For over a year now, I have been compiling a myriad of reasons why his crazy idea would never work.
Bears, moose, skunks, raccoons and a hundred other varmints live in them thar mountains!
And every one of them would love a tasty snack of honey and bees. Not to mention the cold summer evening mountain temperatures, strong winds, and lack of a beekeeper constantly watching over them. Gladly he ignored my misgivings and a few weeks ago placed Mama Meesh and her hive of honeybees high in the Cache Wasatch National Forest on property belonging to our very good friends.
Scott and Dean believe the wildflowers and the snowberry bush will make delicious honey. Seriously, if you were a bee wouldn't you want to live here?
After a two week settling in period, it was time to check on the bees to see whether they had even survived the move. Just the two of us made the drive into the mountain property that day...where a lovely light breeze scattered the scent of the forest around us. The afternoon was nothing short of a spiritual experience.
What we found was a busy thriving hive. The girls were actively flying in and out with bright yellow pollen filling the sacks on their tiny legs. Pollen is immediate sustenance for hard-working bees.
Mostly likely they were gathering it from this bright yellow mountain flower along with sweet sugary nectar. Using a straw-like proboscis, the worker bee drinks the liquid nectar, storing it in a special honey sack (almost like a honey tummy) within her body. The bee continues to forage, visiting hundreds of flowers until the honey sack is full when she brings it back to the hive.
Approaching the hive, we immediately noticed the absence of guard bees protecting the entrance. They usually zig and zag into your face. This hive was completely and inexplicably docile.
Even after opening the hive and moving frames around, Dean declared it to be the happiest beehive he's ever seen.
Signs of brood on this frame
and many others indicate the hive is expanding mightily
Sweet sugary nectar is already making the transition to delectable mountain honey.
I watched him methodically go about his work...
searching for the illusive Queen Mama Meesh
and placing the next honey super on.
Dreaming of harvesting the amber colored ambrosia next fall.
The face of a very happy beekeeper who should never listen to his wife!
The beekeeper and I sat on that mountain for quite some time and absorbed the magnificent vista. Casually he pointed out a grove of Quaken Aspen trees at the very tip top of the mountain overlooking the bees...Jocie's mountain. Her monument lies in that bright green grove. And her spirit wafts continually through these trees both winter and summer. It's no wonder that Mama Meesh is content and thriving with Jocie the beekeeper magnificently watching over her.
And then I couldn't help but giggle as I envisioned fifteen-year old Jocie and her girlfriend Lindsay frolicking among the trees that live here!
