Friday, June 10, 2011

June 7- June 9 2011 The Bees Knees

Do bees have knees?  I don't know, but I think I'm going to find out. I found the neatest book at Dickson Street Bookstore last night. It's called Plan Bee by Susan Brackney.  I've thought more and more about keeping bees over the years.  I stumbled upon this book and it reminded me that now that I'm single again, I don't have to worry about someone's family being allergic! :)  YAY!  My coworker let me know there's a hive with box and queen available for sale on Craigslist for $225. I don't really know how much they cost elsewhere. I'm not quite ready though. I'd like to learn more about it.

I had no idea that honeybees had their own subspecies.  They are in the family Apoidea, genus Apis, species mellifera. But there are categories below the mellifera designation that I did not know about.  Fascinating! For example: the German dark bee is Apis mellifera mellifera, the golden bee from Italy is Apis mellifera ligustica, a Slovenian bee called the Carniolan is Apis mellifera carnica, a bee from the Caucasus Mountains in Eastern Europe called the Caucasian honeybee is Apis mellifera caucasica, and the famous "killer" bee from Africa is Apis mellifera scutellata. They each look a little different, have different personalities, and tolerate different climates. All this information I found while reading Susan's book. I'm hooked! The way Susan writes makes Plan Bee an entertaining, easy read. So glad I found it!

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