Father - P52 Week 25

My dad is a quiet, serious man, but one thing he is passionate about besides his kids and his grandkids, is beekeeping.

Removing a swarm off of a SUV.

My dad has been a hobby beekeeper for over 30 years. What inspired me to write about this aspect of his life was a trip to the Farmer's Market today. Mallory and I attended the weekly Chef series which today was on beekeeping and cooking with honey. I realized I knew a lot about beekeeping already, thanks to all the things my dad has taught me over the years.

My dad is heavily involved in his local chapter of area beekeepers. He mentors a couple of first year beekeepers that live near his house. He is always getting calls about coming to collect a swarm of bees. He goes to a local elementary school every year to do a presentation on beekeeping and gives the kids samples of honey. When Mallory was in elementary school, she got him to come a couple of different times to her class. Once in Kindergarten for "H" week, Honey. And again in 3rd grade when they were studying a science unit on insects.

Some of my favorite times with my dad when I was growing up, were when we were working on honey stuff together. I helped him extract honey from the hive frames (along with sampling some of the honey). We would go to the Farmer's Market most Saturdays and set up our stall with his beautiful handmade table, our sun umbrella, and our supply of honey. My treat for getting up before the crack of dawn to go and help him was a stop at McDonald's for lunch on the way home, but the best treat was just being with my dad.