To bee or not to bee keep
- Aunt Plantsy
- Jan 13, 2023
- 3 min read
Updated: Jun 29
To bee or not to bee keep? My husband and I have been beekeeping for 9 years now. Everybody we meet is fascinated by this hobby of ours and love to ask questions. For me it is unique and nostalgic, but it is not for everybody. It is also expensive. I remember when I was first considering it. I asked a lot of questions and took about a year to research and think about it. Another local beekeeper told me that it is way too expensive and was very discouraging to me about it. It made me feel defeated before I even got started.
She was right, though, because the equipment alone has been thousands of dollars and that was with us building hive boxes ourselves with pre-made kits. We started out with cheap suits as well but soon learned that the bees can sting through those and ended up spending hundreds of dollars on good-quality suits to make beekeeping much easier.
Additionally, my husband is afraid of bees and was hesitant but got into this hobby with me to be supportive. He now finds bees fascinating, and we are always learning and amazed at what they do and how they survive.
My interest with beekeeping initially was for the honey and selling bee products in my business, Peas Bee with Ewe. Since I believe in growing organic produce, organic fruit trees, and keeping organically raised chickens for their eggs and meat, it was only natural that I’d want to do organic beekeeping.
Organic beekeeping is often scoffed at by the broader beekeeping community. First, how can you say that you are “organic” when you cannot control where the bees forage? That is true. They could forage on chemically treated plants and bring that back to the colony. So, it is better to say that we practice organic, meaning natural, methods of beekeeping. That means we do not treat our bees with chemicals, we do not feed our bees processed sugar, and we don’t use other forms of treatment such as antibiotics, essential oils, or organic acids that could contaminate our hives.
Second, organic beekeeping gets poo-pooed because it isn’t regulated. How ironic is it that organic gardening methods and the desire to produce clean quality food at home is broadly encouraged and valued, while people who try to keep bees without chemical treatments get ostracized and ridiculed?
With the ongoing drought and the fact that we don’t feed sugar to our bees (only honey and pollen), we have not been able to harvest much honey. So, why do we continue to keep bees? Well, it is rewarding, educational, fascinating, hard work, we get to rescue bees before they get killed, and I do get to harvest the wax and propolis to sell. So, do you want to bee or not to bee keep?
I’d like to someday share more of my knowledge about beekeeping as naturally as possible. Please check out my bee products that I currently have for sale. Thank you.
Please visit me online at www.peasbeewithewe.com
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