How I Fell In Love With Bees – The First Part

Our neighbor has been keeping bees at the cottage for more than 10 years. Since we are about 40 meters away, I had the opportunity to see his apiary several times, but always from afar.

Three years ago (2017), I wanted to have one or two beehives. The cottage where they would be located was like created for raising bees. 600 meters from the village, near the paved road, and a linden forest almost a kilometre away. And not just any linden forest, but the largest linden forest in Europe. Not just knew that bees sting and make honey, and nothing more. Since it was autumn and the spikes are not available then, I was left interested in reading books and, of course, watching YouTube channels with this topic.

Autumn has already taken off, and my father and I were preparing the ground where I could set up two beehives that I initially wanted to buy. The plot with the cottage is relatively spacious, but the configuration of the terrain is such that it is 75% in the hill. Beekeepers’ advice for beginners on forming beehives and setting up hives indicated that it was very important for the hive to look as far east as possible. The working day of bees lasts from dawn – as soon as the sun appears.

They must not be near the road or the nearest houses. We were able to confirm all these conditions. And then, preparation. Mowing, digging and arranging the driveway because we set the future location of the hives in the middle of the slope, about 15 meters from our mountain house. Apart from the beekeeper’s neighbor since I got the first two hives, I also drew inspiration from friends who have been beekeepers for a long time.

These are my friends from whom I have been buying honey for the last 7-8 years. Autumn and winter passed slowly, I mostly followed the videos of beekeepers on the Internet and some of texts that seemed interesting to me. And then, in the spring of 2018, the decision definitely fell. I asked my neighbor, who is still my mentor for beekeeping, if I could get the first hives from him. We agreed to move two hives or, as they say, two swarms of bees. In the second half of May 2018, I officially became a beekeeper. The dream began to come true.