The Bee-Keepers' Apprentice

~Our oldest granddaughter was so excited to help my Hubby, her Poppa, work with his bees. I hope she knows we have bees because when her Daddy, our oldest son was a little boy, the age she is here, he wanted to keep bees. He learned a lot about bees and for his 8th birthday we pooled his saved money and ours to buy his first hive and some of the basic equipment needed to keep bees. We have kept bees now for 24 years.

~Here Poppa and #1 granddaughter open the hive and take a peek to see what is going on. She is holding the frame gripper, that is the tool that grips , lifts and holds the frames of bee brood and wax inside the hive. "The bee master must be first of all a bee lover, or he will never succeed." Ticknor Edwards

~The hive box is lifted to check the box under it. These boxes are full of bees, brood, honey...a whole buzzing , hard-working community of yellow-gold and black bees producing honey, most of which we will take for ourselves later in the year. "How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, and gather honey all the day, from every opening flower. How skilfully she builds her cell, How neat she spreads her wax, And labours hard to store it well, With the sweet food she makes." Isaac Watts (Against Idleness and Mischief)

~This is the big smile we got after she was done helping with the bees! I think she is a natural bee-keeper, and Poppa can use an apprentice !~ "He is not worthy of the honeycomb, that shuns the hives because the bees have stings." William Shakespeare