The Beginning
Apr. 30th, 2017 11:56 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenwapiti posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
casaravenbeesThis is a journal about the bees at Casa Raven. rubibees and I have been interested in keeping bees for a number of years. When she first asked about it, I checked on keeping bees at our house, and we couldn't legally, as our city defaulted to the county's zoning for it, which required 5 acres or more of land zoned for agricultural use. However, in 2012, state law changed to preempt local beekeeping restrictions and allow for broader urban/suburban/backyard beekeeping! We both went to the South Florida Bee College offered by the IFAS Extension Service, and kept reading up on it for a couple of years, as well. A couple friends of ours had begun beekeeping, so we had the opportunity to bring a colony home from just north of us up in Broward County, which is close enough to have well-acclimated bees. I bought basic tools (smoker, hive tool, bee suit, etc.) and rubibees got down to South Florida Bee Supplies to get a hive, frames, and a veil. She chose a hive with a beautiful gabled roof, screened bottom board, a medium super, a queen excluder, and a nucleus hive ("nuc"). Both hives got painted a nice yellow! We also made an even more concerted effort to read up and get ready! On April 1, 2017, I brought the first colony home to Casa Raven!
There will be other posts about getting the colony, the equipment, and the beekeeping laws in Florida, but that's the short story of the beginning of bees at Casa Raven!
rubibees and I have been interested in keeping bees for a number of years. When she first asked about it, I checked on keeping bees at our house, and we couldn't legally, as our city defaulted to the county's zoning for it, which required 5 acres or more of land zoned for agricultural use. However, in 2012, state law changed to preempt local beekeeping restrictions and allow for broader urban/suburban/backyard beekeeping! We both went to the South Florida Bee College offered by the IFAS Extension Service, and kept reading up on it for a couple of years, as well. A couple friends of ours had begun beekeeping, so we had the opportunity to bring a colony home from just north of us up in Broward County, which is close enough to have well-acclimated bees. I bought basic tools (smoker, hive tool, bee suit, etc.) and rubibees got down to South Florida Bee Supplies to get a hive, frames, and a veil. She chose a hive with a beautiful gabled roof, screened bottom board, a medium super, a queen excluder, and a nucleus hive ("nuc"). Both hives got painted a nice yellow! We also made an even more concerted effort to read up and get ready! On April 1, 2017, I brought the first colony home to Casa Raven! There will be other posts about getting the colony, the equipment, and the beekeeping laws in Florida, but that's the short story of the beginning of bees at Casa Raven!
