Nothing gives a person more confidence... than to be zipped snugly inside a bee suit.
Bees are easier to keep than a dog or a cat. They are more interesting than gerbils. They can be kept anywhere.
For a long, long time, nearly 40 years, I never had any bees. I can't think why.
Strictly speaking, one never 'keeps' bees - one comes to terms with their wild nature.
I was named Beekeeper of the Year by the Florida State Beekeeping Association.
Beekeeping is farming for intellectuals.
My partner loves gardening and beekeeping and chickens and all that stuff.
I always feel that I have missed some good fortune if I am away from home when my bees swarm. What a delightful summer sound it is! How they come pouring out of the hive, twenty or thirty thousand bees, each striving to get out first!
I actually grew up in a house in which bees lived in one of the walls, and they lived there 18 years, in fact, so it wasn't a fleeting thing.
I realized I had it made because you don't have to destroy anything to get honey. You can just use the same things over and over again, put it in a quart canning jar, and you've got $12.
My elder son and his wife keep bees, and my younger son has bees, too.
