Listening to the bees

This weekend, we tended to the bees on the property.

A local beekeeper, Eli, who brought the hives two weeks ago, walked me through it.

Last year, bears tore through them; this year feels more stable.

I suited up and followed him as he worked through each box.

Moving slowly, asking questions, trying to understand what I was seeing.

— The insight —

Each box holds hundreds of bees.

Almost all of them female.

One queen, holding the structure together.

Before opening anything, we used smoke to calm them.

Not stopping their activity, just softening it.

Then came the careful work inside the hive.

A light treatment to protect them from mites over time.

Nothing dramatic, just small adjustments in the system.

You can’t control the bees, only the conditions around them.

And the outcome follows from that.

— The shift —

Notice where you’re trying to force something.

Step back from direct control.

Adjust the conditions instead.

Make one small change at a time.

Let the system respond on its own.

— From the canyon —

We moved from box to box with the smoker.

Two small puffs into each opening.

Just enough to settle the energy before opening.

Each hive active, steady, alive in its own way.

A different kind of work; tending rather than fixing.