Gill Jacobson sent us this photo of his wife’s close-knit family of bees. Both Gill and Jane are advocates for bee conservation, and Jane is seldom seen without her “Save the Bees” medallion.
Jane found the instructions for her project in a knitting magazine and decided to send one bee to each of their children and grandchildren as a way of reminding them of the importance of pollinators. As soon as they were delivered, it seemed everybody wanted one.
Unfortunately, Jane ‘s health took a turn for the worse and she is now unable to knit like she used to, but she’s still a champion for the bees.
Flowers for the bees
In the meantime Gill, who is in his 70s, stopped working their small family farm and orchard in Oregon in order to care for his wife. Now however, he is thinking of turning to planting flowers for the pollinators and perhaps doing a bit of beekeeping in a horizontal hive. Gill says:
“The wild bees kept us in veggies and fruit all the time that I gardened, and now we need to pay them back.”
Gill says he doesn’t know a thing yet, but he’s getting ready to start this coming spring. For starters, he joined the email list here at Honey Bee Suite. How can I argue with that!
Thanks to you both for sharing your story. Don’t forget to send us some photos come spring. We want to see all those flowers!
Rusty
Honey Bee Suite
Is Gill just a bit crazy? If he’s not, I don’t see how this beekeeping thing can possibly work out.
Roberta,
Everyone who keeps bees is a bit crazy, as you well know.
They are ‘little cuties’. At the craft shows they can make a small fortune on them. I bet they would sell out in a few minutes. She should teach one of the grandchildren to make them. At the one craft show, this lady made some bee pot holders and she sold out w/in the hour and had to go home !!!!!! She also had them made like hens. So things of that nature sell fast at shows. They brighten up a kitchen. If she put hangers on them, people could hang them here and there. Great little idea !
“We’re ALL crazy here” …the Cheshire cat! It’s a prerequisite to beekeeping.
Anyone that keeps thousands, if not millions of stinging insects in their backyard has got to be just a little bit crazy. I’ll wear that badge with honor.
The garden is beautiful! and so are the knitted bees!