wild things
Bringing home the bees
by Catie Deluca
I seem to have a knack for winning raffles . When I was four , I won breakfast with Santa Claus , and at my high school after prom party , a dorm-sized mini fridge . But this was without a doubt my biggest win yet : A fiveframe “ nuc ”, or nucleus colony , filled with 10,000 honeybees .
It was the spring of 2021 , I had just completed a virtual beekeeping class , and had won the grand prize in our class raffle for a beautiful beehive complete with bees . Why honeybees ? Having moved from Bethesda to Darnestown in the early days of the pandemic in 2020 , I was looking for a way to put my newly acquired four acres to good use . I didn ’ t have the pasture for horses , the time for sheep or goats , or the green thumb for gardening , but I had always been curious about honeybees . I started with a few searches on the internet and then a beekeeping class , and somehow , just a few months later , I was standing in a bee yard with a shiny new beekeeping veil , about to take the plunge .
At that moment , however , as I collected my winning hive from College Park , I was feeling anything but lucky . The beekeeper assured me the cardboard nuc box
photos : wib middleton
Catie DeLuca all geared up for an inspection of her backyard beehives .
was solid , as he stuck a piece of
As I set off , I noticed the hum duct tape over the entrance hole . getting louder , but I drove on , I tried to act cool , but every cell my eyes darting to the rearview in my body was vibrating , just like mirror , checking for escapees . I the 10,000 bees inside the box . I needed a distraction , and I needed took hold of the box , surprised to it fast . I called my mom . “ Please , feel how warm it was , and how just talk to me . Talk to me about the hive was humming the song of anything , and don ’ t stop until I get thousands of stingers . I placed the home .” It was perhaps the longest box in the trunk of my hatchback hour of my life , but my mother and gently closed the gate . Only dutifully chatted away , and finally , 30 miles around the beltway until I I turned onto Berryville Road , was home . creeping to reduce the jolt from
plenty I autumn harvest 2023 9