Good morning. Happy Saturday. I am sooooo excited to have a pretty much “no commitment day”. It has been about two weeks since I have had one of these. 😀
For Saturday Snapshot today I though it would be fun to bring up something I talked about a couple of years ago but recently revisited…
Bees.
A couple of years ago my friend Amanda took on the adventure of raising bees and harvesting pure organic honey. Always fascinated with anything buzzy, shiny… I was in on that deal. I was thrilled when she invited me over to help her out:
By spending a day with her, I learned so much about bees and bee keeping…. for one… it is a heck of a lot of work:
The bee boxes – that she builds herself are filled with slats for bees to build their honey.
You put the bees into the boxes and they will weave themselves in and out of the slots and trays where they will be making honey.
Every bee box needs a queen and you add her to the box just as seen here, in this little box that will have a marshmallow on the end. In about three days the bees will eat the marshmallow and the Queen will be set free to run her hive. Crazy and fascinating stuff! At the time of this picture Amanda was purchasing her queens, but she has since learned to create her own which is a talent not many of the bee people have which gives her a bit of a notch up.
Above I showed you what a new bee box looks like, but this one is a well used box where bees have been busy doing their thing. In this pic Amanda is looking for the Queen. II felt a need a to capitalize, after all.. she is the queen. 😉
It has been two years now since Amanda has started and her business is buzzing (sorry couldn’t resist!) They now have a website called Buck’s Busy Bee’s and she travels between here in Central Minnesota to Florida where her bees are being used to help pollinate fruit trees.
This past week their family was in a bit of a crisis with the sudden unexpected loss of a grandmother. Amanda had 15,000 bee frames to make by today to be loaded on a truck that leaves tomorrow morning. With the additional things going on this week she was unsure how she would ever make it happen. Myself as well as a whole team of relatives and friends went over to her home on Wednesday and we made bee frames and bee boxes. I only took one picture while I was there – but I wish I would have taken more of everyone working together to make deadline. It really was a cool thing to see and I learned something new… how to build the bee box frames. 😀
As the frames are glued… I was covered in it! It was a good time though and I was happy to help. I hope to get out there more this year and help her. This fall I will be writing an article about Amanda and the bees for Her Voice magazine. I am happy to share her story 🙂
Book Journey 
Bees! Interesting post, very interesting. I’d like to hear more about how she makes her queens. I thought they were a special kind of bee. Obviously, I know nothing about beekeeping.
By the way, I love the new photo you’ve been posting of yourself.
I am still learning 🙂 Thanks about the photo 🙂
Great bee story! When I was a kid, we had bees in the almond orchards, so I am familiar with some of these aspects…but only as an observer. Thanks for sharing…and here’s MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST
I am looking forward to learning more Laurel 🙂
That would have been a cool experience to get up and close with the bees. We had a honey farm a few hours from home that had tours through to the hives in a little train and they opened up the hives to show you but being able to assist would be even better. Thanks for sharing the story.
Sure! I loved the hands on experience!
What a great story!! I really enjoyed this. Bees are so very important to our world and its delicate infrastructure and to see someone who loves and cares for them truly blessed my heart, tell your friend I think she is awesome 🙂
I will tell her 🙂
Thank you. God bless you lots, keep up the Great work 🙂
Wow, this is amazing. Must take some courage to do that. Looks like a ‘risky business’. Thanks for showing us all these rare photos!
Thanks 🙂 I love helping her 😉
I remember the first time you posted about the bees, and wondered how it was going and if you’d been back. I’m glad things are going well for her and that she has awesome friends and family to help out in a pinch!
Sorry to hear about the grandmother!
OMG I’ve always wanted to do this. I love what a full life you live chica. You’re like my idol.
What an interesting post! I’m delighted to hear about an up-and-coming bee farm. A while back, there was serious concern about bees dying. I hope that situation has improved. We rely on them to pollinate our crops!
What an interesting post. I bet the honey is delicious.
What an amazing experience to be part of- from learning about bees, to helping your friend.
I have always thought being a beekeeper would be fascination, even a little scary. I don’t much like bees in my garden, ( think I need the whole complete outfit) but know they are essential. Thanks for your story.
Wow that sounds amazing. Bees kind of freak me out, but still what a wonderful adventure.
Such a cool experience for you! AND you’re a good friend to step up and help get those frames made for your friend! God on you!
Wow. What a cool experience! I couldn’t do it myself (I had a bad reaction to my ;ast bee stomg a few years ago) but it is so great you were able to get so up close and personal. And you all were so great to help her when she needed you!
This looks like an amazing experience. I would have been afraid of getting stung, but I guess that’s what the coverup is for. 🙂
Have a great week.
Your photos are fantastic. Love the closeup of the bees.
quite locally where we walk our dog there are a line of bee hives, under trees, seemingly minding their own business. It’s funny to think that within the four walls a load of magic is happening