My Life as a Worker Bee - Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper - page 2

al woman studying bee behavior. They partner together for adventures in sleuthing and
beekeeping. Life was imitating art: I was like the young apprentice to my own Holmes,
Mr. B. Was this story a sign of what my future held? My destiny was calling, and I was
beginning to feel I had to respond.
• • •
F OR THE NEXT SEVERAL WEEKS , I continued my regular commute back and forth to
the city, working on new product designs and selling them at the store until it was time
for one of my regular trips to China. At this point I had been to China twice a year for
almost six years to source out and oversee manufacturing of our company's giftware
designs. I was working at a factory in a small, remote city outside of Huangzhou, ap-
proving the final details of some new products. It was a sweltering day in China; the
humidity was sky-high, and the air dense. My associate Mr. Wang offered to take me to
his favorite noodle house for lunch. On the way, I noticed a few ragged handmade tents
alongsidethedirtroad.Infrontofonetentstoodadozenbeehives.ThestreetsofChina
are always full of unexpected surprises, and if I had not still had bees on the brain, I
might have walked right by without giving them a second thought. Instead, I stopped
deadinmytracksandstaredasthoughIhaddiscoveredtheeighthwonderoftheworld.
“Mr. Wang, those are honeybees hives!”
Mr. Wang was puzzled by my excitement. As we drew closer, I could hear the low
humofbeesatwork.IaskedMr.Wangifitwasokayformetowatchforafewminutes.
The wooden beehives were similar to the ones in Mr. B's backyard. Tools and equip-
ment of all kinds were piled up beside the hives. I recognized a few smokers, but for
the most part the items were foreign to my untrained eyes. A family of beekeepers was
tending the hives. Two of the men began smoking and opening up one of the hives. Al-
though dozens of bees were flying around them, they did not wear protective clothing
or veils. One held a frame similar to the one I had held at Mr. B's apiary, except this
one was perfectly clean, not covered in honey or bees. The other removed a single bee-
covered frame from the hive and held it up to the sun. Shimmering in the sunlight, the
framewasobviouslyfullofluscioushoney.Theotherbeekeeperslippedhiscleanframe
into the slot where the honey-covered frame had been. Before they closed up the hive,
they brushed all the bees off the honey-filled frame and back into the top of the hive.
Then they carried off the frame of honey with just a few stubborn honeybees following
behind. They wrapped it with newspaper, placed it in a wooden box, and sealed up the
box. A woman standing next to the tent accepted the box of honey and paid for it with
cash. Mr.Wang told me that this is howmany Chinese people get their honey—directly
from beekeepers.