June 21

I’m really into the beekeeping thing this spring. The late rains delayed the swarming season, so I’ve been able to place four more hives around Oakland over the last few weeks. People “sponsored a hive” by paying for me to build it, paint it and place it. I covered the cost of the swarms – I want to learn how to swarm for myself some day.

Then, I install the hive in my sponsor’s yard, tend to it every month or so, and we split the honey. I’ll have three hives in the blackberry brambles on the Oakland hills, often declared the best climate in the US.