Last weekend, I had the privilege of taking pictures of my friend Jennifer Pepper and her honeybees. It was perfect timing, too, with the fall colors in full swing in the background. It was just beautiful.
The delicate handling and treatment of each hive is fascinating. To Jennifer, these bees are her “girls” and she treats each one of them with the respect they deserve. Ironically, she’s allergic to bees, but that does not phase her. I even watched her provide sugar water to one bee on her bare fingers. Amazing. For some reason, I was pretty unafraid of the bees. The bees seemed to be humming, Jennifer was calmly talking through the whole step-by-step process, the sun was shining through the trees – it all seemed pretty laid back to me, which was true 99% of the time.
The other 1% of the time consisted of an angry bee that stung me on my neck and then preceded to get stuck in my hair. I did exactly what Jennifer said NOT to do if a bee attacks – which was basically FREAK OUT! I’m so sorry, Jennifer.
Despite my awkward freak out, it was a great afternoon of being a part of the honeybees.
Thank you for inviting me…and thanks for the honey, too!
Photos
