Gene Ash writes:

> The upside> many of my nuc customers here are older couples that
> have acquired some bit of property in the country.  The first year
> the man is in charge but by season two 'the lady of the house' is
> totally in charge.  Beyond the chuckle I have when I witness this
> directly....

You certainly made me smile.  My companion and I decided together to
try the beekeeping experiment (as I said, with professionals taking
care of the hive initially and showing us the ropes).  At first he
was more gung ho and I was somewhat nervous, but the division of tasks
is now that I do the learning and deciding and tracking, he does the
heavy lifting, I do the "general" observations of how much brood,
pollen, honey, etc is on the frames, but he looks for eggs, since
my eyesight isn't so great.

So in a sense I'm the brains and he's the brawn, though that's
perhaps a bit of an unfair generalization.  He *is* interested in
learning about the bees, but he'd rather have me slog through the
textbooks and keep up with the magazines, and just let him know
what's applicable to our hive or what's generally interesting.
And when it comes time to perform "cleaning" tasks such as scraping
extra propolis and burr comb, that's me.  :-/  Oh, and counting
varroa on the sticky board.  I use a 2x OptiVisor, middle age
being what it is, and sometimes when I'm not sure, I spot check
myself with a 15x stereo microscope which I bought second-hand on
an impulse decades ago, and finally have a use for!

Some women buy shoes on impulse.  I buy a microscope, what a nerd!  ;-)

> it does give me the idea that beekeeping for these
> folks is something they do as a couple

That's us!

> and if they have children or grandchildren often times they are
> also involved in the process.

No kids, but quite a few friends and neighbours have come to observe
us inspecting a hive.  Explaining and demonstrating to them solidifies
our knowledge and is enjoyable for all concerned.  People really are
extremely interested and amazed, and I feel privileged to be able to
give them the experience of getting close to our bees and seeing the
inside of a hive.

> All eventually mention to me directly that learning something new
> is not only a challenge but also a large benefit of learning to be a
> beekeeper.

At one point I looked back at all the reading I had done, and realized
that at some level I probably miss the intense learning of being a
student, and have taken the opportunity to study again.  It's been,
and continues to be, very intersting.

> IMHO anything that build family and social connection is a benefit
> that is difficult on which to place a $ value.

Very true!


Anne.
-- 
Ms. Anne Bennett, as a private citizen:  [log in to unmask]
Also reachable more officially at work:  [log in to unmask]

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