Bee pain, Sex, Why?
Suddenly- I am seeing things with the bees that I haven't seen before- and struggling to make enough time for them and the things I need to do. Like, for example, make more equipment. I am back down to two supers, and I think I built 30 this Spring, and have 30 more to build. I get confused- and its a trade-off, an odd one with a twisty life lesson behind it.
There are a bunch of books about the life lessons that bees teach. A few of which I have, none of which I have read. Mostly, I figure, those books are about how bees taught some sort of Zen patience. I haven't felt that part yet- in fact, I have felt quite a different part of the bee.
For me, the very basic learning lesson here is that behind the whole thing, the whole learning patience, or whatever, is a very fundamental reality: which is, they are filled with poison and sting. This is not like keeping bunnies. There is always underlying potential violence. And I would say, on a day to day basis of being an amateur, but active, beekeeper, that I get stung 2 to 10 times a day, and I in no way like it. Its OK- but sometimes, I feel my mood shift, and it hurts, dammit. And there is always that very real possibility of things going completely south, of mayhem, and I have seen a few scenes like that. And once they get mad, and start shooting out, and hitting stuff, you don't calm them down. You leave. You shut them up in their hives and call it a day.
For a commercial beekeeper, I suppose there's no issue here- but for an urban one, even an urban-rural one, I dread the days when my bees sting someone besides myself. They stung my cat the other day, and he shot all over the house and around the table about 3 times, and upstairs, and down, and.. I felt bad. My fault.
I don't know if it would be a different if they didn't sting. I suppose- imagine another insect, not stinging, placid, that makes honey that you can harvest. I suppose, aphids might be like that. And if one were an aphid farmer, building hives for the gentle aphid, how many people would walk by and say: wow, aphids! I always wanted to keep aphids!
It's the sting. And because of this sting- and sheesh- a violent insect is a very compelling thing, if you are a fan of Starship Troopers, where bugs can pull apart people and cows, and pierce the hero's brain (I had to leave the theater), then you know, that violence and the threat of violence heightens the whole experience. I know lots of people call their bees "my girls"and that sort of thing- and that might be accurate- if by "my girls" one means something like "my vampire girls" or "my girls whom you think are on your own wavelength and calm and rational but are in fact extra susceptible to pheromones and if you change the smell of things one notch they will turn on you in an intense, and irrational, and unstoppable, fit of rage and righteousness".
Hymenoptera- that's bees and wasps- and oddly, womanly, that strange sign of virginity, the hymen, but in fact, not related to it for bees- the dull 17th century science-man naming it after the Latin for "membrane"- but still, carrying that legacy. And this weird sexuality of bees.
I forgot my line of thinking, Will return to it.
There are a bunch of books about the life lessons that bees teach. A few of which I have, none of which I have read. Mostly, I figure, those books are about how bees taught some sort of Zen patience. I haven't felt that part yet- in fact, I have felt quite a different part of the bee.
For me, the very basic learning lesson here is that behind the whole thing, the whole learning patience, or whatever, is a very fundamental reality: which is, they are filled with poison and sting. This is not like keeping bunnies. There is always underlying potential violence. And I would say, on a day to day basis of being an amateur, but active, beekeeper, that I get stung 2 to 10 times a day, and I in no way like it. Its OK- but sometimes, I feel my mood shift, and it hurts, dammit. And there is always that very real possibility of things going completely south, of mayhem, and I have seen a few scenes like that. And once they get mad, and start shooting out, and hitting stuff, you don't calm them down. You leave. You shut them up in their hives and call it a day.
For a commercial beekeeper, I suppose there's no issue here- but for an urban one, even an urban-rural one, I dread the days when my bees sting someone besides myself. They stung my cat the other day, and he shot all over the house and around the table about 3 times, and upstairs, and down, and.. I felt bad. My fault.
I don't know if it would be a different if they didn't sting. I suppose- imagine another insect, not stinging, placid, that makes honey that you can harvest. I suppose, aphids might be like that. And if one were an aphid farmer, building hives for the gentle aphid, how many people would walk by and say: wow, aphids! I always wanted to keep aphids!
It's the sting. And because of this sting- and sheesh- a violent insect is a very compelling thing, if you are a fan of Starship Troopers, where bugs can pull apart people and cows, and pierce the hero's brain (I had to leave the theater), then you know, that violence and the threat of violence heightens the whole experience. I know lots of people call their bees "my girls"and that sort of thing- and that might be accurate- if by "my girls" one means something like "my vampire girls" or "my girls whom you think are on your own wavelength and calm and rational but are in fact extra susceptible to pheromones and if you change the smell of things one notch they will turn on you in an intense, and irrational, and unstoppable, fit of rage and righteousness".
Hymenoptera- that's bees and wasps- and oddly, womanly, that strange sign of virginity, the hymen, but in fact, not related to it for bees- the dull 17th century science-man naming it after the Latin for "membrane"- but still, carrying that legacy. And this weird sexuality of bees.
I forgot my line of thinking, Will return to it.
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