Honey Harvest

At the very end while we were loading supers full of honey into my truck, the family and neighbors all came home at the same time and descended on us. Honestly, the whole sharing of the bee kingdom with so many people stresses me out. I like things to be quiet and solitary, but so far, each bee adventure has been shared with at least three other people and sometimes more, all vying for a good view or to hold the frames or to peer inside. People stand in the wrong spots, drop frames of bees, squish them in the boxes while returning frames to the brood. One guy does not like to wear his veil and he has long hair so I worry he is going to get bees in his hair and get stung badly. There is a teen who is forced to get close when she does not want to and she got stung on the forehead last time and now is extra scared. It is very chaotic and not relaxing at all. I miss the days of the quiet hum of the bees, the smell of wood smoke and the clear blue sky as company.

I have to figure out some way to keep it more simple and peaceful and to make space for the family's enthusiasm and interest. I mean, they are so kind and generous to let me put the hives in their garden and they pay for half the equipment, so I need to find a way for all of us to get what we want out of this situation.