Melissa Bees – Pollinating the Earth with Gardens and Hives
Barb Anointed Queen Bee
The sky parted and the sun shone brightly yesterday as Barb Fournier was crowned the Queen Bee of Marylhurst University, anointed indeed by her new honeybee colony!
Barb took my beginning beekeeping class and wanted to get started with bees right away but lacked the space at her home, so she asked the University (where she is an employee) if she could keep her bees on campus. In accordance with the University’s gardening tradition established by the Sisters of the Holy Names in 1893 and the kindness of the administration, she was given permission to keep her bees near the Community Garden.
Mark and Barb on the footpath with the hive.
Barb asked if I would consult with her and University management on hive placement and installation. When I arrived on campus yesterday morning I was greeted by the soon-to-be Queen Bee herself, with two most helpful drones in attendance: Mark Struloeff, Facilities Director and Michael Lammers, Vice President of Finance and Administration. We quickly decided on an appropriately sunny spot next to the vegetable garden and within viewing distance from the footpath. Together we assembled the top-bar hive; Mark supplied a necessary level and Michael hand-tightened the bolts.
Barb and Melissa assembling the top bar hive next to the Community Garden
Once the hive was put together, I outfitted Barb in her new beekeeping garb, complete with strikingly white coveralls, protective veil and gloves. Once Barb was fully ensconced, I handed her the thrumming package of approximately 10,000 worker bees and a queen. She looked like both an expectant bride in her whites and a proud mother. I have observed that bees have this effect on a woman; lighting her up from within, reminding her that she is the chalice, the Creatrix of life. I could see by the star shine in Barb’s eyes as she held the bees so lovingly, we were ready to install them in the hive.
While Michael looked on snapping pictures, we removed several bars from the hive in preparation to receive the bees. I demonstrated to Barb how to work the smoker, lighting some dried lavender from my garden and pumping the bellows. We opened the package screen, and dumped the bees into the open cavity. I tacked the queen cage to one of the bars, and replaced it and the remaining bars while Barb brushed the bees into the hive. The bees were calm and seemed to like their new home. A few of the stragglers congregated on Barb’s head (pictured above), forming a lovely crown of bees!
Michael tightening the bolts.
We stood by the hive waiting for the wayfarers to catch the scent of the queen’s pheromones that were being fanned by some of the workers at the entrance. Eventually most of the bees flew from the warmth of our bodies to the hive entrance and disappeared inside. We waited awhile until they were almost all contained within the hive, then plugged the entrance with a cork. Unfortunately we all needed to get back to our ‘other jobs’ and didn’t have the time to wait for the remaining twenty bees to settle. I told Barb she could come back later as the day began to cool and let them in.
I received word this morning that Russ, the groundskeeper and resident squirrel- whisperer came to the bees’ rescue later that evening by sitting next to the hive and uncorking it as the sisters trundled across the threshold one-by-one to join their sisters in their new home. Seems the sisters have many good friends and protectors on campus!
Thank you Barb, Mark, Michael and Russ! May Marylhurst bee blessed by winged Marys.
