* or apiculture (the culture of apes)
Dad and I took an outing yesterday to collect a swarm of bees. What better way to undertake some father-daughter bonding when you only own one bee suit (which I rocked) meaning that when bees are present, the other person has to stay a sensible distance away from said bee-suited individual. Clearly, we'll have to repurpose one of Farmer Humph's sun hats by glamorously draping a veil over it...
Watching bees settling into the weird, insect-dripping organism that is a resting swarm is fascinating. This swarm was in the two castes pictured above. We knocked the bees from their resting place into a box, swept up some of the remainders, and returned close to sunset to transport the box back to the farm.
The father-daughter bonding ended slightly at this point when my driving was classified as "too bumpy" for the bees...this from a man who swerves around potholes at the last-minute. But, we all survived the journey and the bees are over-nighting in an idyllic spot overlooking the river, pasture and apple blossom. Hopefully the pampered bees will decide to stay and long may the father-daughter bonding continue!