Bees are not only fascinating and beautiful little meaningful beings but serve an essential role in the propagation and continuation of flowering plants, trees, shrubs and crops.
Without them many of our food sources would not be able to thrive and in fact survive. Crucial for the pollination of many vegetable, fruit and berry crops, without them we would eventually be reduced to the most basic of diets not healthy or sustainable for our own future.
Due to climate change and pesticides the numbers of all bee varieties and other critical insects such as butterflies are dramatically decreasing and already affecting gardens and farms. Our backyards and gardens were once filled with the abundance of these frequently misunderstood and often feared and even deliberately swatted at little creatures.
Coincidentally with this international recognition and celebration of bees in both the dedication of a special day of recognition, my own family was actively involved that very week in the saving and caring for a bee colony in our own little world.
Our oldest daughter, Terin has always been interested in beekeeping and involved in making a bee home in her backyard in hopes that she and her partner might invite in a wild bee swarm looking for an inviting home. Unfortunately it never happened naturally and their attempts to purchase an established hive was unsuccessful due to overwhelming demand in their area.
So when a wild swarm flew in and began to bunch into formation my husband, son and I rushed into action and our desire to finally give her that wish of a bee colony of her own.
Not having a beekeepers suit, we created one out of an old tyvek "suit" used in applying insulation materials in our home building business. My new and never used very thick "Mr. Clean" rubber gloves, my husband's super building tape to close gaps between gloves and suit and a quickly cut wire mesh face protector to fit in the suit's hood plus plastic goggles completed our son Blake's ensemble.
With the use of a ladder, a lawn mowing grass receptacle bag to "catch" the swarm into, he had them collected then within minutes
We had borrowed a neighbors discarded wooden bee box to hopefully get the queen and her workers a temporary home.
It was so great to be able to transport the swarm in its container safely and thoroughly further contained in a super taped and sealed large cardboard box.
Our daughter was thrilled to finally have a colony of her own and quickly ordered a prefabricated bee hive kit online to be pieced together over the next few days to provide the much needed space for this wonderful hive.
It was in-credibly exciting and rewarding for all of us!
The basic building pieces shown here as they arrived in kit and units as she put the box layers into a suitable arrangement.
Making bee syrup for food.
Piecing kit pieces together bit by bit using pre-cut pieces.
Finishing it day by day then-sealing it and then
Transferring our initial bee box into her own larger hive structure.
This allowed the queen and all her worker bees to transfer on their own from the "super" we initially provided not realizing it should have been a much later extra section. But the wise little bees made do with what they had which was a tiny small for an immediately bursting at the seams colony.
She soon ordered an other kit and later a 3rd section as she realizes she had one queen to many.
Through ups and downs and many marauder bees challenges they continue to flourish with honey literally coming out of the seams they are so happy and productive.
They've been an immense blessing and joy in her life through a lot of challenging times and remind us all how the precious sentient creatures of this earth add so very much more to mother earth and all of her creatures but teach us all about the importance of working together and humming in harmony for the good and betterment of all.
Michele Bilyeu Creates With Heart and Hands as she shares her imaginative, magical, and healing journey from Alaska to Oregon. Creating, designing, sewing, quilting, and wildcrafting... from my heart and with my hands
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