Today, my little girl and I spent the day at the Indiana Beekeepers’ Association’s Beginner Beekeeping School. It was the first time that days lined up to allow it, and she’s been asking for a couple of years when we might start keeping bees.

Way more money than I had to spare later …

Looks like we’re starting this spring.

In the back of my car is the woodenware for a conventional 8-frame hive, and I have a “scratch and dent” 6-frame (which is based on the 8-frame) Flow Hive on order. I’ve ordered a 3lb package of bees from the local club, and today at the bee school, I also ordered (from a local apiary) a 5-frame nuc. The recommendation is apparently to run two hives, as a minimum, as that gives you the best chances of success. The experienced keepers there said it was perfectly fine to mix-and-match how you set them up. They DID recommend a second deep for the Flow, because Indiana gets too cold for the bees to be safe over the winter otherwise.

Little Girl unabashedly saw the beekeeping gear and talked to every vendor who had some, asking if they had anything that would fit her. I was still in “search and determine what we’re doing” mode when she pinned down the ONLY one that would fit her among all of the vendors. We also got me a beekeeping jacket-with-hood (and I did not have a bad reaction to the veil part being closed up over my head. I was … prepared … to panic, but didn’t, and almost cried when I didn’t).