Unfortunately, the varroa mite is a very real threat to the honey bee population. And it's a good thing I didn't know too much about this very tiny but evil parasite before I got into beekeeping or it might have made me think twice. But with some work on the part of the beekeeper, ye can keep these pests at bay. The varroa mite exists only in honey bee colonies. It attaches itself to the bodies of the honey bees and sucks off of them. A large infestation of mites will cause the death of the honey bee colony. For...

All the hard work of my bees culminated in lots of oohs and ahhs as I harvested my first honey at home in the kitchen. From my two hives, I had about 11 full frames of honey. This gave me a total of 12 kg when all was said and done. woo hoo! But it was an all-day process getting to this liquid gold. First, how to get the bees out of the honey super?! Don't forget to have an extra beehive box ready. I removed the frames from the honey super one by one, brushing the bees off as...

Well, actually, it's more of a calendar for the beekeeper. The bees already know when they need to do what. As a new beekeeper, I want to make sure I don't miss anything. So here's my attempt at organizing the bee year in a handy to-do list. The beekeeping year has two halves, divided by the solstice (the summer solstice on June 21 and the winter solstice around December 22), when the sun is either at it's northern or it's southern most point in relation to the equator. For all of us in the northern hemisphere, we are just looking...

After successfully completing my bee class last year, I've been busy researching exactly which hive to get, which accessories are absolutely necessary (and which are nice to have) and where to put my hive. I decided on two German Normal eleven-frame hives that I painted white. And I put them right smack on my terrace, although a terrace we do not use regularly. With all this preparation work finally coming to an end, I need to focus on what my tasks will be once I have somewhere between 20,000 and 80,000 bees per hive.     1. Should the hive...

For those of you in need of some last minute Christmas inspiration, how about the gift of time? Specifically 24 hours in my absolute favorite city, Paris. All you need to do is arrange your transportation, print out my itinerary and surprise someone. 24 hours isn't much time so let's not waste it standing in lines. Come with me and discover the not so discovered Paris.     If arriving by plane at CDG airport, the easiest (and quickest; just 40 minutes) way to get into the city is to take the RER B city train directly from the airport....