Brief History

I began beekeeping with a nucleus hive of 5 frames in May of 2008. Walter Bee was located in a community garden about 25 miles from my home. I was hesitant to put the hive in my home garden because I live with black bears. I averaged working the CG about 3 days a week and was encouraged to see my bees working and bringing in pollen immediately. There was a good water supply nearby in the form of a flowing river. The bees drew out the comb in the deep hive body fairly quickly, and after about 3 weeks, I added a shallow super. Although the bees worked very hard all summer long, they only drew out comb in 4 frames in the super. Western NC is suffering from severe drought and although I did not realize it at the time, I probably should have been feeding the hive by late summer. Rookie mistake. Because of high gas prices and time committment, I made the decision in the fall to give up my plots in the CG and bring Walter Bee home. On November 9th, after my husband had installed an electric fence, I moved the hive to my garden. I have become a much better beekeeper since then.