In all natural things there is something marvelous.   – Aristotle

Beekeeping involves constant cycles of heartbreak and hope, just like all of life. This week I drove up north to pick up two buzzing mesh boxes, each with about ten thousand bees inside – all sadly needed after the harsh winter.

There is lots of conflicting advice on how to settle bees into new hives. Most suggests a violent shaking of the mesh boxes to dislodge the occupants, which does not exactly send a hospitable “welcome home” message.

This year, I thought I’d experiment a bit. After moving the queens (an adventure unto itself), I gently tipped each bee cage on its side, with the opening facing the top of the new hive-home.

Lo and behold, within minutes I saw a few workers perched on the upper edge of the hive, bee-butts in the air, wings flapping furiously. They were sending chemical signals to their sisters that shouted, follow me! The queen’s in here!

Like a murmur of starlings or a school of fish, the collective movement of the new arrivals shifted, and soon there was a stream of bees marching right into each hive, no shaking or swearing needed.

Dear ones, we are surrounded by marvels, beautiful and magnificent and different from our own. 

Let us be awed.