The best gift I’ve ever received

My friend Laura gave me this smoker years before I became a beekeeper. I had been learning about bees and dreaming about the day I could become a keeper. She saw my passion and wanted to cheer me on. I’ll never forget how it felt to have her believe in me and her kindness to encourage my dream. Good things happen when we cheer each other on and celebrate dreams.

The smoker is a favorite tool of beekeepers and has been used since its creation in 1875! Even before that, people used smoke to help with caring for bees and harvesting honey. (I love that many beekeeping practices have stayed the same for around 150 years. It makes me feel like I’m part of something big, like when stories are passed down generation to generation). When a hive feels threatened the bees send out alarm pheromones alerting the hive of an intruder. The smoke interrupts the bees communication and calms them down. It also helps to encourage them back into the hive if they’re hanging out on the edges which really helps us to not squash them when we’re closing the hive back up