Evan Dodds – Non-work-related blog

A recent article at the NYTimes about bees disappearing was both terrifying and nostalgic for me.

It is terrifying (and should be for anyone) because the massive and unexplained loss of bee colonies is a sign that SOMETHING IS WRONG. Bees are, as the article makes clear, hugely important in our ecosystem. Anything that removes bees en mass has the potential to be a BIG problem.

On the other hand, the article also mentioned the significant fall-off of hobbyist bee-keeping over the past two decades. This reminded me that it’s probably been nearly two decades since my mom (and, by extension, the rest of the family) kept bees at the Center Ave house in Sheboygan, WI. We moved from that house in 1989, so it has to be close to two decades by now…

We kept several of the painted-white boxes of bees at the back of the HUGE yard we had at that house (apple orchard, huge garden, trees, and trees, and trees — it was like living in the country… in the city).

We had these bees for a number of years, and I remember my mom suiting up in the beekeeper clothes, getting out the smoker/blower thingus, and extricating the waxed shelves from the hives. We’d bring them inside the downstairs kitchen — inevitably bringing a bunch of lives bees inside with us! — and get out the heated wax cutter to let loose the honey.

Mostly good memories around keeping bees back 20 years ago. If nothing else, it taught me the difference between honey-bees, bumble-bees, and wasps/yellowjackets (and made me wary of the right ones and not afraid of the others).

Of course, we had so much darn honey it took me years and years to ever want honey on anything again! But now that I like honey again, I remember it fondly. And I think my mom still has honey in jars up in Jamestown, NY from the effort.