As a beekeeper and instructor, it is my long-term goal to get as many people into urban beekeeping as each city can support. I've developed a hard sell that I have taken to pitching at anyone who seems even remotely interested in hearing it. While having your own brand of honey is going to be a top reason for most, there are plenty of other selling points. Beekeeping has, for me, been one of the most fun and engaging things I've ever gotten tangled up in. To that, here are my top 10 reasons to become a beekeeper.
10. You can threaten people you don't like with a handful of bees in the face and they won't think you are joking.
9. You'll have even more friends to say hello to on the street... about 40,000 more!
8. You get to be known as the "crazy beekeeper friend" by your peers, which gives you carte blanche to act like a nut.
7. You'll end up with superior upper body strength from lifting honey supers and carrying them up and down rickety ladders.
6. People will think you're a total badass when you say "Getting stung doesn't even hurt anymore" in response to the question "Do you get stung a lot?"
5. Beeswax! Smear this stuff all over your body and you might just live forever!
4. Propolis and bee pollen! Consume this stuff daily and you might just live forever! (both 4 and 5 are strictly anecdotal coming from me, though apitherapist actually use these substances to heal people and animals!)
3. Beekeepers have lower cancer rates than most other occupations! Cancer sucks. Bees are awesome. 'Nuff said.
2. Drinking a beer in a lawn chair watching the bees come in at night is pretty much the most relaxing thing ever.
1. As a treatment-free beekeeper, you'll be helping honeybees adapt via natural selection to the multitude of new disease and environmental pressures out there! You CAN save the bees, even as a hobbyist!
Obviously, the honey and pollination are tremendous aspects of being a beekeeper and go without saying. They are the most important, but if you were unaware of the other perks, now you know!
You're welcome!
Follow Megan Paska on Twitter: www.twitter.com/bkhomesteader
Not going to repeat that faux pas; I'm linking it and giving credit to the funders for my kickstarter where I'm getting people to adopt bee hives at community gardens, organic farms, public parks in Boston and up into NH. I've added it as someone pointed out I'm a little dry, geeky, technical, and detail overloading, thought humor mixed with, education/enlightenment would be nice.
Hope your fine with linking it.
Kagen Weeks
Hive At Your Home (on Kickstarter, check it out if interested and grateful if you pass along)
Congratulations of the article, a fun list you have there. We don't have many rooftop beekeepers close to where I live as most of the roofs slope :)
Interesting link for item 3, I must follow that up and see what the research says.
Best wishes
Stewart
(Twitter @UKHoneyBeeMan)
We are the problem.
It's been a fascinating hobby so far. It's not all fun and games, of course. It's a little nerve-wracking for a beginner to open a hive for the first time, but it becomes easier as you learn to trust your equipment and listen to the bees.
This isn't about bees, but I thought of you when I read this brilliant book review by Mark Lilla. He's reviewing a book on the history of conservatism, which he feels isn't much of a book, but then he proceeds to write a brilliant summary of what conservatism is and what it has morphed into in the present-day republican party -- essentially a nihilistic revolutionary philosophy that has little to do with traditional conservatism. It's fairly heavy going at times, but I think you'll find it EXTREMELY interesting. -- Cheers, p.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jan/12/republicans-revolution/
You're right that the review captures a lot my feelings about today's conservatism and what it's become. I believe that both conservatives and progressives are necessary to maintain a healthy society. My conservative compadres believe... Well, you've seen that stuff yourself.