#ronry speaks

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I need help paying for medication and food. I recently broke my hand and have no job or transportation besides walking. Please help me out.

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Life Update

I’m doing alright, got engaged. I’ve changed a lot since last time I was online. I still won’t be online much since my house has no internet or phone signal.

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How did you become a beekeeper? It's something I'm very interested in, the guidance would be appreciated

I’m really glad you’re interested in beekeeping because it can be very fun and rewarding at times and we need more beekeepers due to the decline in bee populations!

I personally became a beekeeper through my first stepdad when I was 12 years old, but I continued beekeeping after I moved out of his house. I’ve had some trouble here and there, but I honestly enjoy beekeeping very much. You’ll not find bees for sale until April and May, but you can start investing now and buy the equipment you need in advance.

Before you begin beekeeping, there are a few things you should be warned about.

1. Check your local laws and regulations to see what you can and can’t do (not all cities or towns allow beekeeping). Also check your residential restrictions. For example, if you live in an apartment complex or if your neighbors are severely allergic, you probably won’t be able to keep bees at home, but you can rent bees out to farms and/or orchards; you would be doing the beekeeping, but the bees live on someone else’s property (you might even be paid to have your bees live there!). If you can have your hive at home, be prepared to plant flowering plants so the bees can forage.

2. Not all types of honey bees are the same. Here’s a little info on different types of bees. Your climate will affect the type of bee you want (ie don’t get Italians if you live in a high humidity location, don’t get Russians if you live in a very hot location, etc). I suggest Buckfast because you need something gentle as a beginner, but Russians would work well if you live in a cold location because of how disease resistant they are. Of course, these may not be available where you are, so don’t panic if you can’t find any locally. Italians will work well in most locations.

If you don’t want to buy bees or if you want to have bees that are perfectly adapted to your location, you can capture feral bees; however, they can be very unpredictable in behaviour (might be gentle or hostile, swarm often or not often enough, etc), so I don’t suggest doing this until you have a few years of experience.

If you do buy bees, you’ll have to drive to a seller to get them. Mail-order bees are tempting, but they face a lot of stress during shipping. The seller might be close by or might even be in a different state (I got all of mine in North Carolina, even after I moved to Virginia).

3. Beekeeping is not always fun. I say this as a warning, not a discouragement; beekeeping can be very fun and satisfying at times, but you must be prepared for the worst. You might get stung (but not very often, depending on the type of bee you have). You might have to give them medication that will prevent you from being able to harvest the honey they produce that season. Your hive might swarm without warning, possibly leaving you with a weak or empty hive. Animals might get into your hive, which might result in hive death. The weather might kill your hive. You might get Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Personally, I’ve lost hives due to strong winter winds that blew the top off my hive in below-freezing weather, horses knocking over my hive, badly-timed swarming, CCD, and a very eerie incident when I was 12 where my entire hive drowned over night in a swimming pool. Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.

4. It’s not very cheap. You will  have to pay hundreds of dollars up front before ever making a profit. Here’s more info on that.

5. Don’t use chemical pesticides, ever. If you have neighbors, politely ask them to switch from chemical to natural pesticides. Chemical pesticides that contain neonicotinoids will cause CCD or just flat-out kill your hive. Organic pesticides are the way to go. You can also skip the spray by planting or making natural insecticides.

Now that that’s out of the way, you need to know what you’ll actually be doing. I suggest buying “Beekeeping for Dummies;” it helped my mum (who had no experience at all) take care of the hive while I was in the hospital for a few months back in 2014. The Backyard Beekeeper is another good book. I also suggest finding a forum board for beekeeping, or joining local clubs. If you can’t find anything locally (or even if you can), reddit’s /r/beekeeping will be a big help.

Some basics you will need to know:

1. Feed your bees when nectar is not as plentiful, such as winter (if you collected honey that fall) and during a dearth. Also make water available, especially on hot days. To make feed, Combine 1 part sugar and 1 part water. You might need 2 gallon a month for 1 hive during a dearth, but usually a gallon or less per month otherwise. I suggest buying sugar in bulk. Some beekeepers, especially commercial beekeepers, use cor syrup; I do not recommend this, as pesticide residue may harm the bees.

2. Invest in some gear. You will need certain tools such as a hive tool for moving and lifting frames and supers. If you have docile bees, you can safely wear a tank top and shorts most of the time. However, you’ll need a bee hat and possibly some bee gloves for collecting honey and during stressful times for bees. If you have less docile bees, you’ll need other clothing, as well, such as a suit.

3. You will need a hive. That’s pretty obvious, but it should be mentioned. A hive consists of a stack of boxes called supers, which are full of frames that hold comb. Here’s more info on the makeup of the hive that you will need.

Everything else you need to know can be found on various websites such as betterbee, honeybeesonline, and (the one I use most) Brushy Mountain Bees. Again, /r/beekeeping is a great resource if you need help.

If you have more questions, I’m happy to help!

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My smart phone broke and we can’t afford a new one so I now have a retro slideout keyboard phone. I won’t be online as much because the only computer I have available is my mum’s laptop, but I’ll update every once in a while. I’m taking CNA classes and then I’ll be working night shift at a nursing home for at least 6 months. 

Feel free to message me or send me asks while I’m offline, but I might ot get back to you quickly.

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Friendly reminder to not buy from Lime Crime cosmetics

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Tumblr mobile loads pictures so slowly that it's faster to download a picture from tumblr than it is to wait for the picture to load.

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Death will not silence me

I've been meaning to say this for a while but in light of recent events, it's becoming more and more important that I say this now. In the past when a hate crime has been discussed, people are reminded to respect the dead by not sharing pictures of the corpse. You should always respect that request when it is made, but I do not make that request. If I am the victim of a hate crime, murder, or other terrorism, you have my permission to show people pictures of the crime in order to raise awareness. If I die, you can show the pictures of my dead body. If I live but am too injured to post the pictures myself, you have my permission to post any pictures of what happened. As long as nudity is censored, I am fine with that type of photo being shared for activism. I refuse to be silenced on matters of human rights. If I die, I ask that you help me by carrying my voice where I cannot. If that happens to require spreading photos of my corpse, so be it. If you want to say the same for yourself, speak up now. Tag your post #DeathWillNotSilenceMe. A picture says a thousand words. Don't be afraid to share them.

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