Of Bees and Worms

I'm usually obsessed with something, and lately my boiling, intense energies have been focused with laser-like intensity on bees. For my birthday this year, I got a Langstroth hive and 2 lbs of bees. I thought I was going to vibrate out of my skin waiting for my tiny ladies to arrive. They were over a week late and I was FREAKING. According to the sour, angry old man that I ordered the bees from, I didn't get a tracking number. He grouched, "Do you know how many people buy bees every spring?" As a matter of fact, I had no idea! Four? Thirty-eight? A thousand? It was certainly my first time, and instead of properly educating myself by attending beekeeping classes and going to beekeeping club meetings, I read a book and a dozen web sites written by extremist hippie apiarists. I was totally ready.

Anyway, they did finally arrive, I installed them without incident or stings, and they have been working for ten days now. I confirmed that the queen was laying yesterday, and for the first time in my life I was excited by the sight of larva. Today was the first day without rain in what seemed like years, so I was able to watch them fly in and out of their front door doing their tiny insect jobs. LOOK! They have the CUTEST little pollen saddlebags!

As for worms... I just love them. I don't think I'd like gardening so much if I wasn't so fascinated by worms. Every time I turn over some earth and find a little red wriggler, or a nightcrawler, I get as excited as a five-year-old.

I'm also superstitious about them. I've been trying to dig my entire garden with only an old shovel (that deserves an entire separate post for complaining about), and when I lift up some sod I carefully remove each worm to toss back into the earth. Today, while putting tomato seedlings in my experimental lasagna bed, I pulled aside the cardboard and found a pile of worm castings. It's working! Already the worms are saying "take that, grass!" and are chewing up that smothered grass and turning into super fantastic soil. Go, worms, go!