I was reading another post and it was mentioned about being a first generation beekeeper. As for me, My Mom had a couple hives when i was young, mainly for pollenation of the apple trees, ( I think) we never got any honey from them. I guess she wasn't that involved. None of my siblings are beeks and actually I don't personally know any beeks. I will be the only one in my family. (when i get my bees) So......how about you? Do you come from a long line of beekeepers or are you a "first" like me?
I thought I was until I found out beekeeping just skipped a generation in my family.
As far as I know, I am a 3rd generation beekeeper. I remember my Grandfather having a couple of hives and I have an Uncle that got me into beekeeping. I hope to have someone down the line to pass it onto. Hate to see it end with me.
Marc
1st generation for me.
I don't have any beeks in my family at all. Most of them are wondering why I am so interested in beekeeping.
I guess its the challenge & I like honey.
GW
First generation for me, unless you count my father chasing a swarm when I was a kid and me being stung and bawling my eyes out. At the time we lived on a farm in coastal New South Wales, and I remember there was an apiary in the bush about 1 mile from us. I also remember opening up a hive and stealing a frame of comb with no protection at all although I have some memorie of lighting a fire and trying to waft the smoke over the hive. They must have been patient girls and well aware that I was only a little kid :roll:.
The things kids get up to and survive to become (law abiding) adults :-D
Quote from: SlickMick on May 05, 2009, 04:10:18 AM
First generation for me, unless you count my father chasing a swarm when I was a kid and me being stung and bawling my eyes out. At the time we lived on a farm in coastal New South Wales, and I remember there was an apiary in the bush about 1 mile from us. I also remember opening up a hive and stealing a frame of comb with no protection at all although I have some memorie of lighting a fire and trying to waft the smoke over the hive. They must have been patient girls and well aware that I was only a little kid :roll:.
The things kids get up to and survive to become (law abiding) adults :-D
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/telegraph/multimedia/archive/01292/australia_bushfire_1292342c.jpg)
Nothing to see here folks... just Mick smoking his hives! :lau:
ROFL
Yo Sarg, and I seem to remember there were quite a few bushfires then :evil:
Mick
As far as I know, I'm first generation. Someone in my husband's family kept bees, but he was never aware of it until his dad mentioned it after we started. I'm not sure if my son will ever become a beekeeper (although he has started to grow his own vegetables and is getting into gardening more- so there's hope), but we gave my brother a hive and I know he'll be keeping it going.
1st for me but my sister married a beekeeper, but she dosn't help out :evil:
I am the first generation here.
My son did just get his own hive as well so a first and second generation is starting together.
Maybe he will pass it on to his own children someday, that would be nice.
First :) -- Got intrigued reading "Keeper of the Bees".
I thought I was the first in my family until I started going through some of my great-grandfather's things. Found a copy of "First Lessons in Beekeeping" from the 1940's. Asked my grandpa about it and he said he didn't remember. My grandma said she remembers him talking about his hives and how someone came in the middle of the night and stole them from the farm. I guess he was so mad about it that he decided to not keep bees again.
What got me started in keeping bees was watching the beekeepers along interstate 5 in California in the almond orchards while I was stuck in traffic in my Semi due to an accident back when I did long haul. I was so facinated by the guys in the white suits with smokers! Then my wife and I found a huge book on country living that covers everything from butchering animals to making beer to building barns to keeping bees. Well, that got me hooked and when we finally moved back out to the country the first thing I did was put in my first hive! I had 6 hives at one point and I'm back down to two now.
Sean Kelly
As far as I know I'm the first member of the family to keep bees but we've been gardeners for at least four generations. It was the precipitous drop in the number of honey bees in our garden last spring which originally triggered my interest.
SH
I also thought that I was the first one in my family to keep bees. Then one day about two weeks ago, my mother told me that her father used to have bee smokers and gathered honey when she was a little girl; she liked to play with the smokers. This was back in the late 30s and early 40s, so I never knew anything about it.
I got started by accident, when my cousin was starting to clear land to build a house. He cut down a bee tree and had it cut into lengths for firewood. I was there in the cold early spring weather one morning and seen some dead bees around one of the sections that had to be split up for firewood. He was going to push them into a brush pile and burn them! I felt sorry for the bees, so I brought them home, waited on warmer weather, then put them into some hive bodies....and the rest is history!
I was always interested in bees, but never did anything about it until 'they needed me'. Now I am addicted to the point that my own family thinks I am crazy for 'keeping stinging insects as pets'....might be because I call them my 'girls'?
Brenda
I too am a first generation bee keeper. I remember neighbors and friends keeping bees when I was a little kid but my first real bee experience was also out cutting firewood.
When I was in highschool, my friend was running a saw with his nose pointed into the cold dry east wind here in Oregon. After falling a 20" oak tree, he had worked his way cutting about 1/2 down from the top. That is when I notice a wonderful sweet and familiar smell pouring out of the saw. Later we noticed the tree was hallow, of course, and an entire round of fire wood was full on honey comb. We took it home and extracted the honey. We didn't see a bee that day but that is where my interest began.
Now I have 10 hives and will double this year. I do small scale pollination to support my habit.
Just me on my side ---- had an Uncle married into the family who keep bees. Hes deceased now -- always wanted me to look in a hive with him. I was in my twenties then. I regret now that I never did :(!
First here. At least no one has come forth to say anything.
First one that I know of.
1st here too. My parents were in no way interested, chickens LOL. My mom and my sister will sit in the car with the windows up to watch when I work them. My daughter helps me sometimes, she is not at all scared. My son helped once and when we finished he said..."NEVER AGAIN" My husband does a lot of the lifting and stuff, and doesn't mind but he has and "ALLERGY" of sorts.
For me. They intrigue me, I love to take out a full frame and move it and turn it and see how gentle they are knowing how fierce they can be. Do you think they are like other animals, they can feel our fear?
And what team work too! I wish more people were of the same nature.
I don't think my kids will carry on but there is always hope.
Have a great day all...Patti
First in my family. Probably the last. My family shows an arm length interest. But I will say that they love the honey.
Steve
1st generation for me.
My wife and daughter are scare of bee!!!!!!
Johnny
3rd Generation here my grandpa had bees. My dad kinda got wrangled into helping him. I really don't think my dad enjoyed it as much as me or my grandpa as he won't help me now. My grandpa had a way of wanting to rob at the wrong times which leads to my dad's distaste with beekeeping. But at one time me and my dad helped my grandpa keep around 30 hives or so. Fun fun times.
1st.....that I know of, but hopefully not the last.
Keeping bees seems fitting to my family as they think I'm weird anyway. Been turning over rocks looking for bugs since a kid. I was the one that brought home the aligators, snakes, mud puppies, snapping turtles, tarantulas, etc...
Why not bees?
Only one in my family crazy enough I guess.
...JP
1st generation here. My Mom's philosophy is that insects, bugs, and snakes are to be avoided at all costs. :-D
Quote from: dragonfly on May 05, 2009, 11:51:29 PM
1st generation here. My Mom's philosophy is that insects, bugs, and snakes are to be avoided at all costs. :-D
Good thing for you that your Daddy's girl!
...JP
First generation here too. My daughter is 4 & is very interested and comes with me to the hives almost always. It will be interesting to see if she still is into it when she grows up! My husband asks lots of questions & likes to watch from a far, but I can't convince him to get a veil & get up close.
I was always the weird one as a kid too- keeping spiders in jars to see what kind of web they would make & having frogs for pets too. I don't think anyone in my family was too suprised when they heard I was going to have bees. :roll: People that don't know me & find out I have bees are usually shocked. First they assume that it is my husband's hobby. I guess I don't look the "type" ...not sure what that looks like anyway!
So far it has been great. I plan to be a beek for life. After all- I already spent a small fortune just getting started, might as well stay in it! :-D Hopefully someone will follow in my footsteps. Sure wish I would have had someone to show me the ropes from little on...Good thing I have this forum though :) It has sure been helpful. Thanks everyone!!!
First...and my family thinks I'm nuts..
Lots of good stories! I like to hear how people got into it. I remember one time when i wa pretty young, i watched a guy getting a swarm off a tree limb. He scooped the bees up in a coffee cup and put them in a box. I thought he was nuts, although i was pretty close while watching. Sure peaked my interest. Now 30 years later here I am looking to get bees!
First for me as best I can figure, although I have a cousin in Ohio that keeps bees. My wife's grandmother had a hive when she was a little girl.
David
First generation here, too.
Quote from: lotsobees on May 05, 2009, 10:54:59 AM
First :) -- Got intrigued reading "Keeper of the Bees".
Are you kidding me?? I read that book when I was in the 7th grade and have been moving, inexorably, toward beekeeping ever since! How cool! Remember how the soldier first noticed her "sensible shoes"?
First generation here, with this caveat . . . I never see anyone here from San Diego County, but if there are any, they might rember my Uncle's honey business: Baker's Quality Honey I grew up across the street from my Uncle Dawrin. In the 50's, I used to go with him in the metro van (looked like a UPS truck) to deliver honey to the Piggly Wiggly (sp) and Safeway stores. He did it all in house . . . 1200 hives in prime locations for orange and black button sage, before they were all swallowed up by buildings. Loved to go with him to the SoCal Expo in Del Mar to set up his exibit. It was all a great memory. It was always in my blood. I ran a 500 hive outfit that was a welfare commodity farm for my church before I left San Diego for the Rocky Mountains. The other welfare project in San Diego was a tuna cannery. I got the better end of THAT stick!
First.
First generation beekeeper. In my family I get lots of support for keeping bees. I suspect it's because it keeps me out of the house and out of trouble. 3 years from now I'll be retired, raising sheep, keeping bees and working a nice size garden. With a little luck, I'll also be spoiling grandchildren. I might even take a nap in the afternoon, if it gets too hot. It's nice to have dreams. 8-)
Quote from: JP on May 05, 2009, 11:53:59 PM
Good thing for you that your Daddy's girl!
...JP
Yeah, it's probably the only reason I am alive today. :-D
I guess I could say 1st generation, don't know of anybody else in my family anywhere to keep bees. It's in my blood, love to catch swarms the most, and look at new drawn comb full of pretty honey and capped off with pure white wax. Bees just intrigue me at how smart they are if you really think about it.
I just can't get over how many women keep bees, I think that is great. Would like to see more kids get into it.
Neighbor down the road gave me five hives when I was about eight and been fooling with them on and off ever since.
G3
1st,,my wife's grandfather's father kept bees when he was a kid,I put them on his land,,since he is a farmer he loves the idea of them being around.
First for me. I became interested 30 years ago in Arizona when a swarm took up residence in a fence post. I could have sprayed them , but instead decided maybe someone could use them. Opened the phone book yellow pages, Called the first guy on the list. He came over that evening and elected me to help him get them in a box. I thought he was nuts! Gloves but no veil , and he wanted me to hold the box real close. He did smoke them a bit, then just scooped them out of the cavity like potato salad. Never forgot how exciting it was. I captured my first swarm Sat. and I sure felt it again. I'm hooked! :)
First generation here. My son took the beekeeping class with me and particpates in maintaining the hives, so I guess we got 2 generations in one swoop.
Counting my grandkids, who are just starting to learn at the ripe age of 5, we have 9 generations of beekeepers in my family and maybe more as my greatgreatgrandfather changed his name from Schmidt to Smith when he immigrated to the USA from Germany nearly 2 centuries ago. I don't know what part of Germany that part of the family is from so can't trace it beyond US immigration.
Wow, some great stories there.
I'm a third generation beekeeper, both my Dad and Grandfather were sideliners/semi professional beekeepers at times.
I have hives set up right in front of a window at home so my very young daughters can happily watch me work the bees. I'm hoping what may be our family's fourth generation of beekeepers will get some inspiration through those widows :)
First generation here as far as I know. Long line of blacksmiths and farmers though. I started when my neighbor tore down his shed and there was hive under it. Knew about it for years but never thought anything of it. I tried to save it but couldn't get supplies in time and he ended up torching it.
My grandfather on my mother's side grew up on a farm and always had bees, don't know if any other people in his family did but probably. My dad always had bees until probably 10 years ago when AFB came around and we gave up for a while. A couple years ago I got married and my wife told me she thought beekeeping was really cool and that it was something she wanted to try someday. So really fast I have 4 hives again.
Grandpa kept bees then skipped a generation to me.. funny how things skip generations. Interesting to see how many 1st generation beekeepers there are. I come from small family farm where we did a LITTLE bit of everything. A little bit of livestock. A little bit of orchard. A little bit of crops and garden. Sold a little bit of everthing. tried to sell my brother but mom wouldn't let me :roll:
I am the first generation beek, I had hives about 25 yrs ago and have a lot of catching up to do!
I am the first in my family to my knowledge. My son-in-law and 8 year old grand-daughter now have hives with me. Neat way to spend time with them!
Dennis
Not sure if I'm the First, but I'm sure I will be the last in my family here in the USA. Both of my parents emigrated from Hungary during the Revolution 1956-57 so I've heard nothing about beekeeping from either of them.
BH :)
I'm the only bee keeper in my family. Mr Sanford had bee's when I was a kid and I was the only kid that would hang out with him and help when I could. That was 38 years ago. I started in June of last year and plan to have my granddaughter's help me with them.
I found out that in the 1800s my family had some hives. Now I have three. Thats cool
Thought I was a first generation beekeeper. I was informed yesteday my POP (Grandad) keep five hives. He passed when I was three.
Here's to you POP :) :-D!