This thing we do.

[Perry]

It is always interesting reading some of the threads here. Maybe it's Yankee11's one about the possibility of a swarm moving into a queenless colony, stuff like that. What strikes me the most is that no matter how much we think we know, it is barely scraping the surface when it comes to bees. I imagine one could spend the better part of a lifetime trying to figure out this thing we do.
But if you really think about it, isn't that what grabs us? Isn't the fact that we will probably always discover something new, or have to deal with something unusual part of the whole deal?
If this thing we do was easy, or could be learned in a few years, wouldn't we quickly become bored with it? I know I might. It is the challenge of it all, doing the same thing 5 times and ending up with different results half of the time. Dealing with so many variables you almost end up with a headache thinking about all the possibilities. It is dealing with forgiving (besides the stings) creatures that despite our efforts, have something new to teach us every day.
I think we are all fortunate.

[Jen]

Other than the miracle of nurturing two baby's in my womb, beekeeping is the most fascinating hobby I have ever encountered. Challenging and excercising the brain is how to help prevent Alzheimers disease, how can the challenge get any better, more fun, more perplexing than beekeeping...?

[iddee]

    

Well written bit of truth.

[riverbee]

well said perry, thank you. i have always said, and will always say, i haven't kept bees long enough. for me the challenge is staying away from an emergency room visit.  some of my friends and family and others think i have lost my mind. i probably have, but..... it's the thing i do.........
and until something ends that, i will keep them, and hopefully my mind as well..........

say where did i put that dang hive tool, and why did i just get a package delivered with 10 more hive tools in it?..........

[iddee]

Riverbee, is your memory slipping? Read my newest topic under humor.

[LazyBkpr]

The more one studies some craft, art, or discipline, whether gardening, dairy goats, bird watching, bonsai, wine-making, illuminated manuscripts, bagpipes, quilting, Shakespeare, Saxon law, gene therapy, evolution, religion, or beekeeping, that thing always gets bigger --- the horizon retreats in the act of reaching for it.
   Keith DeLaplane January 2014 ABJ

[riverbee]

"Riverbee, is your memory slipping? Read my newest topic under humor."

lol, i did read it......
my memory is good as far as i know.
well, uh.......until i can't find something or can't remember where i put it............

ps great quote scott from keith delaplane! 'the horizon retreats in the act of reaching for it'...............

[Zweefer]

I have nothing to add other than my full agreement!

[Slowmodem]

my memory is good as far as i know.
well, uh.......until i can't find something or can't remember where i put it............

Curly said, "I'm trying to think, but nothing happens!"

I say that a lot lately.   

[lazy shooter]

I love my bees, but I do have the passion for them that so many of you share.  I think I want the honey more than the bees, but I do need the bees to make my life "complete."  I keep bees because it allows me to give something good to Mother Nature.  I believe that, "to those that much has been given, much is expected."  I have been given much!

Delaplane is an excellent word smith.  The more one digs into anything, the deeper the hole gets and the greater the surface area becomes, and we are always scratching at the surface.  I wish the drilling and completion knowledge in my brain could be transplanted into some young persons mind.  I can't say the same for my beekeeping skills, although I do love my girls.

This thing we provides assistance to the environment, wholesome and healthy products, and the best friends in the world.

Do we keep the bees, or do the Bees Keep us?

[riverbee]

"Do we keep the bees, or do the Bees Keep us?"

..........

lazy, enjoyed your post. i think they keep us, i think we just like to fool ourselves into thinking we keep them.............

[lazy shooter]

Riverbee:

I think the bees are therapeutic to some of our forum members.  Our relationship with bees is often synergetic.  The bees need us, and we need the bees.  The bees are better because of us, and we are better because of the bees.  It's a beautiful life circle for many.

lazy

[Perry]

Riverbee:

I think the bees are therapeutic to some of our forum members.  Our relationship with bees is often synergetic.  The bees need us, and we need the bees.  The bees are better because of us, and we are better because of the bees.  It's a beautiful life circle for many.

lazy

I like that alot!

[hamptor]

Amen to all of the above!   I'm in year 3 and feel like I've barely scratched the surface of learning about these amazing little creatures.   They stump me, fascinate me, energize me, and confound me at every turn.  Am I doing this right?  Should I be doing something differently? Why am I having such a problem with this?   Will this work?   What do I do if it doesn't?  It's a new question at every turn.   That's what make it so fascinating.   And then in the end and if you're lucky, you get a little honey, and maybe your bees will make it through another winter.

[brooksbeefarm]

The Honey Bee,is in a class of it's own . It makes the world a better place by pollinating plants so they can reproduce, and many animals need to survive. They are the only insect that produces food for humans. They have many enemies and predators,Mammals,birds, reptiles, and other insects. They are not a predator of anything . Well except on each other for survival, or when there home is threaten they can become war like. They don;t hate anyone or thing, they just want to be left alone.  Jack

[blueblood]

Truth.

[Bakersdozen]

i think they keep us, i think we just like to fool ourselves into thinking we keep them.............

I think our human ego tells us we are keeping the bees and that they would disappear from the face of the earth without us.  Who are we kidding?

lazybkpr:  Good quote by Keith Delaplane.  I sure would like to hear him speak one day. 

[pistolpete]

I like to think of a bee colony as an enormously complex computer program, full of quirky little feedback loops.  The inputs for the program are a couple of dozen pheromones that interact in hundreds of ways to produce specialised responses from the bees.  As bee keepers we have some control of a few of these inputs (or stimuli), like the amount of room, the age of the queen, presence of food, etc..   It's kind of like learning: If I push this button, that happens, but if I push the same button and another has already been pushed, the result is different.   There is no end to the complexity.