It start out innocently enough . You rent a local beekeeper install a duet of hives in the recession of your pace . One mean solar day , you picked up a couple of bee - friendly plants at the local nursery … just for fun . After all , the garden needed a little sprucing up .

The next thing you know , you ’re redesign that corner of your yard to be fully bee - centric , including a weewee characteristic make especially as a boozing place for bees , and the meaning of the Scripture “ smoker , ” “ skeletal frame , ” “ drone ” and “ super ” is completely different they what used to .

This is how it begins .

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A photo posted by Fox&Wolf Honey ( @fox_and_wolf_honey)onNov 11 , 2015 at 11:02am PST

You are on the path to becoming a full - on bee geek . That ’s correct : A Beek . How can you narrate for sure ? Well …

1. Equipment Obsession

You ’re get going to think that oversize , laborious clean clothing is pretty aphrodisiac , and the Mann Lake catalogue has supplant that novel you were scan . Who cares about some dumb love narration when there is a cut-rate sale on bottom boards on Thomas Nelson Page 33 ?

2. Accessory Overload

For your natal day , you get 15 different bee - determine jewellery items and a mug that says “ Bee Happy . ”

A photo post by The Lovely Handmade ( @thelovelyhandmade)onNov 7 , 2015 at 1:35pm PST

3. Food Perception

You think of small-grained refined sugar primarily as a treatment for Varroa mites or else of as a delicious topping for bundt cake .

4. Knowledge Shift

You to the full understand the pro and bunco of Langstroth , top measure and Warré hives , but you have hassle telling Jennifer Anniston and Gwyneth Paltrow apart .

5. Bee-Guided Fandom

Since you discover thatbassist Flea is now a apiculturist , you have become a rabid Red Hot Chili Peppers fan . Morgan Freeman is a beekeeper too , buteveryoneknows that .

6. Fandom Fugue

Thinking thateveryoneknows Morgan Freeman is a beekeeper .

7. Myopia

You are no longer speaking to your neighbour following a heated contravention over the Flow Hive .

8. One-Way Conversations

You mistake the glazed expression on your Friend ’ front for fascination as you talk about neonicotinoid insect powder . Also , the word “ glazed ” reminds you of honey .

9. Tiny Rescues

If you find a lost bee in the star sign in the middle of the night , you carry it back out to the beehive in your bare feet , talking gently to it the entire time .

A photo posted by @meganpowell122onNov 9 , 2015 at 2:50pm PST

10. More Myopia

You occupy about nucs more than nuclear warhead .

11. Ongoing Misunderstandings

You lecture so much about whether to buy Caucasians , Italians or Russians that the old gentlewoman across the street thinks you are into human trafficking . You seek to explicate these are just bee form , but she has turn off her auditory sense financial aid .

12. Technical Obsession

You ’ve gone from one of those people who refers to all flying insects with stingers as “ bees ” to someone who can severalise a paper wasp from a yellow jacket from a bee in full flight of stairs .

So there you have it . You no longer tippytoe gingerly around the hive , and you have filled your integral yard with lavender , catmint , bee balm , borage , snapdragons and Citrus limon balm . Beekeeping manuals and catalogue compensate your coffee tree tabular array , and you pass hour watching your hive instead of the television , trying to trace the mystery of the waggle tail dancing .

This , of course , is just the beginning . If you do n’t block now , you ’ll be articulatio genus deep in bee paraphernalia and will speak only in complex beekeeping jargon in no time .

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Embracing Your Inner Beek

A photo post by Hilary Kearney ( @girlnextdoorhoney)onOct 22 , 2015 at 6:21pm PDT

All joke away , beekeeping is a fascinating and challenging by-line , requiring deliberate education and training and diligent beehive direction . Ill - managed hives can do more damage than undecomposed . It ’s a great idea to start out in partnership with an experienced beekeeper , join your local beekeeping organization , and spend a good foresighted time familiarize yourself with the intricacies regard in maintain a healthy and felicitous bee population before investing in the necessary equipment ( and bees ! )

Before you essay your first hive , ensure you fully realize the commitment and the pros and cons . Most beekeeping arrangement tender classes or information session that can be exceedingly helpful in deciding if you want to stick to “ hosting ” a hive finagle by an expert , or take off down the route toward becoming one yourself . If you decide to specify up your own hives , join your local organization can also give you memory access to expensive extracting equipment , equipment discount rate , liberal workshops , newssheet and a community of experts who are only too willing to talk bee until the itty-bitty hours . You ’ll learn what equipment you really need , the good place to get it , how to do by hive problem , and good of all , you ’ll be surrounded by your fellow Beeks — and no one ’s middle will glaze over if you strike up a conversation about neonicotinoid insect powder .