Backyard apiculture: hobby honey

Bohol Bee Farm, originally uploaded by EnDriNa.

I like bees. Not because I'm crazy about the insects themselves--although they do make good subjects for bug photography--but because they produce that sweet, sweet honey. When I was young, one of my neighbors kept bees, and they gave us free honey sometimes. I thought of them during our last trip to the Minneapolis Farmer's Market, where one of the vendors had a very attractive bee frame display.

Fun Fact: Minnesota is one of the top five honey-producing states in the country, and the vast majority of those bees are tended by amateur keepers.

One of the threats facing honeybees today is pesticide-resistant mites (varroa destructor). A researcher at our own University of Minnesota is leading the way in breeding "hygienic" bees that throw out infected larvae from the hive. And if you want to learn more about beekeeping, she also teaches an introductory course for aspiring apiculturalists.