I began my training as a stock broker at Gruntal & Co., 14 Wall Street, NY, NY. After retiring as an investment advisor in Southern California, I spent ten years in hospital security. In 2015, I was diagnosed with bladder cancer, had a kidney removed and have been cancer free ever since. I spent a lot of time reading, including about bees, their importance to our survival and the challenges they face for their own survival.
I assumed I could not raise bees myself because 1) my city did not allow bees and 2) I lived in the desert. After a year of reading about bees I decided to find a local beekeeping club to see what was and wasn’t possible in my area. Boy, was I in for a surprise!
Not only do bees flourish in Southern California but, I could raise bees on other people’s property. Many people love bees and desire them on their property but don’t have the time or expertise to raise bees themselves.
And so it began. With a lot of help from my mentor and other members of the club, I learned what was possible in my area. While waiting for my mentor to bless me with a small colony, I started making bee boxes and melting wax for other beekeepers. One day, while melting wax, a swarm of bees moved into a box sitting on the ground behind me. I didn’t even notice since bees were always around, stealing the honey and wax in the comb I was preparing to process.
A week later, my mentor picked up her boxes and discovered the colony that had moved into the box near the barbecue I use to melt wax. I was now officially a beekeeper. That very small colony has grown to occupy two deep boxes and three honey supers! Since that day, many more swarms have moved into boxes just sitting around at my house, attracted to the honey and wax in the boxes.
Because I am not allowed to keep bees at my house, I had to find someone who was willing to host them. Amazingly, it was easier than I suspected it would be. Several people responded to my ad and the only problem was deciding which of them would host my first apiary.
I was in business!