Yesterday I met with a gal named Tracy to pick up some honey since I’ve missed the Saturday Market the last 2 weeks.

Tracy is a retired teacher and owns Willow Wood Honey Farm in Athol.

She she loves bees, honey, lotions, and also basket making.

👩‍🦳💛🐝 🍯 🧴 🍞 =

I'm totally fangirling!

We met in the parking lot of Red Robin and because of the time of day, it was nearly empty, so we stayed in our cars to make the exchange -it seemed all suspicious. I laughed because if I were doing something suspicious I probably wouldn’t be driving a bright orange car with matching hair.

Tracy was incredibly helpful and encouraging! She indulged my many questions, made some suggestions about people to contact, and also informed me that she sells fully equipped bee boxes in the late winter/ early spring right before the bees come. The price that she quoted me was very similar to what I’ve seen, and so I’m very excited to support her local business.

We talked a lot about the most common pest for honeybees, varroa mites. There are a lot of different philosophies when it comes to treating (or not treating) honeybees for these mites and with her clarification on what she does and why, I will definitely follow that example.

We laughed as we discussed the different philosophies in how people approach beekeeping, we both compared it to religion. It seriously feels like I’m supposed to pick a “religion” when I start beekeeping!

Well, I’m a Christian, but when it comes to beekeeping, I’m going the Buddhist route.

👩🏻‍🦰 + ✝️ = ❤️ 🐝 + ☸️ = 🍯

When I got home, I loaded up on eating the honey I bought- I needed my fix!

Philip complained that I keep leaving honey on the counter I need to clean up after myself. I said that I have been making a conscious effort to do that, but honey is just messy. He then pointed out a small honey spot that I missed, and so I did what any reasonable person would do- I took the honey bottle I was holding and smeared honey on his hand. Then, realizing the natural consequence of my recent action, I decided the best next move was to run into the other room. I was safe, and I think we both learned a lesson.

I think that my next step towards beekeeping is indeed to clean up a certain part of my yard and add some features so that it will be ready for hives. I want to create a BEE OASIS!

I have some grand ideas, but I’m not exactly into landscaping, especially when it comes to things like adding water access to that side of the house, leveling the ground, and adding pavers/rocks/gravel/cement to that section.

I think what I need is to have a beekeeper tell me where the best placement of the hives will be, I contacted a guy that Tracy suggested and we're chatting, so we'll see if he's the guy for that or what. I then need to talk to my friends who knows a bit more about landscaping and decide what I really could do in the next couple months for next spring. If any of y’all are into that kind of thing, please let me know because there will be wonderful rewards for you in the future if you help me set up my bees!!

🙋‍♂️👷💪 🚧 🧱 ⛺⛲️ = 🐝= 🍯🍯🍯