Honor Among Bees

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OUR CUSTOMERS/OUR FRIENDS

For the first time in our lives, my husband and I have an occupation that allows us to share ideas with complete strangers ... and these people often become our great friends.

We have families that regularly travel all the way from Louisiana to purchase several gallons of honey for themselves and their friends, as well as a couple from Florida who are always glad to swap their palmetto honey for our soy

bean/cotton nectar. Another of our "regulars" is a young minister who buys his honey in 60-pound tins and swears that his whole family thrives on it. (Since the Reverend's family seems to have expanded each time we see him, Hank laughs and tells him, "You might better get off the honey for a while."

Another man buys beeswax from us and sells it to trappers ... who dip their traps into hot water with a layer of the melted wax floating on top. Our friend tells us that—besides being a durable coating for rust prevention—the wax has a natural scent and doesn't alert the animals.

Bees are a conversation piece in themselves, too. Practically all of our customers are curious about our work ... I guess they just can't fathom anyone being stung 20 (or more) times a day and still "hangin' in there". And, without exception, people can't seem to believe that we trust our money to any "king-of-the-road" who might happen by ... or, especially, that we seldom lose a dollar doing business this way!

BEES AND SIDE-BENEFITS

We've tried to figure just how many hours we spend earning our supplementary income—if for no other reason than to help you potential beekeepers who have an outside job that limits your time—but it's difficult to come up with an accurate estimate.

In the spring, for instance, we often stop off on the way to and from some of our hives to gather wild greens, mushrooms, or cattails. Maybe we'll even dig up a wild flower to transplant in our yard, or spend an hour in conversation with the owners of the field where our hives sit. On the first warm days of early summer, much of our time might be spent in search of swarms, and in the fall or winter we bring back firewood and gather black walnuts or pecans.

Not much of this time can be directly attributed to beekeeping ... nor, in our case, can any of these activities be separated from our job. They're just part of our way of life ... of the way we create our happiness and earn our livelihood.

THE CARE AND KEEPING

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