bees buzzing

photo taken by roberta of backwards beekeepers
could ryan be any cuter? 

ryan has wanted a bee hive for a long time. not so we can eat the honey (we're vegan!), but so they can pollinate our fruit trees and other food growing in our yard. and we want to do our part to help keep a healthy, local bee population.

last weekend everything came together beautifully with the help of craigs list, the amazingly helpful backwards beekeepers and gracious advice from los angeles honey company.

this place sells everything you need to keep bees - minus the bees

the backwards beekeepers have a blog post all about moving the hive to our place, with photos and videos.

ryan found a hive that needed to be moved (craigslist). a charming woman (who is vegan and a professional insect wrangler - how neat is that?) had to get them moved out of her storage shed because the bees were making her neighbor nervous. i won't tell the whole story here, because it's already on the backwards beekeepers blog, but check out this photo of the hive, attached to a folding table.

ok - it looks like something from outer space, doesn't it? it's awesome, in the absolute best sense of the word.

ryan and roberta wrangled the bees into our bee box, but the first night they stayed at their original home, and ryan brought a cardboard box into the back yard that had part of the honey comb in it. within minutes, there were tons of bees swarming around it. neighborhood bees taking the honey! bee thieves!

the next day, ryan and roberta brought the bees here. here's a photo of roberta looking over one of the frames that drops into the bee box. the bees will (hopefully) create honeycombs on these frames.

our little buzzers are getting used to being here. home sweet home!

many thanks again to roberta, the backwards beekeepers, and LA honey company for all their help and advice. and of course to ryan for having the drive and energy to want bees in the yard in the first place, and then to actually make it happen.