When I first started thinking of keeping bees, I did not know that “all the bees are dying.” I only remembered that several of my uncles had kept bees when I was a child and reminisced on those good old days, needing something to keep me busy in myretirement. My initial research yielded little until I happened upon the beekeeping magazines. From these I quickly learned that my new calling would result in my becoming a national hero since one out of every three bites Americans take is a direct result of the honey bee pollination and all of mankind would soon perish with the honey bees without my intervention. Nevertheless, I used the ads in those periodicals to order books for my library: The Beekeeper’s Handbook, The Hive and The Honey Bee, ABCXYZ of Bee Culture, Keeping Bees, Honey Plants of North America, Beekeeping for Dummies, etc., etc. and read them all cover to cover. It seemed there was more to this hero stuff than just being bitten by a radioactive insect.
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