The Buzz from the Bee Yard #2

I grew up with “Where’s Waldo?” books. These were books with picture after picture of crowds of people, and the goal was to find Waldo, who wore glasses and a red and white striped outfit. I spent hours of my childhood looking for Waldo amidst scenes of 100s of people. What made it hard (and fun) was that there were never signs or clues in the picture as to where Waldo was. He could be anywhere!

Each time I do a detailed inspection of a bee hive, I feel like I am going through a Where’s Waldo process. One of the bees I am always on the look out for is the queen. The health of the hive revolves around her. So, each frame I pull out near the brood nest, I hold at a distance, and look for the queen. Most of the time I cannot find her. I have learned from other beekeepers that this is just fine. I don’t have to see her each time I inspect a hive. I can determine if the queen is there and healthy by just looking for the signs of her presence. I look for eggs on the frames as I inspect them. Eggs tell me she has been at these cells in the past 3 days, which is a good sign she is healthy and alive. The picture for this post is of bee eggs in cells. Can you see them? The worker bees also give me clues to her health. If there are lots of “queen cells” (cells they make specially to rear a new queen)…and there is an egg in one or more of them…then this is a sign the workers may think the queen’s health is failing, or maybe it is just March and the colony is feeling the urge to swarm – a natural reproduction process. Signs abound to wonder about during a hive inspection!

How is your health these days? What are the SIGNS that you keep an eye on to help you be healthy…to help the organization, community, or church you are part of be healthy?

On a personal level, do you feel stressed out? Do your “batteries” feel really low? Do you feel fully charged each morning when you wake up? Is something stuck on your mind? How do you feel about going to work in the morning, or returning home after work? I wonder if life is more about paying attention and responding to the signs we are noticing.

I am a pastor of an ELCA Lutheran Church, and www.leadconnects.org taught me something helpful in evaluating and cultivating the health of a community of faith. They said to not get over-focused on worship attendance, yet pay more attention to how people are engaging and active in community and life (small groups, serving groups, bible studies, etc.). LEAD uses the language of lead metrics (small groups, etc. – things dynamically happening) and lag metrics (worship attendance / things that are static and capture the past). Now, lag metrics have value in understanding where the story has been, but lead metrics are about what’s happening in the story right now and where the story might be leading you and others. A lag metric at a hive inspection would be finding a hive half the size. If I had paid attention to the signs along the way, I could have taken the lead and managed the swarming urge – splitting the hive into two and creating two happy hives, meeting their natural urge to reproduce.

So, what SIGNS are you noticing around your community, in your life, or in creation where you live? Who might be a good conversation partner for what you are noticing? These SIGNS just might be sacred invitations for you to wonder about ways of being healthy.

God grace your pollinating, Harold

One of the conversation strings I will have on this blog is my journey with the bees in my bee yard. I officially became a beekeeper with my son in April 2024, but my love for bees goes back many years. In these posts, I invite you to follow along with me in the wonders, discoveries, and curiosity that come in partnering with creation.