What I’ve Learnt From My Bees
I took up beekeeping a year ago. A few years ago I took a class, I was not interested in the honey or the money that one can make, it was how the bees worked that fascinated me.At the time I was working in a dysfunctional, ego driven environment, and the bees were working completely functionally and ego free. I started thinking, how do you take that and put it into a workspace, a family life? It completely changed my mentality.
I have four hives, and they each have their own personality. Four different hives with four different methods of production, different speeds at which they move. But they're all doing the same thing, they all have one goal, success for the hive. They work completely without ego, and they do it by communicating with each other. When bees need a new comb, they line up hand in hand to measure how long it needs to be. We don't do that as humans. We're like, "Go figure it out." What if we all held hands and worked together for success? It's been a fascinating year to have it coincide with COVID too. I lead a very large team where I work, and having bees has helped me make sure that we share the same goal as a team. We're all in this together. We're all a family, we're going to get through it together. That's how I lead. And for that, I credit the bees.
During those hard days at the beginning of the pandemic, the bees were where I went to reflect on the bullshit that was going on, the frustration of the world. I work in the travel industry and so I spent a lot of time wondering if I would even have a job next week, or if I’d have to lay off my staff, or start reducing pay. As a leader, I was heartbroken. I would go to the bees and just zen out watching them fly in and out. As the days went by, I learnt more from them. I didn't go into beekeeping to teach me how to be a leader, or teach me how to be part of a team, they just did it.
Below are my top ten reasons to keep bees, or ten things I’ve learnt from my hives.
10. For the endless supply of local honey. That one kind of speaks for itself. I have a bottle of honey right here at my desk waiting for a friend. It's definitely a way to give back to people and we really do have an endless supply to give to people. Our friends with allergies take it and it helps them because it's local and they're getting the pollen in small doses. So they're not having to take a drug for allergies, they just take a little bit of honey. By the end of the summer, we'll probably harvest anywhere from 70 to 100 pounds of honey. I don’t sell it at all. It’ll be Christmas gifts for everyone I know.
9. When you spot the queen. A lot of beekeepers mark their queen. So there's a color for every year that the queen is born. Last year was blue, this year is white, but mine are unmarked. And so it's kind of like a Where's Waldo in a beehive! It's hard to spot them. And when you see her just weaving in and out of the cells and laying eggs, you're watching something you're not supposed to be watching. You're part of something that is bigger than you. You're able to see the magic happen. She has her attendants that move around with her, it’s like watching a dance. They're always a circle around her. She'll move from cell to cell laying an egg. The queen is as equal as everyone else. Her job is to lay eggs. And once she is not doing that, she and the hive decide to create another queen so that the hive can remain successful. Part of the attendant's job is to make sure that she's healthy and that she is doing her role. And to help communicate that out to the hive. So when you watch the queen, you’re really seeing life start.
Bees really think as a collective. And they think not about the hive today, but next week, next year, even two years down the line. It's very fascinating because we don't do that as people. We think in terms of, “what’s in it for me? My instant gratification? How am I going to be happy? What serves me?” Whereas bees are very much like, “how do we make sure our grandchildren and their grandchildren are successful?” A worker bee that is born today in our hives will die in 90 days. And they know it. They're going to work themselves to death during the summer. But they're not worried about that. They're focusing on getting as much nectar and pollen in there so that the hive can keep on being successful. It's really about a journey that's not their own.
8. When you hear a new queen pip. That was the best moment this summer. My hive was swarming. It actually created four hives. So the one original hive split and created three new hives. As I was feeding one of the hives, I heard this weird sound coming from it. I've heard about the pipping that they make, but never experienced it. When a new queen is about to be born, 24 hours before hatching, she lets the entire hive know by pipping. It's like, "Pip, pip, pip." And it's so loud. I could hear it outside the hive. I couldn’t believe it, it’s a once in a lifetime chance to hear the queen communicating to the entire hive. It was just amazing. So once the new queen is born, her and half of the hive swarm to create a new hive, so there’s only one queen in each hive. 24 hours later, I saw the swarm and it was the loudest swarm we've had.
7. When people assume you're a badass.You tell anybody you're a beekeeper, and they're like, "Oh, shit. She's fearless." I'm actually a scaredy cat. I don't like heights, I don't like bridges. I have lots of fears. But when I tell somebody I'm a beekeeper, they're like, "Oh, you're a badass. How many times have you been stung?" And I tell them and they're like, "What?" Yeah. It's no big deal. It's just fun to just walk around knowing you're a badass.
6. Daily coffee, watching the bees come and go. Some people have meditation, some people have yoga. Some people run to clear their heads. I have my cup of coffee with the bees every morning. My cat George joins me. He's a feral that we rescued during the winter storm. George and I go outside and sit on our bench and we watch the bees come and go as I drink coffee. And we all say hello to each other. It's my way to check on them, to see what they're bringing in for the day. It's fun. It's just relaxing. It's my yoga. It's my meditation.
5. Watching a baby bee being born. I don't think there's anything better. Except maybe watching human babies being born. The bees are in their little cell and you can just watch them chew out of it. As soon as they pop their little head out of there, all the other bees gather around to feed them. It's just like watching a baby be born. It's just great. You have beekeepers that are into beekeeping because they want to make money. They make money off of raising queens. They make money off of raising nucs - those are mini hives. And they make a ton of money off of honey. I got into beekeeping because I wanted to make sure that my flowers were pollinated and I wanted as many homegrown vegetables as possible. So when I'm in the hive, checking them, I'm not checking for honey. I'm not checking for a queen. I'm checking because I'm fascinated. I take a long time to check each frame and I'll sit there and I'll just look at them. And that's how you get to see a baby being born. When you're taking your time, just by chance, a baby's being born, or by chance you spot the queen, or you see a waggle dance happen. You have to be very patient and purposeful when you go into a hive to see things like that. Some people are just going in there and make sure they're healthy and laying eggs. I don't care. I just want to see them. And I pet them, too.
4. Catching a swarm and getting freebies instead of buying them. So I caught a swarm this year. That was daunting because it sounds like all these cars starting at the same time or air conditioners starting at the same time. I'm still a little scared of bees, they sting me, so it's still a little daunting when you're around that many. And when you have probably 20,000 flying around you and you're putting them into a box, that’s scary. It's an adrenaline rush. When you do get to catch one and you're building them a new home and giving them a safe place to live, it's very rewarding. And those are all the daughters of my original queen. So it's nice to keep her daughters nearby and that hive turned into my Diana hive (I give them all names). Diana is my most active hive. They don’t sting much, but they’re always buzzing about all over the place.
Lots of people don’t know this, but each bee hive has its own personality. It's based on the genetics of the queen and the drone that she mates with. I have Joan, that queen should have been dead. So she's named after Joan of Arc. She just kept fighting. With her hive, I’ll let my nephew go in there without any kind of protection, because I knew that they're not going to do anything.. They’re right next to Diana, who is very hyper, constantly moving, like a toddler really.
It's very interesting in the mornings to go in there and look at them. I have Ruth too, and what’s interesting is that hive can really sense the weather. They know when bad weather is coming, they get really agitated. I can always tell when a thunderstorm is coming. And then I have Beatrice. They're also very chill, but they don't like loud noises. The other three can handle like the weed wacker coming through and the lawn mower coming through, luckily Beatrice is in a part of the yard that doesn't need yard work, because if they can hear it they’ll start stinging you. They hate it.
3. My garden is properly pollinated. I've never had as much fruit and vegetables before in my garden, as I have this year. Every day I'm going out and getting an armful of tomatoes and cucumbers and zucchini, the blackberries that we've had have been incredible. It's just an abundance of fruit and vegetables.
2. It makes for a great conversation starter. I'm here because I'm talking about bees. It's really black and white. If I ever get nervous, I just have to tell somebody I'm a beekeeper and they're fascinated and it makes for easy conversation.
1. They're essential for the environment and it's one small step to health. It really does prove that we need the bees in order to survive as humans because in our little corner of the world, we have this five-mile radius in which my bees will go out and pollinate the community garden that I'm part of. We harvested 75 pounds of tomatoes last week, all for the poor. Those are all pollinated by bees. All the peppers that we get at the community garden are all pollinated by bees. If we don't have bees, we don't have these things and we can't feed and nourish our community.
I’ve learnt so much from keeping bees. When I get frustrated with things, I start taking things personally... I'm a feeler. I'll step back, and say, "It's not about me. It's not about me," and just persevere. The bees have helped me with that a lot because I really do believe in this bee mentality of being, that the journey is not my own. I'm just here. They've brought me back to that mentality of, I'm here doing my bit because it's going to be better for my children, their children, my friends, society, my community. And so when I get frustrated, that's what I go to. I'm doing my bit because I trust that somebody else is going to do their bit.
I've also learned that we can't do it without each other. So I stopped being headstrong and thinking I can do everything myself. I’ve allowed people to help me, and I’ve asked for that help. I've started trusting in the greater good of things. Whatever you believe in, the higher good, or God, I've started trusting that. I’ve learnt by watching the bees and observing them. They keep me on my toes because even when I, as a planner, want to help them out, they do it themselves anyway. I bought a queen, because I knew they were going to split and swarm soon. But they did it on their own anyway, without my very expensive queen. So they also teach me to go with the flow and see what they do and what they want. And as a leader, when we got into the pandemic, my first inclination was to start controlling the culture of my online team - to set up happy hours, do this and that.I've learnt from the bees, to trust my team a little more. To go with the flow and watch to see what they need from me, to take my cues from them. So it's really helped me be a better leader for them. It's helped me with being a Mom. Instead of nagging my 17 year old and telling him to work harder, I’m now like, "You know what? It's your life. You want to fail economics, go ahead. I'm not going to pull you by the teeth to get you to get an A anymore because, in one year, you can vote. So be an adult.” In short, the bees have taught me to be free.
Kate Schroeder