The constant drone of modern life has a way of disconnecting us from each other and the ancient rhythms of life & wonder. We get so self absorbed with our lives and what the “puppeteers” of consumer culture tell us is important and valuable. We can lose focus of what really matters.
I love the way the honeybees and L’Arche Farm refocuses my mind and soul on what really matters in life: belonging, connecting to the natural world and to each other like family.
Summer honey bee swarms are a reminder to all of us of these ancient bonds we have to the life all around us. They remind us of our connection to the soil, plants, and all of God’s creatures. So often people are afraid of honeybee swarms because they have become so disconnected from the natural rhythms of life!
A honeybee swarm is an amazing, mesmerizing event when a honeybee colony gives birth to a future generation of bees by forming a new colony! As a healthy colony grows in the spring and summer, it desires to give birth to a new colony. It does so by raising daughter queens within the parent colony.
When conditions are right, the mother queen leaves the hive with about a third of the honeybees to start a new colony. The queen and bees that swarmed away from the parent hive leave behind one daughter queen (a princess, I guess?). The younger queen keeps all the resources of the old colony with its remaining bees, pollen and honey. This gives the new queen bee the best chance to survive and thrive. Meanwhile, the parent queen and her swarm of bees search for a new home.
As a beekeeper, if I know of a swarm I can carefully catch them and provide a fitting home for the older queen and her bees, with honeycomb and food so they can survive and thrive just as well as the daughter queen and her bees!
“Hiving a swarm” as the old beekeepers would say is a lot like what we do at L’Arche Farm. We help others to grow, so they can be healthy, happy, and belong. What we do at L’Arche is a remedy to the ills of modern society. We are the Ark for many, sailing on troubled seas.
~ Rick, The Keeper of Bees
