Squarespace V5 Site Server v5.13.158 (http://www.squarespace.com)http://www.frederica.com/picture/G%20%20me.jpg?pictureId=3097395<p>Gheorghe Braileanu, a parishioner at Holy Cross, is helping me learn how to be a beekeeper. He kindly gave me two hives he had made, and mentored me as I started beekeeping.</p>http://www.frederica.com/picture/openhive.jpg?pictureId=3097399<p>Here we are opening the hive to see how the bees are doing.&nbsp;</p>http://www.frederica.com/picture/pull%20frame.jpg?pictureId=3097404<p>Gheorghe has pulled out a frame and it looks good&#8212;the bees are &#8220;drawing out&#8221; honeycomb and gathering pollen and nectar, and raising new baby bees.&nbsp;</p>http://www.frederica.com/picture/me%20in%20veil.jpg?pictureId=3097391<p>Here I am in my &#8220;bee suit&#8221; complete with veil. Bees like light colors, and are less disposed to attack someone wearing white.&nbsp;</p>http://www.frederica.com/picture/honeycomb.jpg?pictureId=3097678<p>A full comb of honey is surprisingly heavy!&nbsp;</p>http://www.frederica.com/picture/ruth%20honeycomb.jpg?pictureId=3097406<p>Granddaughter Ruth is fond of honey. Her mom, Jocelyn, and I put chunks of honeycomb in stockings and squeezed to separate honey from wax. The yield was about 5 cups honey, but only enough wax to make a vigil candle. Honeycomb is an extraordinarily light, strong material, and the 6-sided shape of the cells is sturdy to hold all that weight.</p>