Let this be known: As a child and well into my adult years, I HATED honey. No peanut butter and honey sandwiches, no honey on toast, no honey in tea, no honey… period! I have a huge sweet tooth, but I totally avoided honey. Although I despised honey, honey bees fascinated me, and for many years I knew that someday I would own a hive or two.

Fast forward to the summer of 2006. My oldest daughter and I were trying to “pet” the many bumble bees visiting the purple coneflowers in our yard. When asked if she would be interested in keeping honey bees, she was game, and the die was cast. She and her brother didn’t even complain when we hauled our first beehives home in the back of the family minivan. (“Middle daughter” was skeptical and remained safely at home.) The bees weren’t secured in their hives all that well. As we drove along, I had visions of abandoning the van alongside the road, the whole outer surface of the vehicle covered in bees. I told the kids they’d have a great story to tell their friends at school the next day. No complaints, despite the kids trying to reduce the surface area of their bee-suited bodies as much as possible during the half hour ride home. At that moment, I knew they had great potential as beekeepers!