She Said

I’ve always been interested in nature and this is just a great way of being together with animals. They’re pretty easy pets. They’re really easy pets, actually. And you have a lot of them.
- Mery Molenaar

One of the things I think I’ll learn from this hobby is more patience. I just want to do it right and there doesn’t seem to be an easy way! It takes experience and exposure and patience.
- Patricia Butler

Maybe, now that I think about it, there’s something spiritual about being out there with those bees… You really see there’s something controlling things, you know. And they’re alive! That’s my definition of spirituality, to be alive and get involved. You sense that in nature, don’t you?
- Marge McLellan

When a bee comes back to the hive she doesn’t put the honey in the comb herself, she gives it to somebody else, then another bee will process it or put it away. They share things. They live together. They’re helping each other.
- Mery Molenaar

When I first started keeping bees I was giving honey away. I got the feeling after a year or so that I’d walk into a room and people would say, “Oh, here she comes with her honey.” So I decided I’m not going to do that anymore and started charging for it. As soon as [...]

What I’ve found expecially interesting and difficult is just understanding the bees, beginning to become comfortable with their rhythms and of course, having them comfortable with me, things you can’t really teach. There’s a great deal of this activity that you simply have to experience.
- Patricia Butler

It’s funny how many beekeepers I’ve met and talked to recently who don’t actually eat very much honey. And I don’t eat very much honey.
My whole reason for bees is more because I love bees and I want to have a place for them and I love having them in my backyard. I [...]

When you take the lid off of that box there’s a kind of benevolence that comes from it… you know, just the amount of food they make, their generosity… is really kind of astounding. They’re just so sisterly and I think that really comes through in their work and in their presence and [...]

This spring our pussy willow was blooming and it was covered, completely covered with bees… And it was beautiful. At that point they were so busy getting the pollen… that they weren’t bothering me at all. It’s different from being in the hive. If you open up their hive they can get [...]

I’m a beekeeper. Um hmm… The bees keep me.
– Marge McLellan

I’m a gardener. I came to the bees from the garden, you know, just wanted to know more about pollination. I don’t ever remember not wanting to keep bees.
- Julie Finley