What do two farm kids do when they live in town when they get a hankering to oversee a large herd of livestock? Well, cattle are out of the question due to a pesky city ordinance (and a certain amount of laziness that keeps us from wanting to do twice-daily chores). However, keeping one, and now three, colonies a couple miles out of town is a do-able, and fascinating hobby.
And then, there’s the part about Robin having a college degree in entomology but not having any experience with beekeeping. After spending time on honeybees vs. pesticides issue at work, hands-on experience was in order.
Oh, and then we find out that Mark’s grandfather kept a handful of colonies in the late 1920’s through 1930’s. His Mom has shared her vivid memories of eating honeycomb when she was a young girl in Carroll County.
Couple all this with the Iowa Honey Producers Association’s beginning beekeeper classes in early 2011 and we hit a home run. This year (2012) we’re taking advanced beekeeping. If we’ve learned anything, every beekeeper has a different opinion on EVERYTHING. Sometimes they have more than one opinion on any given subject… No two beekeepers do things exactly the same.
Our goal to to explain what we’re doing & seeing and hopefully others will chime in on what’re they’re doing & seeing and a virtual discussion can ensue.
Idiots Keeping Bees 