Greetings to all on this list.  I hope to learn much here about bees &
beekeeping.  I have wanted to start keeping bees for at least 15 years but
I now have an irresistable motivator.  My wife who suffers from MS has
started Bee Venom Therapy (BVT).
 
Some background and questions:
        I live in the west central mountains of Idaho in a high mountain valley
(5000 feet).  The winters are looooooong and the snowpack averages 4 to 5
feet here.  A local beekeeper with 20+ years experience here says wintering
your bees here is almost impossible.  He further asserts that many years,
there can be no harvestable honey.
        Problem is;  I want to winter my bees and harvest a modest amount of
honey.  Any advise would be much appreciated.  Would like to correspond
with others who experience such conditions (email or snailmail).
        Would also like advise on what type of bees, hive setups, equipment to
use. (I plan to start with 4 hives plus an observation hive.  Would greatly
appreciate advise on setting up an indoor (observation?) hive to facilitate
obtaining of worker bees for BVT.
        I am in a very tight financial situation just now and am gleaning every
bit of free info possible.  Later on I plan to buy a couple of good
reference books when I can.  I have a need to inform myself as much as
possible now though because I am told that I must get in my orders for bee
packages and equipment as soon as possible.  I am still in the process of
searching the internet for info and any good URLs for a beginner would be
appreciated.
 
        Thanks for allowing me to post this barrage of questions.  You must get
weary of breathless novices begging for advise.  I will now sit back and
listen and stay out of the way of the adults!   :)
 
 
Mitakuye Oyasin
Joseph "Two Shadows" Keto