Why Bees?



Me with my papa.

I suppose I should start out with the question I get asked a lot here recently...why bees? Most people who know me understand that I love to garden and enjoy piddling around in my yard (and they love the fact that whenever they want lettuce or a few tomatoes they know who to call!) What people may not know, however, is just HOW MUCH I love to garden. At a very young age I can remember walking with my papa in his own garden and listening to him sing and pray and talk to his plants. I can remember him pointing out different plants and explaining the importance of having a place where one could come to and feel at peace with the world around them. Watching him as I grew up instilled in me a deep love of gardening and of the actual garden itself. There are times very early in the morning when I walk alone in my garden that I would swear to you it is something almost magical. It is so peaceful and serene that I feel it would be disrespectful to speak out loud when I'm there. So for me, the idea of bees came not necessarily out of a desire to "be a beekeeper" but more out of a love of my garden and an understanding of the importance of bees to our own existence.

So...fast forward to about two years ago when I first began "Phase 1" of what my husband not so lovingly calls the Garden Project That Never Ends...and I began having these visions of living solely off of what I could grow in my little raised bed garden. While I haven't gotten quite THERE yet, I did discover along the way that if I was truly interested in increasing the yield of my garden then there was one thing I absolutely MUST have in my garden. Yep, you guessed it, BEES.

And so the journey began...




The beginning of Phase 1 back in 2009.
 



Phase 1 Present Day.