Why Keep Bees?

A few weeks ago, a friend asked me why I keep bees. I have been thinking about the answer ever since. Beekeeping is full of richness and breadth, and the reasons are multi-faceted.

Sociality. I keep bees because my father kept bees. Over the years I have enjoyed the give and take associated with talking about and working with the bees. By and large, the actual process of working with the bees is a solitary one. But as a mentor/mentee relationship, there are many conversations. And debates as well. Two of my childhood friends, it turns out, also worked bees with their fathers, and remember it fondly. In short, it’s an interesting activity that can be passed from one generation to another.

Farming. Beekeeping, I have concluded, is a kind of farming. I am 4 generations removed from farming. My father’s maternal grandfather was a farmer. Every year he planted and harvested crops. Some years were lean, some years were rich. Planning, problem solving, and divine providence were always in play. Beekeeping is the same. It’s not that much different than running a dairy. The dairy cows produce milk. You take care of the cows, they provide you with milk. Decisions are not and cannot be sentimental. A livelihood is at stake. An unproductive dairy cow becomes glue and meatloaf in short order. Queen bees are culled. Hives are split. And sometimes, hives are lost. There is something very satisfying in reaping a harvest. That’s why people garden. Harvesting from your bees, season to season, holds a special satisfaction when you have paid for that harvest with sweat and stings. From the process of building woodware, collecting bees, tending them, and harvesting the honeycomb. If the earth pulls at you, and you yearn to be connected to it, there is a chance beekeeping may find its way into your life.

Learning. Bees are fascinating creatures. We typically think of insects as strange-looking dumb creatures. But bees defy that judgment. They have a social order and society. They create beautiful structures–wax comb. They harvest pollen and nectar and plan for the future (i.e. the winter) by keeping food stores. They are fierce protectors of their young. They travel miles away from the hive and not only can find their way home, but can also tell other bees how exactly to get where they went. Multiple roles exist–queen, drone, guard bees, nurse bees, temperature-regulating bees, foragers, egg, larvae, pupae, and scout bees. This is not a knowledge base that is mastered in one afternoon. You can spend many years learning about bees, and observing their lives, and watching their progress. Some of you may have watched nature shows where social animals are followed over time–a pack of wolves, a pride of lions, a clan of meerkats. Instead of watching the show, you get to live it. And be responsible for it. A symbiotic relationship between bees and beekeeper, each benefiting the other.

Throwback Counter-Culture, i.e. Coolness. Probably due to media reports on the various ills that bees currently face, most people have a positive opinion of bees. And urban beekeeping is a rapidly growing hobby. Beekeeping is one of the sort of nerdy things a person can do, and be considered interesting and cool. I had a friend that allowed me to keep a hive in her yard mostly, I think, because she liked the idea of having bees. And being able to tell people that she had bees. Keeping bees says “I’m not someone who just thinks or talks about doing something interest, I actually do it.”

Mastery and Craft. There is an art to beekeeping. There is the decision-making part of beekeeping, as well as the manual physical techniques of beekeeping. What should I do now, as I am sitting and planning? As well as deciding what to do in the heat of the moment while bees are stinging you! There are the step-by-step routines. The physical motions of taking off hive covers, prying off inside-covers, slicing through propolis-glued frames, and so forth. You learn to handle and observe, while disturbing as little as possible. One of the things many beginning beekeepers must temper is the desire to do these things too often. Because there is a real joy in doing and learning it and growing in confidence.

The Joy of Honey. I would think, for the greater part of human history, honey has been the most sweet, rich substance available. It’s hard for us to imagine that in modern times, with our glut of refined sugars and corn syrup. I try to imagine how delectable honey was for our ancestors. Even today, biting into honeycomb is an explosion of flavor and sweetness. It must have been orders of magnitude moreso in the past. By partaking of honey today, you are experiencing a food that has been experienced by other humans for thousands of years. It is a cultural connector that transcends time. The honey you harvest from your hive is different from the honey at the store. It’s a different color. It tastes different. And that’s a wonderful thing. You will find that honey from different hives, harvested at different times during the year are different honeys. A diversity of richness and experience. Truly one of the joys of beekeeping that is universally loved. Even the “bad” honey (for example, my father doesn’t care for honey from yaupon blossoms) is wonderful.

Gifts and Generosity. Successful beekeeping soon becomes a gift-giving operation, as more honey and wax are collected than one can personally use. It’s especially rewarding to give honey to people that truly appreciate it, both in terms of the honey itself and the labor (both human and bee) that produced it. It harkens to the giving of handmade crafts from yesteryear. Many of us don’t make any kinds of crafts anymore, so we don’t often have the experience of giving things like that as gifts. One of my friends remarked to me that the strangest gift she received at her wedding was a very large jar of honey. To this day, the gift baffles her. Not me. I wonder if the honey was harvested by the person who gave it. I think about the toil and trouble and effort that went into it. A truly fine gift. But as one can see, not a gift that everyone can appreciate. Beekeepers are not prone to throw pearls before swine, for the simple reason that they love their bees and love their honey. The giving of honey is a representation of the finest aspects of the human spirit. If a beekeeper ever deems you worthy of his honey, you will know he thinks well of you.

That is what comes to mind about why I keep bees. I’m not trying to convince anyone to keep bees. If beekeeping is right for you, you will know it, and you will do it. It will tug at you, and you will break down all the obstacles until you have accomplished it. So this fine evening, I salute all the beekeepers before me, that have passed on the craft and knowledge. And the bees themselves, which are the product of hundreds, if not thousands of years of breeding. In 2011, beekeeping is still burning bright.