Beekeeping?

My brother-in-law has been keeping bees for more than a decade.  We usually buy at least a 6 pack of 2 lb jars of honey each year.  The availability of honey from my private source has declined these past couple of years due to increased work duties cutting into his part-time beekeeping endeavors.

I know very little about beekeeping, but I do know it can be pretty difficult to manage honey production realiably year-in and year-out. As is the case with most types of agriculture, some years are simply better than others. Several thousand honey bees do most of the work, but there are environmental concerns and pests that must be managed.

I have never really lived in close proximity to my brother-in-law, so I haven't had the opportunity to learn any of his beekeeping secrets.  I've performed a few "beekeeping" searches on the Internet and have learned a little bit about beekeeping as a hobby and/or part-time business. People keep bees for the honey, making candles, skin care products, soaps, lotions, potions, and some even harvest queens to market to other beekeepers.  There are thousands of resource websites, retailers, blogs, wholesales, education courses, etc. on beekeeping.

Linda's Bees is one of my favorite blogs about keeping bees in the Atlanta Area. She has provide a detailed list of equipment needed to get started. There are many local beekeeping associations and there is a website that lists hundreds of beekeeping links. There's also many, many sites that provide quality beekeeping equipment.

Will there be a bee hive or two in my backyard this spring? Time will tell I guess, but the benefits for my other gardening endeavors are plentiful. They might also help cure my sweet tooth :-) I have may hobbies already, so my first task will be convincing my wife that I need to add another.