Patrick reached for it. "The smoke calms them down, right?"
"Sorta. It masks the alarm pheromones they release when they feel threatened. Makes them think there's a fire, so they focus on eating honey instead of defending the hive."
After getting it set up, I puffed some smoke at the entrance of the first hive and waited a moment before carefully lifting the top of the box. “Don’t worry, babies. I just want you to meet Daddy.”
"Wow." Patrick leaned in, his eyes and voice full of wonder. "There’re so many of them."
"About 60,000 in this hive right now. See this frame?" I carefully pulled out one of the wooden frames that was covered in bees and honeycomb. "This is where they store the honey. And look, you can see the capped cells here. That means the honey’s ready to harvest."
He furrowed his brow as he looked closely. "How do you know which ones to take?"
"You always want to leave enough honey for the bees. They need it to survive the winter. But since it’s spring, they're producing way more than they need, so they’re happy to share with me."
“I know how they feel…” He chuckled through his veil.
Patrick asked lots of questions, genuinely interested in everything, from how the queen was marked to what different bee dances meant.
I instantly relaxed with him, and my words came out faster as I explained things I rarely got to talk about. “Aren’t they amazing?”
“They sure are.” He placed his gloved hand on my shoulder and gave me a gentle squeeze. "Can we harvest any?"
I bounced on my toes without meaning to. "Yeah! I was gonna do it this week anyway. You can help."
We worked together, with me guiding Patrick through the process of removing frames and brushing off the bees. He was careful and followed my instructions exactly.
"Look at this one, Daddy." I pointed to the center. “That’s Casper. He’s very special because he’s a ghost bee.”
"He’s cute." Patrick bent down for a closer look and then turned to me. “Just like you.”
I smiled but held up the frame, practically vibrating with excitement. "And see how the comb is perfect? No gaps, and they’re all filled and capped. This is gonna make the best honey."
"You're amazing at this." Patrick watched me work with pride clear in his voice. "The way you handle them is incredible."
I ducked my head as his praise warmed my chest. "Just doing what I love."
"I can tell."
After we harvested several frames, we carefully closed up the hive and headed back inside. I showed Patrick how to remove the wax cappings and extract the honey using my small hand-crank extractor.
"Your turn." I stepped back and let him take over the crank.
He worked the handle and honey started flowing from the spout into the collection bucket. "This is so cool."
"Isn't it?" I clapped my hands together and bounced, almost giddy. Definitely falling into my Little headspace.
Daddy just grinned at me.
When we finished, I dipped my finger into the bucket and brought it to my lips. The honey was fresh and delicious.
"Wanna taste it, Daddy?" I held my finger up toward his lips. “It’s still warm from the hive.”
His eyes met mine as he opened his mouth and sucked my finger into it, his tongue swirling around it to get every drop. "Delicious." He released my finger slowly. "But I think it tastes even better from you."
11
ALLEN
I hated my day job. Full-on hated it. If I could have had my bee side hustle support me fully, I’d have done that years ago, but the money wasn’t there.
