Yes, this is a rant. I’ve been putting if off because it made me so angry I had to distance myself in order to write coherently. My daughter’s two-year-old recently came home from daycare and announced, “Bees will hurt you.” Not only that, she began stomping on any insect she saw, particularly ants. My daughter […] Read more
I write this with one eye swollen shut. My neck is as wide as my ears, and I look a lot like a football player, right down to the eye black. And no, I’m not allergic to bee stings: this is normal. I had no labored breathing, weakness in the knees, or rapid heart. And […] Read more
Bee stings are not so bad: a sharp jab, poker-hot pain, the urge to swear, throbbing pressure, gradual dissipation. Before you know it, it’s all gone but the itch. Why, then, is the anticipation so much worse? Two weeks ago I met with a beekeeper who had been working all winter to design and build […] Read more
After I posted “How to get stung 22 times in one place,” many beekeepers and gardeners wrote in with suggestions for dressing bee stings. I decided to put all these remedies in one place, so people can find them. This is a work in progress, so be sure to leave your favorite remedy in the […] Read more
Whenever I mention that I got stung 22 times in one place, someone asks, “How did you do it?” as if it were a special skill of some sort. Truth to tell, it was quite easy. It was a warm April morning that smelled of earthworms and spring onions. Stellar jays screamed at each other, […] Read more
Remember the swarm that stayed in a tree for four days before I retrieved it seven times? Well, yesterday—eleven days after it moved into the bait hive—I recalled that the top brood box was missing a frame. I decided to put one in there before the bees filled the empty slot with comb attached to […] Read more
The short answer is that I, too, would turn nasty if you were trying to kill me. The longer answer is that when you do something that threatens your bees, alarm pheromone is emitted into the air by the endangered bees as they attempt to sting you. The pheromone, which is a mixture of highly […] Read more