want to work for some random company doing work that i don't love to do. i want to work for myself and my family doing what i love and i want to be able to see tangible results of our labors. my philosophy is don't wait until you retire to do exactly what you want to do, no matter how outrageous it may seem. do it now! why not? the only thing that could stop you is yourself and your preconceived ideas of what you "should be" doing.

so i am slowly getting closer to my dream. i have been working with the 4H program and coordinating the afterschool programs at canyon view jr. high. and i love my job! i love working with the kids, i love the 4H program, and the hours and level of commitment are perfect for me.

there are perks to my job, too. for example, i get to find out about neat events, like the beekeeping and honey class that was held this past weekend. yes, i attended a bee class friday night and saturday and yes, my mind was blown. i now know how to get started raising bees, all the things i need to do, where i can go for help, and so on and so on. bees are surprisingly easy to care for! you order your bees, get them set up, feed and water them for a while, and then you just have to check on them once or twice a month to make sure they are ok. all right, so that's a really simplified version, but honestly, it doesn't have to be all-time-consuming. and the benefits are innumerable! pure, homegrown honey, first-class pollination, a sweet beekeeping suit...

i am now determined to raise a colony of bees next year, once we are semi-stable in where we'll be living. i can't really do it this year because you have to order your bees by february and hive them by april. and as cool as i think bees are, i don't know how our apartment managers would take to a hive hanging out in the parking lot.

anyway, i guess the point of this post is to 1- because i am really excited to raise some bees, and 2- to inform you that i'm slowly making my dreams come true...one beekeeping workshop at a time.

ps- if you want to learn more about beekeeping, check out these links:

http://www.biobees.com/

http://www.utahcountybeekeepers.org/

also, i took really thorough notes from the workshop and would be happy to share them with anyone. :)