So I am hanging out at my house Sunday, washing sheets and some pretty filthy curtains before I head to Camphill to find my landlord’s son, Lenswe to bring a few items from the previous volunteers to my house, when he shows up with my stuff, along with my landlord’s cousin. The two of them are ready to tackle fixing the canopy on the porch.
Little did they know that a beehive had taken up residence on the canopy itself. No problem. They would simply take it down, put it in a box or something and take it over to the cousin’s house a few hundred meters away. So far, we have no exact plan about how to do this, but I offer boxes, garbage bags and duct tape to the mix and they start in. Meanwhile, Lenswe is talking to the neighbors about the beehive. A story begins to unfold which may have huge ramifications on the relationship between my landlord and the neighbors. Of course, I am only getting bits and pieces of the story between bits and pieces of the mechanics of moving the bee hive, so it makes it both very interesting and entertaining.
The story is that a bee hive used to live in a big old barrel at my house, but the barrel wasn’t around anymore. I am to learn later that this bee hive has been at my house for 25 plus years. Okay, probably not the same bees or the same queen, but a colony of bees and their ancestors have taken care of my landlord’s beautiful garden for these past 25 years, and provided honey to boot.
Well, lookie here, the barrel was at the neighbor’s house because when my house sat empty for about a year, they had appropriated the beehive and the honey that came with it. They had just harvested the honey and thus the bees had been set free, and looking for a new home they naturally came back to where they wanted to be the whole time. Being unable to carry the big metal barrel, they had begun their new hive on the canopy.
I remember now my neighbor had told me earlier that week about some bee hive “that side” and how he was having someone come and take care of it. I had no idea at the time that he was actually going to try to steal back my landlord’s beehive after it “got away” or that “that side” meant just outside my living room window, hanging on my broken down canopy.
Over the course of the next hour Lenswe and his second cousin devised the methodology for getting the bee hive taken care of and back to its rightful home. Once they figured out where the barrel was, they went and got it. But this only happened after he had knocked the hive and the bees down and into a garbage bag which they told me to hold closed, just like this. Very carefully. It was important not to kill any bees, he said, and also not to get stung. Apparently a neighbor’s dog had recently died because of too many bee stings. Eish! So there I stood, very quietly, left holding the bag.
There was a small opening at the top so bees could come in and out, as anyone knows they need to do to feel safe and happy that their queen is safe. So in and out they flew, within inches of my face, and crawling on my hand, which I could not, should not, would not move. I used the opportunity to practice some new meditation methods, though none I had read about up to this point had talked about counting bees on my hand, or focusing on the sound of the beehive laying in a garbage bag at my feet. I am new to both meditating and bee bag holding, so I started focusing on not hyperventilating, which I guess is a reasonable meditation.
Lucikly, I have no real fear of bees. I don’t search them out but they don’t bother me. I love them in the garden and know how critical they are to the whole ecosystem. In fact, having a bee hive in our yard is why we have such beautiful flowers and orange trees. This is all true, but when a bee is tickling your palm and you aren’t sure if it will decide to sting you suddenly, forcing you to drop the bag and all hell to break loose, well, you start to wonder a bit. And they are taking a long time to get that barrel. Couldn’t they have gotten the barrel before they took down the bee hive and put it in a bag?
Once the barrel is back, it needs the lid to be bent back so more time elapses. I have handed over bee bag holding responsibilities to Lenswe so I can film and the cousin can prepare the barrel. Lenswe’s hand is totally covered with bees by the time the barrel is ready and they carefully dump the bees into the barrel, place the bag over most, but not all of the opening and duct tape the crap out of it. They are enthralled by my duct tape, which is now almost gone (note to self, request more from home).
The plan is to take the barrel to the cousin’s house, but not now now. Instead we drove to Camphill so they can pick up some stuff to weld the metal for the canopy, and we drive by the cousin’s house, which is devoid of all plant life. I suggest they leave the barrel and the bees at their natural home – my garden – where they are used to doing their work, and he can come and show me how he harvests honey. They thought that was a better plan than carrying a huge barrel full of bees down the hill.
At Camphill, we told my landlord the story. I don’t know much Setswana, but in the proper context I was able to understand that her neighbors basically stole her bee hive and the barrel once no one was living in the house and she was quite incensed. She was still talking about it the next day.
Meanwhile, the bees are home, doing what bees do, but far enough away from the house as to not pose a hazard if I finally do decide to let my cats out of the house. The neighbors have been put on notice not to mess with “our” bees and at some point, the landlord’s cousin will be back to show me how he harvests honey. Life will go back to normal for the bees. Maybe they will tell their offspring about the time they were moved off their land, only to be rescued by a strange group with garbage bags and duct tape and brought home again.
I walked home later and had a bee that just wouldn’t leave me alone for awhile. I am not sure if it had gotten attached to my clothing during the bag holding and had just continued to hang out with me, lost and bereft, if it was from a different hive sniffing me out, or just a random occurrence. How far do bees travel from their hives? Can they smell other bees from other hives on humans? Whatever. I just know I got me some bees.
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