We all know by now that bees are key to our survival on this planet. Their benefits to us far outweigh ours to them and it seems as though lots of people are thinking about and talking about beekeeping in the sense of “getting a few bees” for their backyards in an effort to “help” them through the madness we’ve created for them on this planet of ours.
While I will absolutely back you up if you think about it long and hard and then decide to dive in to backyard beekeeping, I will first challenge you to think about the following three items seriously before “diving in”:
1) Check your allergies. Ensuring no one in your immediate family is allergic to bee stings can save you lots of pain and suffering later. An EpiPen is an option if there are allergies, but knowledge is key. Allergic reactions are not something to just wait and see about later.
2) Check your local codes. Ensuring that backyard bee keeping is legal in your area is essential. People both love and fear bees immensely. Being legal is important here.
3) Check your motives. What is your intention behind keeping bees? To help them by offering a safe space to land? To harvest gobs and gobs of honey? Beekeeping can be incredibly rewarding in a variety of ways, but the monetary recoup is a long time in the making, so be sure your hearts in the right place before you dive in.
Once these three considerations have been looked into, we can happily begin talking about backyard beekeeping 🙂 Stay tuned!
xoxo,
M
Linking up to the Homestead Barn Hop #147, the HomeAcre Hop #58
I like #3. This is my 5th year as a beekeeper and I love it BECAUSE it is a constant challenge. I know many people, however, who quit because they are only in it for the honey or their bees die one winter and they just give up. If you go into it to learn and grow, and view it as an ever-changing challenge, you’ll never be bored!
I completely agree. Beekeeping, to me, is so much more than the benefit of honey 🙂
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Great info! We’ve talked off and on about getting bees. We’ll see… Thanks for sharing this at the HomeAcre Hop!
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My husband want to start with Bees this year! I’m really excited 🙂 We love honey 😀
Bees are quite the adventure! We have absolutely loved keeping ours!