Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese

Let's talk honeybees. 

On impulse, I recently picked up Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper (2009) from a display table at the library. This is the true tale of C. Marina Marchese's love affair with the little buzzing insects that make delicious honey that we get to enjoy on our buttered toast in the mornings.

Ms. Marchese, who lives in Connecticut, took a tour of a neighbor's bee yard and that led her to eventually leaving her position as a creative director for a giftware company to founding her own business, Red Bee Apiary, and beginning a successful new career in beekeeping.

Not only does her book offer a perspective of honeybees as clever and industrious, there are also stories of how Ms. Marchese got involved with the local Back Yard Beekeepers Association, built her own first beehive, got stung a few times, but persevered. She learned a lot and writes clearly about her adventures and the ins and outs of beekeeping, products of the hives in addition to honey, and some of the history of beekeeping as well. 

Honeybee is fun to read and very informative without being overwhelming. The author packs a lot of information in 200 pages. It is fascinating to read about these little critters that do so much for the planet. 

I have had some personal experience with honeybees. A couple of years ago, I lived with a friend and her family on their farm for six months. The farm was home to three sheep, two goats, seven chickens, three cats, a Labrador Retriever named Max, and 30,000 honeybees. I was there when the bees arrived and watched, from a respectful distance, as Brian set up the hives. Eventually I got to taste the fruits of the honeybees' labors. The best part!

A Country Year (1986) by Sue Hubbell is another book about a woman who left the corporate world, moved to Arkansas, and began raising bees. I read this one quite a few years ago. Hers is more of a look at adapting to country life, noticing the changing the seasons, and of course, her life with the bees.

If you have watched Lark Rise to Candleford, you will know that Queenie raises honeybees. There is a scene in one episode where she goes out to the hives to tell her bees of the death of someone in the hamlet. This is based on fact. Here is a bit from Honeybee on The Telling of the Bees:

There is an old beekeeping tradition known as "telling the bees". First the bees must know everything that goes on in their keeper's family, including births, deaths, illnesses, and marriages. Then, upon the death of the beekeeper, a close family member should approach the hive, knock three times with the key to the house, and whisper the news to the bees. The bees, it is said, need to be assured that someone will take care of them after their keeper has died; otherwise they will abscond or not produce honey. 

Reading Out the Weekend

It was a dark and stormy day...so I read and read and read. What luxury.

I finished Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by  C. Marina Marchese. This was a book I picked up on impulse from a display at the library and I really enjoyed it. 

Then, because I couldn't wait to find out what was going to happen to Ruth Galloway, forensic archaeologist, I jumped in and finished the last chapters of The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths.

I will write more about both books in the future. 

I am not sure if furiously flipping pages in a book qualifies as an aerobic exercise but the intellectual exercise of today left me breathless.

What did you read this weekend?

Still Lost in the Stacks

Woman Reading with Parasol
Henri Matisse
1921

If you are stopping by from Danielle's "Lost in the Stacks" feature, Welcome! I write an entry here every day so there is always something new at Belle, Book, and Candle.

If you scroll down and check yesterday's post, you will see more photos of my bookshelves. Please look around. I am glad to have you visit.

If you are not a first-time visitor, check out Danielle's site, A Work in Progress, and read all about Belle and Her Books.

What am I reading now?

Headlong by Michael Frayn - A comic novel of Old Masters and Mystery. Informative and amusing at the same time.

Honeybee: Lessons from an Accidental Beekeeper by C. Marina Marchese - The true story of a woman and her beehives. I love tales like this - a woman abandons the corporate world and takes up country life.

The Crossing Places by Elly Griffiths - A new mystery author to me. The main character is Ruth Galloway, a forensic 
archaeologist living and teaching on Britain's Norfolk coast. So far, so good. I liked Ruth right away and the mystery begins on page one.