Enter the Bee Lady... (and a contest)

Dr. Laura Hershey, Bee Lady, Chiropractor, Sculptor and Avid Surfer, showed up at 6:00 AM to deal with our bees.

She is a DELIGHTFUL personality. And, as a non-morning person, I can't say that about many people at 6:00 AM. Maybe not even any.

But Laura is one of those people (and we've all stumbled across them at various points in our life) that you're just so glad you had the chance to meet. She's truly an individual, very comfortable with what she's doing and where she's at. She's kind and patient and full of interesting tidbits of bee information.

So, Laura arrives. She's got thick dark-framed glasses and polka-dot rubber boot ("wellies" for those of you out there who use the term). She's dressed in her beekeeper's outfit, including long, thick gloves and a hat with netting.

Her equipment: an empty cardboard box that was originally used for holding clay. And two old sheets. One is a faded floral print; the other is a children's sheet with a fun animal motif. I distinctly remember a bunch of surfing pigs and several passive grazing sheep.

Laura observes our bees and informs me that we have a friendly colony of European honey bees.

I feel a little parental proudness about the friendly part. Like the Summy family would even consider hosting mean, African bees in their garden!

Before calling me outside, this is what Laura does: She places a sheet on the ground in the garden. Next, she sets the open and empty card box on the ground next to the cable box. She removes the cable box lid, reaches in and picks up a ball of bees and wax, then shakes said ball over the open card board box. A TON of bees land in the box, including the queen. Laura folds over the flaps on the card box, but doesn't seal it. This means bees can still fly in and out.

I join the scene to see many bees perched on one of the flaps, their little bee bottoms up in the air, their little wings flapping furiously. There is a very definite smell of caramel. Laura explains that the caramel smell tells the bees not yet in the box that a nice new home has been found and invites them to come on in.

After a while, Laura doublewraps the card board box in both sheets and places it in the hatchback of her car. She's transporting our bees to Boulevard, CA (about 65 miles southeast of San Diego, very close to the Mexican border) where she has a friend who keeps bees.

Laura tells me that, by next fall, our bees will have produced some very delicious sage honey. I'm going to call her in October to see if we can drive down to Boulevard to buy some of that honey. And visit our bees. No, no, of course, we won't bring Child #3.

Apparently, there will be some bee activity around the cable box for about a week. There were bees who, for whatever reason, didn't buy into the caramel smell and didn't join their colony in the card board box. And there were bees who were already out foraging and will return to an empty hive. Without a queen, these bees will not start a new colony, but will provide snacks for sparrows and crows.

And here's a SHOCKING AND SCARY NUMBER: Laura estimates there were FOUR THOUSAND bees in our colony!!!! (one exclamation mark per thousand)

I did get some pictures. With Laura's cell phone. My camera's battery had died.


This is Dr. Laura Hershey, (well, her hand, boot and leg!) the bee lady, with the card board box of bees.






Another shot of Laura by the garden.




Laura doublesheets the card board box.

If you live in San Diego county and are ever in need of the bee lady, here's her contact info. Also, I didn't ask, but I bet she'd be willing to do a class visit. Okay, here's the info:

Dr. Laura Hershey, 4783 Pescadero Avenue, San Diego, CA 92107
(619) 222-5299

Now, how about a contest for those of you persistent souls who made it through this loooong post?

Between now and Monday at midnight my time (Pacific), guess what's the most number of stings Laura has sustained in a single episode. Post your number in the comments section. The closest person wins an ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) of Julia Gillian by Alison McGhee or The Year My Sister Got Lucky by Aimee Friedman. The first ARC is a middle-grade novel; the second is young adult.

AND AND AND I'll toss in one of the famous I So Don't Do Mysteries Hershey Crunch bars!