Our friend Adolfo arrived today along with 6,000 Italian honey bees! We couldn't be more excited (okay, except for two weeks ago when we picked up our goats). Adolfo is a self-taught bee keeper -- having read tomes about these exquisite creatures back in Guatemala. He put his arm-chair knowledge to work last summer after rescuing an abandoned hive from a forgotten St. Olaf student project. Adolfo was living with us at the time, and thus we were the lucky landlords of the hive. Needless to say, after tasting our first spoonful of creamy honey (transformed by the bees from nectar in our yard) we were hooked!So, we ordered bees of our own this year and, with Adolfo's help, hope to learn the art of bee keeping. Our Italian workers come from California (no local bee sellers -- can you believe it?) and are supposed to be the most gentle of all honey bees. Having grown up in an Italian family, I find it absolutely SHOCKING that the Italian honey bees are considered the most tolerant and even-tempered. Can anyone say "oxy-moron"??? In the picture below you'll see Rocky and Adolfo applying some store-bought honey to the hive frames -- this is just a bit of food to get them started before blooms emerge (the lilacs are close!) Our hive of 6,000 is expected to grow to 30,000 by summer's end! Honey in yogurt ... honey in tea ... honey on toast ... mmmm.
