OUR BEGINNER'S COURSE: THE AFTERMATH

摘要

Each year our Association holds a course for would-be beekeepers. As I was retired and therefore had plenty of time with nothing at all to do, I was elected to organise and run it, which I very happily did for several years. One course, held a few years ago, comprised 25 'students' from a wide cross-section of society: there was a wealthy property developer and a retired army Colonel. There was an elderly couple who had no intention of keeping bees but wanted to learn about them. There was a very 'green' herbal practitioner who wanted to add bee products to his range of cures. There was a retired headmaster. There was a lady who had been recently widowed and a retired engineer whose wife had recently died. (They subsequently married - who said beesaren't romantic?). There was a Doctor who asked all sorts of searching questions, like. What's the chemical composition of beeswax and propolis?' and a builder's laborer who never said a word. There was a farmer's wife and a nurse. There was even a ladywho, it turned out later, had found a swarm of bees in her attic and thought it would be nice to keep bees there. There was a tractor driver from a local farm and there was a young man who couldn't keep any job and thought that beekeeping would earn hima living. With five or six hives - "You know, sell the honey and the beeswax."