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When I was much younger, an elderly friend from church showed me a beehive he had in his backyard. I was fascinated and instantly wanted to start beekeeping. I was in the military at the time, which made beekeeping impossible. Fifteen years went by before I retired; I made a few twists and turns in life for another fifteen years. Finally, I returned home with my wife and son to the small city of Mason Michigan. We bought an old house, settled in, and the though of beekeeping returned. After 35 years, I became a beekeeper and the owner of Urban Wild Honey.

I was suppose to start beekeeping in April of 2022 but, I had a few problems getting started and had to wait until 2023. I read about beekeeping and watched videos. I had a lot of head knowledge before my bees arrived in April. My 2023 bee season started out great. I installed the 3 packages into hives with no problems, watched them grow into huge colonies, and wrapped them up for winter. I had 2 dead-outs before christmas and the one that survived was very small. I ordered 3 more packages of bee in January so I could start again in April. I wasn't going to give up that quickly. My 1st year of beekeeping was very devistating. A 66% dead-out rate sounds bad but, to put things in perspective, a 50-60% dead-out rate is not unusual for beekeepers.

-April 2024-

My 2024 bee season start the same as 2023's. My 3 packages arrived in April, I installed them, and they all grew into full colonies. I decided not to bother them very much and just let the bees do what bees do. I made a split from the 3 new packages just before summer. I treated all the colonies for mites in July and added more boxes when I thought they needed them. I had 5 hives going into winter; the 1 that survived winter, the 3 new colonies, and the split. I did an inspection around November and put some sugar bricks on top just in case they ran out of honey storages. Everything seemed to be going well. I passed christmas and went into the new year without any losses. In January, my 1st year colony became a deadout; in Febuary I had another dead-out from one of the new colonies. It's almost the start of the 2025 bee season. I have 2 colonies I'm 99% sure will make it and 1 that I'm 60% sure it will make it. 2024 bee season ended better than 2023. I'm hoping to have my 1st honey producing hive this year. God willing and the creek don't rise.

-April 2025-

All there is to Urban Wild Honey is the bees and me. Beekeeping is a year long job. During the winter there isn't much that is done directly with the bees. I go over the last year's events and plan for the next year. I build and repair what I can and order what I think I'm going to need. Bee season starts in Apirl. I do almost everything myself. My wife made a video of me installing one of my 1st packages of bees and I showed my son how to work the hive 1 day. My wife is afraid of bees and my son isn't interested in them. I'm fascinated with the bees and enjoy everything about beekeeping. I do all the paperwork; ordering, inventory, taxes, and correspondences. I create the website. I only know HTML and CCS so, there is nothing interactive. I'm having a hard time learning Mysql and PhP. I bought just hive kits and parts. Some of the components in the kits were already built but, most I built up myself. Other components I just buy the wood and build it all myself. I build and work on the apiary and do all the work taking care of the bees and extracting the honey. My wife said she will help me extract and bottle the honey. In November the bee season ends, the bees go into winter survival mood and it all starts again in April.

-April 2025-