The Just BEE Cause

What better "cause" can there be than SWEET HONEY?

As our children age I feel sadly neglectful as a parent, just in that I am not able to offer them a whopping 5 cents a row to weed beets or onions all through the intense and debilitating heat of the western Idaho summer as my parents did in MY youth - (and I am NOT bitter at all - grr, just kidding, mostly). Because of this, we decided that we needed a farm. Livestock. Animals. Responsibility. Enter the City Regulations and Codes. Cows, chickens, pigs, horses... all not an option (thankfully, as they were also not given a second thought - except from my girls who prayed for horses for Christmas - Thanks Laura Ingalls Wilder for that harebrained idea). Anyway, our choice? Winged Livestock, as Brad calls them. 10,000 head of bees (and and multiplying daily - by the end of summer we could be up to 70,000!). We purchased the bees and necessary equipment this spring and are now knee-deep in learning about, and tending these nectar-gathering family pets. We have been successful so far - mostly by luck, I will admit, but are pleased with our efforts and the progress we can detect (indeed this VERY night we saw our first bee larva!!! - hooray! We are Grandparents - okay, so maybe we aren't THAT bad).