I did!
I love honey. LOVE honey. But I also hate that the use of poisons and practice of monoculture is killing our little honeybees. After watching Silence of the Bees, a show on the plight of the honeybee, I was keen to do what I could for the little ladies who make my honey.
We’ve been buying most of our honey from a local producer – a little mom and pop place just a couple miles away – but the more I read about bees and beekeeping, the more I thought, “That’s just crazy enough for me to try.”
So, I bought a top-bar hive from a Portland hive maker and my husband and I put it together last month (a picture of the unfinished hive is below, I painted mine, as you can see). Now, I’m filling my head with bee know-how and getting my supplies together while my husband builds a stand for the hive.
By the way, even if you don’t like honey, you should be concerned about the bees since about 70 percent of our food crops rely on honeybees for pollination (and without pollination you won’t get a crop). If you want to learn more, check out the Bee Guardian website for more details.
Tammie Painter 
Why did you pick a top bar hive?
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I like the idea of “natural” beekeeping. The top bar also seemed to be an easy hive style for me to manage – no heavy lifting, just one comb at a time. I’ve also heard it allows the bees to build their comb in a more natural way that helps keep them healthier and happier than the foundations of traditional hives.
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