March 9th, a sunny Tuesday afternoon. Ilan, Kyle and I piled into the car for the short drive to SPUD to pick up the shipment of bee equipment- a pallet full! When we arrived at the loading dock, Dave was unloading a milk truck- he stopped to give Ilan (aka Superman) a ride on his dolly, as they zoomed around the warehouse space, Kyle and I found Andria and asked her to show us the pallet.

Yay! It has arrived! I looked at the carefully packaged shipment and tried to ascertain if everything was there. This chest height pile of stuff was the results of hours of research- making lists, finding suppliers, checking and rechecking everything and quite a few moments of soul searching- foundation or no foundation? Standard size or smaller? Langstroth hives at all?

As I put this order together I came to the realization that there are many ways to work with bees. After an initial year of learning the basics, I am now plotting my own course. With this order, decisions were made; this summer I will observe the results and with luck apply this information forwards.

Andria arrived with the manual pallet-lifter, and wheeled the pallet over to the edge of the loading dock. She used her utility knife to cut away the layers of plastic wrap holding everything together. I grabbed the packing slip. Kyle backed Flea-in the Key up to the loading dock, and we started loading Flea up- even Superman came over to give us a hand.

The unfinished wood shone in the sunlight, the smell of the beeswax coated bottom boards and telescoping covers was heavenly. I couldn’t wait to get everything home safely, and inspect it all to make sure everything was there and in one piece.

This voluminous pile of wood, metal, and wax, now carefully tucked away in the corner of our living room is a first step in the physical incarnation of this project. In a few short months, these knocked down hives will be assembled and buzzing with activity in the backyards of their lucky new owners. I can’t wait!