JP, you had to ask, eeks.....I don't like to talk about myself in this way, but here goes......yep, I am going to have to ramble, I can't do things in a short manner, hee, hee.
When I was a young woman (late teen years), so many years ago, hee, hee, I had moved out of my home and my Father and Mother kept bees. I was not into them, nor was I even interested in any part of beekeeping, but I knew they kept bees because of the evidence around their house. Imagine that.
I grew up, raised my family and got into other things.
About 18 years ago we moved onto the acreage that we still live on. A couple of years after that I thought it might be interesting to raise some bees, only knows, I had enough flowers and vegies that surely the bees would love to live here. I did some investigating.
It was during those years that there appeared to be a throat mite that was infecting bee colonies terribly (the trachaeal mite). My research ended. I got a very distinct impression that raising bees at that time was not for me, it didn't sound too good, and I wasn't into it anymore. That was put on a back burner in my mind.
In February of 2005 I read an article in the newspaper that was about an Asian man in a neighbouring community that kept bees commercially. The article so compelled me to renew this interest in beekeeping. The man offered courses to encourage more people to begin beekeeping. That was it.....the game began. When I read this beekeeping article, I got very, very excited. It was something latent within my soul that needed a little bit of prompting to bring out. That article was my avenue.
The next day my Husband and I went to see this fellow, I couldn't understand him very much because his accent was so strong, but that did not deter me. I listened and listened even more carefully. He had such a love of his honeybees. That shone through, and that excited me even more -- the fact that the honeybee could be so exciting that this man was in a seventh heaven when he spoke of them. I have the highest respect for this man who introduced me to this world of the fascinating apis mellifera. He was so good to me. He always answered all my questions, I must have drove him nuts with all my e-mails about every little thing that had gone wrong (or right) for me.
The courses began. I listened very closely and after a couple of the lessons, could understand him well. I asked questions and questions. I began reading and reading some more. I spent eons of time studying and reading, always with pen in hand, writing down every little thing that was important and also jotting down questions.
Since that spring, I have taken seminars, courses, and read and study every day (there has only been a few days in three years where I have not done some kind of study or research). I find that the more that I know and understand about the honeybee, the more two and two go together all makes so much more sense. But I am still only on the tip of that iceberg, and I still can't get enough learning and understanding.
I joined this forum the fall before last, that being fall of 2006. This forum has been one of my strongest areas for learning. I only wish that I could have found it earlier in my beekeeping beginnings, I would have made less mistakes. Although, with the mistakes made, they have been enormous learning curves, and hopefully mistakes not repeated, or should I say not repeated too many times. That basically is my story, and I'm stickin' to it, :lol: ;) :) :) Have the most wonderful and beautiful day, Cindi
Right, the age, I turned 55 on October 1, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah!!!!!
