Who are you?

[cow pollinater]

We spend lots of time together but it seems like we don't really know each other that well. An internet community is still a community so tell us who you really are.

I'll start
I am thirty, a father of two of my own and a father figure to any kid that I think needs one.
I'm self-employed, I artificially inseminate dairy cattle and farm, but don't get to set my own schedule so I pretty much work seven days a week unless I can find a replacement weeks in advance.
I am a pro-life christian even though I cuss and drink more than the Good Lord wants me to. I wasn't raised as one so I'm fine with not being perfect but I'm still in awe over the changes He has made in me.
My wife has a genetic disease that puts her in a wheelchair when the pain gets out of hand but we believe it is for the best because working through it together has probably saved our marriage from the issues that we both brought into it...Praise the Lord.
I enjoy all aspects of farm life and pretty much live off of the land simply because it makes me happy. Bees are a big part of it and really the only part that makes money
My non-farm hobby is home-brewing and I spent my one day off in the last five months with my sow, a pet turkey, three dogs and my son on the back porch brewing a batch of raspberry beer.
I can't stand people looking for a handout that are unwilling to work but the local rescue mission is a favorite charity of mine and I will gladly skimp to make sure that the down and out get a warm meal and a place to sleep.
My real name is Caleb Pennebaker so when you all call me cp, I still know who you're talking about.

Your turn.

[KQ6AR]

Not as detailed as CP's

I'm a union steamfitter, working new construction.
We have a small 1/4 acre garden/lot, goose greenhouse, ham radio tower.
I raise tortoises, & propagate coral that I sell to a local shop. Soon to have 2 hives.

Dan

[Tom G. Laury]

Thanks for starting this Caleb and putting yourself out there.

I am 55, father of two wonderful girls. Married 34 years. ( still married )
In bee industry since 1977. Had bees since 1969. I have built hive loader booms, manufactured woodenware, pollinated and produced honey as my sole source of livliehood. I have a small orange orchard. No TV at home for 25+ years. I love to read. My other hobby is finding indian artifacts. My wife is from Finland and is currently teaching there. Anna ( older girl ) is an MD. Emma is 2nd yr law school, speaks 3 languages other than english.
I am kind of reclusive, not a social butterfly but generally get along with people. I like to have friends that are different than myself.My relationship with nature is important to me and the bees feed that. Always struggling with finances yet my home in town is paid for and on paper I have a lot of assets that have slowly built up over the years.

Nowadays I am looking at the TAPE MEASURE OF LIFE and realizing how short and precious it really is. Best to all Tom

[Angi_H]

Being that I live between CP and Tom I will put forth my info.

My Name is Angi Harrover I am 35 married for 9 Years Nov 20th and have 2 kids Boys Alan Age 7 will be 8 Dec 3rd and Michael Age 4 will be 5 Jan 14 he was my preemie baby. My husband is a firefighter for CAL FIRE and has been since right out of high school in 1979 Yes he is 13 years older then me. He should be able to retire in 2 years at 50 with 20 years on paper but 30+seasons total.

I am a chronic pain patient with Fibromyalgia, restless legs, IBS, Chronic Fatigue, Degenerative Discs in my Mid Back (thoracic Spine) and am getting rheumatoid arthritis. I also have TMJ (which is jaw joints) and have had a failed surgery 2 1/2 years ago. I am bone on bone in my jaw and can barely open to eat and am on a soft diet for the last 10 years. I will need titanium jaw joint implants in the next 5 to 7 years. Trying to hold out as long as I can with out messing up what bone I have to be able hold the implants. I have to go with titanium due to a nickel allergy. I wear a pain patch that delivers pain meds 24/7 and I change it every 48 hrs. I also have break through pain meds and muscle relaxers for pain that breaks through my every day in and out pain. Like when I over do it doing a cut out on a hive of bees. Or working my bees all day making splits you get the idea. Or like what I will be doing this month later is processing 6 turkeys for thanksgiving for clients.

I have a small farm (HHH Farms) CSA (community supported ag) that is organic. I grow Organic heirloom tomatoes and lots of organic veggies and fruit. I should have our first crop of Asparagus next year it has took 3 years for the crowns to build up before you can harvest.

I am also a breeder of Rare and heritage breed poultry. I breed and sale started birds, chicks, poults and hatching eggs. I ship hatching eggs all over the usa. I breed Black and Chocolate Muscovy Ducks, Cuckoo and Black Copper Maran Chickens (they lay a dark chocolate/dark wet terracotta color eggs), Mottled Black Heritage turkeys which are rare. I have orders with deposits on 8 turkeys for thanksgiving and christmas and I also raise and sale broilers/ roasters game hens at different times of the year. I process them my self and sale to my clients. Ca law states we can sale a total of 1000 chickens with each turkey being like 4 chickens toward our total. I also breed and sale Jumbo Coturnix quail. I own a big sportsman incubator that will incubate up to 350 chicken eggs and 200 turkey eggs at one time. I could also if I wanted to incubate 1400 quail eggs if I needed to but sure dont want to lol. I also process them out and sale.

I have just made my farm web site. http://www.tripplehfarms.com which has a store right now all it has is the honey and comb honey. But soon it will also have my home made lotions, soaps, shampoos, creams, rubs and balms, and liquid soap. I also make made to order soaps. I order organic oils where they are available. I like making the lotions and soaps with out all of the additives you can not read.

I have right now a small farm apiary with 2 one outyard. The home hives I have are 6 which most were swarms or cut outs from this year. A few of them need to be split. I have 2 others that are in the outyard near Almonds and was cotton. One hive is small and one is very very strong. I plan on adding a few frames to the smaller hive. I did a month ago and it really helped them allot. I so swarms and cutouts and even though my chronic pain gets in the way I stay busy. Some people when I tell them they say no you dont. I tell them I try to hide it. As you can not tell when someone has a hidden illness like I do.

Winter is the worst time of year for our family. My hubby gets laid off from his job every winter and we loose out insurance. He just got laid off effective Monday and will not get picked back up till Feb. I try to get my meds mail order for 3 months to cover me. Christmas is also hard because of the no money we basically live off of one 3rd of his pay in the winter. And with propain as high as it is it makes it hard to keep the house warm. As I need to be kept warm in order to not be in so much pain. As with arthritis if you get cold you hurt more.

I have been trying to find a beekeeper to go in on Almonds with in order to make some money to be able to expand and pay some bills. As you read he is laid off in the winter time and this is when we need the money the most. AS yes he gets picked up in the middle of Feb but his pay check for March 1st will be only 7 days of pay that we have to make last till a full pay check on April 1st. Hopefully this will change when he is able to retire. As we are wanting to build the apiary up and be able to supplement his retirement with it. Because I can not work. The farm and breeding birds is my job. I can not get disability or ssi due to the 2 years I worked as a firefighter for the state CAL Fire they do not pay into Social Security and that messed up my entire try of filing for disability which I would have qualified for other wise. I hate having money issues like this as there is so much I would like to do. And I would like to expand so I have enough hives to pollinate a small Almond Orchard my self each year to make some money. I would have had a place if I had 60 hives this year. Hopefully if all goes well and splits goes well I should be there in the next year or so.

I used to be a vet tech and went to school for it. Although I could not find a job in the field after I graduated and got my license. I am now considered a libality due to we have to deal with drugs and I am on pain meds high doses and they feel that is to much of a libality working in the medical field as at vet offices we dispense the meds. I used to break and train horses and used to ride and train race horses. I did Jr rodeo and used to do Show Jumping Dressage and 3 day eventing with horses. I have done so much in my short life that it sucks I can not do it all now. I wish I could afford a horse again but I can not. Actually they eat more then my 200 rare and heritage breed poultry.

Well this is about boring ole me. I would also like to learn how to Make Mead one day. I have made Beer a few times.

Angi
Hanford Ca
Central Valley Near Fresno

[RayMarler]

Hello All...

I'll be 50 years old in December, divorced in 1994 and no children of my own. I've not heard a peep from my X and her daughter since 1996 or so.

I spent 14 years as a tire, brake, steering and suspension mechanic. I stopped that trade as I had lumbar back surgery in 1993 and could no longer do that kind of work. I retrained myself to a certified novel network engineer and worked as a network admin for a couple places and then installed three elementary school districts as wide area networks with internet access in 1997. In 1998 I got a temp job as network admin for a corporation then was hired by that corporation in 1999 as a commercial buildings controls field tech. That was back when there was a Y2K scare and I upgraded all the clients pc's and networks for the Y2K roll over issues. In end of 2001 I started with neck and upper back issues and had to quit working in early 2002. I spent 3 years struggling in bed or a chair. I have no good discs in my spine, but have 2 pretty bad discs in neck, 4 in middle spine (thorasic), and 2 or 3 more bad ones in my lumbar. I struggle every day but now have gotten better so that I can be active somewhat for 2 to 4 hours in the afternoons. Mornings are terrible and winter is real bad. I'm now on disability and am greatful for that as I'm not able to be 'up and at it' well enough to be productive.

I grew up on a family farm where both parents worked so I got to take care of the cows and garden which I loved very much, as I'm a true nature boy at heart. In '89 or 90 I got my first beehive and grew them into 13 hives before I had to stop with back injuries in '93. In 2005 I had 4 hives again and in '06 and '07 I had 26 and 24 hives respectively. It was way too much for me to take care of as they were at remote yards. It was just too many to have to manage all at once during each trip to the outyards, so now I've reduced to having 7 good looking hives here at the house. I can manage going thru 6 to 8 hives at a time, so am now looking to get some property somewhere where I can keep hives where I live.

I like growing vegetable garden as well and have a small place here where I grow a good variety each year. This year I started heirloom tomatoes from seeds and had one strain that gave me some of the largest tomatoes I've ever seen which were a deep dark red and full of meat, quite wonderful. All told this year, I've had 4 strains of tomatoes, beets, turnips, carrots, corn, kahlrobi, sugar pod and sugar snap snow peas, lettuce, zuccinni, 6 kinds of peppers, 3 kinds of onions, and garlic. All this in a 10 x 15 foot space!

Working in the Garden and Keeping my bees has kept me sane as I was really going quite whacky with all the pain. I work the garden and bees when I can, and when I can't I lay back and just watch the garden grow and study the bees as they come and go.

[walking bird]

52 years old, born in Hollywood, CA, lived all my life (except college) in SoCal. Married since 1983. Two daughters; one's a lawyer, one's in college. One granddaughter, 2 years old. My wife runs a feral kitten rescue program and works at an antique shop.

I left college in the 70's to be a freelance writer. Wrote for television throughout the 80's. Published two books during that time as well. For the last 17 years all my work's been in Marketing and Advertising writing, while on-and-off managing large or small departments.

I've got an 8-acre (mostly hillside) place in the hills near Westlake Village, CA. Got a few emus, a bunch of chickens, a garden growing all kinds of stuff (mostly legal), and WAY too many cats.

I played water polo in college, so I still swim a lot (did the Alcatraz swim awhile back) and I'm the oldest dude at the boxing gym (young guys LOVE to beat up on the "Dad" figure )

Given the new spirit of things I'll avoid any reference to religious or political leanings. Y'all probably know already, anyway!

I'm brand new to bees, and trying to soak it all in. This site is wonderful for that, thanks to all of you.

Kerry

[Oldbee]

"We spend lots of time together but it seems like we don't know each other that well. An internet community is still a community so tell us who you really are".- cp.

Who,..me,..you want to know where I came from, who I really am?? WHY? lol.

There may be a few, or even,.. many on Beesource that will find your thread difficult, or disconcerting to answer truthfuly. I will try [to answer], since others have commented, so courageously. I am in my 60's. divorced with one son.

Once upon a time, in about 1953, my Father bought some land [80 acres] near a small town in southern WI. that included a run-down apple orchard of 30 acres or so. The rest of the land [50 acres] was covered with woods and old prairie. This is where I learned about and came to appreciate nature. There wasn't a house on the land, so my Dad and a friend dug a hole in the ground with a Ford tractor and a 'back-hoe',..for the basement of the house,. and,...the 'foundation',.. of our 'family',.. was built. We lived in the 'basement' for 2 years while Dad and some friends who knew carpentry built the upper part.

There was a beekeeper who had some [4-6] colonies on the land. When the beekeeper 'retired', my Dad [and I] took over the care of them and increased the number to about 10-12 over the next 10-15 years; 1960-75.

I went to college; majored biology/geology and ended up in Madison, Wisconsin in 1967 and worked as a lab/medical/photo technician for 27 years. Biological/medical photography changed a lot with the advent of computers/digital imaging [1990-95], so 'jobs' were hard to come by after that. I do not want to talk about those times.

So far I haven't had any physical,.. 'disabillities' and I am grateful for that, but empathize with those who do. I have had 2-4 colonies of bees for 4 years now. That's all,..folks!

[cow pollinater]

"There may be a few, or even,.. many on Beesource that will find your thread difficult, or VERY disconcerting to answer truthfuly. I will try [to answer], since others have commented, so courageously.

Yeah, tell me about it! I don't even like to talk about myself with my own family. But I have a curious nature and I like to know other peoples stories so I knew that if I wanted to know more, I'd better lead on. We all seem to have a lot in common and one of those traits is seclusion and privacy. I have a strong hunch lots of people are wanting to know more about what makes us all tick but are to scared to reveal themselves for the rest of us to see.

Thanks for sharing for those of you that have. I'd like to hear more.

[Hobie]

Thanks for breaking the ice, oldbee... for a while there is looked like a "California" thread!

My real name is Sue, and I live in Lake City, PA, which is about 15 miles west of Erie, although I grew up in CT and am a New Englander at heart. I love nature and the outdoors, and I bike, sail, kayak, scuba dive, hike, and XC ski whenever possible. I enjoy spending time in the garden, even though my gardens look kind of wild and messy. I live in an old 1870's era house with my "significant other," and do not think I could tolerate the fake woodwork of new construction. I earn a living as an engineer (well... did - I'm laid off right now), but I do not put that first because it is not what I love.

How's that?

[cow pollinater]

Thanks for sharing Sue, (Said in a manly voice so as not to sound like a group therapist)
A question If I may?
It seems like layed off is a great place to start doing what you love, so why not?
Lots of businesses started out as a passionate hobby... Mine did.

[Tom G. Laury]

In junior high it was SO SCARY to ask the girl and get out there...But then it was SO MUCH FUN!

[Angi_H]

Again Thanks CP. It is nice to know there are a few others here on the board with as much pain troubles and back troubles as I. And Yes Laid off is a great way to start up. We do more when my hubby is laid off in the winter then we do when he is busy during fire season.

Thanks for the thread
Angi

Thanks for sharing Sue, (Said in a manly voice so as not to sound like a group therapist)
A question If I may?
It seems like layed off is a great place to start doing what you love, so why not?
Lots of businesses started out as a passionate hobby... Mine did.

[berkshire bee]

So, here goes. I'm 55, and live in the the Berkshires where I grew up in what's technically a "city" of about 14,000. It's more like a town. I have a teriffic family consisting of my wife, a 31 yr old daughter and 29 yr old son. I went to technical school after high school and worked in machine shops for 27 years doing everything from machining, production work, presswork, some tool and die making to fabricating and welding. I've always loved making things and enjoy working with wood also. I've done quite a bit of wood carving. I'm one who believes in trying anything and have learned to do a lot by reading books and not being afraid to try. I've jumped out of 2 perfectly good airplanes and would recommend it to anyone. After a lay-off from machine shop about 6 or 7 years ago, I started doing handyman work. My great love is music and I play in 2 contra dance bands and also with some folk musicians. I like being my own boss, making my own schedule and going to music festivals and jamming with strangers. I'm going into a 4th year of having my own bees and have 9 hives going into the winter. I've just about doubled sales by adding candles, lip balm and lotion. I'm a firm believer in living NOW while you're still able!

[Swobee]

Like Ray Marler, I turn 50 in December. One on'going marriage, two daughters, one grand-goober, three cats, one dog-like creature, umpteen fish in our yard pond, some friut trees and just a few bees. One cat and the dog-like thing are adopted as daughters can't have pets in their apartments. Can't dance, shouldn't sing - so no entertainment talents.

Started in 1976 with a few beehives, but lost interest and got out for a long time. Now, am really into bee keeping and hope to do this as long as I am able to. I missed out on so much over the years not keeping bees, but you can't make up for lost time. A farm kid who got tired of the farm and now wish I'd never left in some respects.

Kansas State University, Delta Sigma Phi fraternity, no military background- (wonder what adventures I missed out there? But, I wouldn't have my wife or girls had I enlisted.) Been a home remodeler, insurance sales and management (absolutely hated that career), certified building inspector and now a HERS® certified energy auditor for a cooperative utility. My heart is in my job as I spend more time doing simple education to customers than anything else on energy conservation and helping them make wise economic choices in such. Dispelling false promises & claims from 'snake oil' energy product salesmen is almost a full time job in itself.

[honeyshack]

My name is Tammy and I just turned 40. I have been married for 15 years to my wonderful husband Larry and we have no kids. We are Christians.
When I met my husband we both lived in the city. After we were married we moved to the family farm to raise cattle. A few years ago we got into beekeeping and now have 100 cows and 156 hives. I should rephrase that. We have about 75 cows right now and are reducing the herd again next week after preg testing. The cost to buy hay after not being able to put much up due to flooding does not make sense since calf price are in the toilet now.
I drive school bus and my husband is a spare driver. I love to garden read and make candles. Originally I did not want bees, but my husband did. Now they have grown on me and i really enjoy them.

[Hobie]

A question If I may?
It seems like layed off is a great place to start doing what you love, so why not?

Sadly, none of the things I enjoy doing are of a nature to earn me any money!

[summer1052]

I'm 41 yo.

I married my high school sweetheart, and discovered real life is harder than high school, and un-married him.

I met DH 15 years ago. He is 28 years my senior, and was a widower. (His son is 2 years older than I, and graduated from the same HS I did, the year before, although we did not know each other. Small world.) We have 2 daughters, ages 8 & 9. I also have 2 (step) grandkids, ages 9 & 11,

I lived most of my life in the Denver area, with strong roots in TX. DH is a transplanted Texan who had lived in Denver for 40 + years.

We moved (back) to TX last year, for economic, health, social reasons. We love this small town!.

I became interested in bees in Denver, when I noticed the lack of them in my garden. I read everything I could lay my hands on. When we moved here, we got going on it. DH had bees with his Dad here 50 years ago.

I study a martial art (Aikido), cook, quilt, crochet, embroider, garden (flowers and veggies) read, trace geneaology, do stuff with my kids and church. I write, and have had some articles published (including one in Bee Culture last April!). I am working on a line of quilt patterns to self-publish. DH is "retired" and works around here, raises Bonsai trees, and rides herd on we girls. We are remodeling, inside and out, the place we are now.

I am a redhead, Irish/Polish, and speak German fluently.

Beekeepers are such an interesting group of unique individuals. I'm just another one.

(Born in the) Summer
aka
Kelly

[BoBn]

S My great love is music and I play in 2 contra dance bands and also with some folk musicians. I like being my own boss, making my own schedule and going to music festivals and jamming with strangers.

See you at NEFFA?
We have been going fo 25 yrs. January is Ralph Page legacy. Our family friends are contra musicians.
I know the tunes and can play slow penny whistle but mostly I play finger style guitar.

With the guidance of a local luthier, I have built a classical guitar and am 1/2 way done building a small-bodied steel string.

Back in the mid 1970's, I got a job managing 2 crews in a wholesale nursery in Connecticut . One day, a women (Inge) in crew #1 asked if anyone wanted a hive of bees. Her husband had a hive of bees for sale. I asked around. I found a buyer. Cheryl worked at a local restaurant. She said that her husband wanted the hive. So. . .

I bought a hive of bees....
Cheryl decided that she and her husband didn't want the bees. . .
So. . . .
I had a box of bees in my yard. And I was out 35$!! The hive was built of cedar. It was a one-piece finger-jointed that was 3/8" deeper than a normal deep with 8" wide entry and a bottom nailed on the box. I set it on the ground in my back yard. I kept bringing questions to work about what to do next. I bought a copy of ABC...XYZ. I built supers & discovered what bee space is. I eventually expanded to 15 hives and started selling bees and honey. I was a contact person for the local police and fire department for swarm calls.

Moved a few times, got married, we saved a pile of cash and decided to buy a place.

In the early 80's , we bought an old farmhouse in New Hampshire. So Martha & I loaded up the bees (8 hives) and moved. Amongst the problems with bears, severe winters, raising a family, 6-day work weeks, etc, etc, I did not work very much on beekeeping. When my kids were little, I used to do annual elementary school program on honey bees. We also did a few package installs for our various 4H club that our kids were involved in, etc .

It has probably been 10 years since I have kept bees, and then on july 2nd of 2008. I received a frantic call about a swarm.
So...
I now have a strong beehive of Carniolans ( with 110 lbs of stores), the three kids are almost all grown up and out of the house, And I have the time (and support of local beeks and this forum).

I am 56 yr old and have been married 30yr (WOW!) and my bride is starting to get interested in beekeeping She regards my beekeeping hobby as relatively harmless. (It's not like burning up a set of tires at a stock car trials.)

[Keith Jarrett]

Gee kinda slow here on this thread, I was hoping to learn something here . Of course If I posted you would know what not to do.

[Angi_H]

Oh Keith come on you can do it we did Lets read all about it

Angi

Gee kinda slow here on this thread, I was hoping to learn something here :. Of course If I posted you would know what not to do. :