May 2026 Apiary Update

May is a special month here in the apiary.  Not only are our ladies busy ramping up, building comb and gathering nectar but we have a couple of reasons to celebrate.  First up, Mother's Day!  The photo on the main page of the email of the woman crouching down is my mom, Joan.  Her brother kept bees, and she had never talked about caring for them so when she sent this photo it was a true surprise to me!  In this top photo my mom is in the background and the girl in white is my aunt, Jean.  The bottom photo is my great-grandmother, my maternal grandfather's mother.  Note she's checking out a swarm in a housedress and little more.  Guess I get some fearlessness from her!

The second reason we celebrate May here is because it's our anniversary.  You can read our bio on the website (and see a cute photo from our trip to Italy a couple of years ago), but here's the Cliff's Notes version.  We met in culinary school, moved to Naples, FL, and started careers in the hospitality industry.  That took a couple of winding paths for us, so today our "real" jobs are as a surgery scheduler (me), and working for the state of Florida (him).  About 4 years ago I told him we should get bees, but that it would be his project.  So much for that.  Then we got 3 hives and I told him that was enough.  So much for that.  It grew to 6, 9, then 12 hives, and each time I said, "that's enough".  So much for that.   Today we are happier than we have ever been, building the food forest, and tending our bees while building a business serving all of you fine folks.  It's a lot of hard work, but we thrive on that, and wouldn't have it any other way.  Happy 22nd Anniversary, and many more to come to my favorite Chief Apiarist!