I’ve spent the better part of two decades with my hands inside hives, and if there’s one lesson that never stops repeating itself, it’s this: the pest you’re not watching for is always the one that gets you. Varroa taught…
There’s a particular sound a hive makes when something is hunting at the entrance. It’s not the usual traffic hum. It’s tighter, more anxious, the kind of pitch that makes any beekeeper with enough hours logged stop whatever they’re doing…
Somebody asked me at a beginner beekeeping workshop last spring which bee I’d recommend for a first hive, and I gave an answer that clearly disappointed them: it depends on where you live, what you’re keeping bees for, and honestly,…
I lost a hive once to something I never actually saw coming. No mites on the sticky board worth worrying about, no small hive beetles scuttling in the corners, no obvious brood disease. The colony just got weaker through late…
The first time I watched a batch of mead actually take off — really bubbling, that steady, hypnotic glug through the airlock every few seconds — I remember thinking it looked almost exactly like watching a hive on a good…
I’ve spent more hours than I’d like to admit crouched in front of an observation hive, nose nearly against the glass, trying to catch a forager mid-dance before she finishes her figure-eight and disappears back into the crowd. It’s a…
The first beeswax candle I ever poured cracked straight down the middle about four hours after I unmolded it. I’d cooled it too fast on a cold windowsill, proud of myself, completely unaware that beeswax has opinions about how it’s…
I’ve lost count of how many times someone has handed me cash at a farmers market, pointed at my honey, and said some version of “this is for my allergies, right?” I used to just nod and take the money.…
Every beekeeper I know can rattle off their Varroa count without blinking. Ask the same person about small hive beetle pressure in their yard, and you’ll usually get a shrug. That gap in attention is exactly why this beetle keeps…
I remember the first rooftop apiary I ever visited in a European capital — four hives tucked behind an HVAC unit, overlooking a park no bigger than a football pitch. The building manager was proud of it. The beekeeper was…
