BeeHavioral Health Indeed – A New Beekeeper Journey

Nicki and I are both Nurses, we work in ER and Critical Care. I’ve been at it for 32 years, and Nicki’s been at it long enough to know that it takes a serious effort to create a healthy work-life balance when you work in health care these days. One of things I most regret is that I didn’t discover this love for bees when I was MUCH younger. Whether it would have changed my career path early on, or just provided me with a healthy dose of peaceful outdoors time with these amazing insects i’m not sure. But the goal now is to build a business that will replace my income in 5-6 years. Yes, we are probably crazy. Experienced beekeepers will tell us (do tell us) that we’re absolutely crazy. That’s ok.

When you start reading about beekeeping, watching youtube videos, and attending local beekeeper meetings you generally hear “start out with two hives, so you can compare them”. Rarely will anyone tell you to start with more than that. Bees are expensive when you’re getting started, and you’re likely to lose them your fist year unless you are either luck or have a great mentor there to keep you on the right track. But we want to grow our apiary quickly, very quickly. So we are starting out with 10 nucs. Four golden cordovan nucs that we will pick up on April 17th, and 6 local overwintered nucs from a local beekeeper around the same time.

We spent all winter purchasing equipment, painting, waxing frames, and being shocked at how much it actually costs! We also read every book we could find, listened to podcasts and youtube beekeepers for hours, and joined our local bee club. We have a friend who’s been kind enough to let us help with his hives which we loved. But still, we are newbees.

But, I’m also determined and a tad stubborn. Nicki is the smart one. More cautious and absolutely more financially intelligent. Together, we are going to give recreating our own lives here on the meadow together a go, focusing more on fun, happiness, our kids and our grandkids with an undertanding that laughter is always the best medicine, and all pain ends………eventually!

We’re calling the Podcast and the Blog BeeHavioral Health, and trust me when I say that word (albeit spelled differently) has a lot to do with what brought us to this place. As Nurses, dealing with Behaviors that most people just wouldn’t believe if you told them about, has taken a toll on us. We’re fighting back with hope and determination.