Welcome to Zen and the Art of Beeing and thank you for landing here! My name is MiKayla and you can read all about my boyfriend Peter and me and the background behind Zen and the Art of Beeing, over on the About page. I’m very excited to finally launch this site, as it’s been a passion project of mine a long time in the making. There’s still some work yet to do, but now it’s down to a few small technical things, and then the fun part where I get to talk and write a bunch about bees!
Here’s what you can expect from Zen and the Art of Beeing over the coming months:
- Posts discussing things we’ve learned from our first year of backyard beekeeping (including a really fun one about the WORST first nuc ever that succumbed to EFB and likely queenlessness within 6 weeks!).
- Tips for others interested in starting beekeeping – and why you definitely should do it if you have any curiosity or desire at all.
- Glimpses into the fascinating and complex lives of bees.
- Comments and discussions (and maybe even a few friendly disagreements – after all, it’s a ‘five beekeepers, six opinions’ type of world) sparked by our posts on various topics.
- Some fun photos of our cute little bees over on the Bee Faces page (warning: there may be a few bee butts thrown in too, just for good measure).
- The launch of our handcrafted bee-inspired-products online store, which may also have pure Colorado Honey in the fall if things go well this season.
- The launch of our YouTube channel, on which we’ll eventually host “Live Hive” hive inspections where we’ll inspect our hive(s) live for you – and answer your questions in real time. If you’ve never seen a hive inspection you’re in for a real treat – it’s really cool!
- Access options to the livestream of our hive entrance where you can check in on them anytime, day or night (We recommend sunny, warm days when there’s lots of activity…it’s therapeutic watching them).
So please stay tuned for what’s to come, and feel free to be an early subscriber and/or follower (Facebook/Instagram/YouTube) for updates as I get things rolling out. It may not happen as fast as any of us would like – after all, with these tens of thousands of tiny little bee mouths to feed all winter, I do have to have a day job as well – but it will happen.
In the meantime – if you need to satisfy your bee addiction… here are a few bee related things I’ve enjoyed recently:
- This Smithsonian article is a few years old – but it’s about a sculpture with sounds and lights that change based on movements of live bees. Apparently, bees buzz in the key of C, which I found interesting!
- I get a real kick out of this comic in general – and this one about honey made me chuckle.
- Finally, I love this really cool Nat Geo Timelapse of the bee lifecycle from egg to larva to hatching (about 30 seconds in, you can even see a dreaded Varroa destructor mite!):
What would you most like to see from us as we get Zen and the Art of Beeing up and running? Anything I missed that you would love to see or read about or just be really interested in? Let me know in the comments below!
Hello,
Love your site! Is it safe to assume your days-since-last-bee-sting marker counts days only since your last accidental bee-sting and is not reset for medicinal bee stings administered for treatment of arthritis or nerve pain? Does your shop have any plans to offer vials of bee venom in the future?
Looking forward to seeing your adventures in beekeeping,
Mr. Venom
Hello Mr. Venom,
Thanks for your comment! Yes indeed – your assumption is safe. The counter marks days since accidental bee-stings. Although some people do use bee stings in a therapeutic way, neither of us purposely get ourselves stung. We don’t currently have any plans to offer bee venom for sale in our shop; if you’re interested in bee venom therapy, your best bet may be to find an experienced bee venom therapist in your area and discuss with them.
MiKayla
My Dear MiKayla& Peteriffic,I Love, LOVE,LOVE your website& congratulations on getting it launched! I know it was tons of work!But great job! Looking forward to your stories& especially live action hive inspection! though I’m really hoping for another in- person tour if it EVER warms up again in Colorado! Also looking forward to seeing Bee Faces of my many Grandbeebees!I’m so very proud of the things you chose to be deeplypassionate about& the way you so thoroughly embrace those passions-Nothing more important than caring for & sustaining our beautiful planet! and protecting our pollinators is at the very heart of those efforts!Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences & hard-earned lessons& knowledge! Who knows how many more much-needed bees may come into existence through the inspiration& support offered here!Thank you!
Aw thanks Mom! I’d be happy to give you another in person tour.
Take a look over at the bee faces page… there maaaay be some new stuff up! 😉
Thank you! The one bee “sitting on the hive”, looks as though she’s clapping!
Love the pics of bees with pollen on their legs-How did you get them to pose so well? that must be difficult to capture,butI’m so glad you did! I still can’t imagine how they can fly carrying so much on their legs-seems like that would mess with their aerodynamics.
It’s easy to capture SOMETHING good the more pics you take – so I think I took like 4-500 pics and got a few worth posting. Haha!
It is amazing how they can fly like that. They can carry up to a third of their weight in pollen!
April8
Thank you for doing a live stream hive inspection! VERY informative& should put anyone considering working with bees,completely at ease! Perhaps your calm demeanor&
careful handling kept them subdued,but they certainly were never on the verge of attacking,and from the bee’s POV you were really invading their space,so couldn’t blame them if they did-but great to see how you handled it-like any master of their craft, you made it look easy!
I also found it very interesting how the buzz symphony of the entire swarm,rose&fell in both dynamics& intensity just as if performing a great orchestrated music composition.
great job!
LLLY