It started as a 4-H project idea. The Kid could make an awesome photo display, our fruit trees would get some amazing pollination, and I could make beer from all the amazing honey those little bees were going to make me.

I didn't realize that my husband would turn this into a borderline obsession. I bought Beekeeping for Dummies from Amazon, figured I'd get around to reading at some point and we'd figure out as we went. Instead, the Hubs latched on to that book and he spent the next several weeks reading it out loud to me. While I was trying to read my own book.

After several weeks of anxiously awaiting for the bees to be delivered, which are delivered through the Postal Service, we finally got to meet our new Fat Farm residents. Our mail carrier brought them straight to our house-she really didn't want to handle them anymore than necessary-and we got to work right away. Translation-everything that could go wrong happened. We couldn't find the Queen, there wasn't quite enough food, we found the Queen but accidentally dropped her little cage into the bottom of the hive, The Hubs got stung twice, and we missed a phone call by minutes from an experienced beekeeper on how to make the process easier.

I think he just wanted to wear the suit.

But, we did it. The bees are doing well and are we can see them all over the yard collecting pollen from every flower they can find. We found out we can stand right next to the hive and watch them and the bees really don't care. Even the dogs running around the hive doesn't seem to bother them.

Now we wait for the bees to do their thing.

Here's a few things that we found helpful:

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