Yesterday I went to see my father in laws bee hives. I didn't realise he had quite so many; amounting to 100 hives! He started just under 10 years ago, when he retired as a headmaster of a local school (in Andong-Si, Korea). It was meant to be a hobby, as a way to chillax, but grew into a nice little money earner.
Unlike much of the world, honey in Korea sells at quite a premium and it's worth running multiple hives. The honey is organic, but like most Koreans, they like to re-use anything lying about and nothing is wasted, as seen in the pics!
if you look carefully you can see the queen bee
some of the hives
Knowing that I have always been interested in Bees, my father in law is showing me the ropes. When I return to the UK I fully intend on having a couple of hives in our garden, for personal use.
I'm being shown the basics!
Here I'm standing before many of the hives. I should point out, I look a little worse for wear as they had a party. Koreans do tend to drink far more than is healthy :)
He collects honey, propolis and pollen. It's amazing how much honey he manages to collect.
An example of the propolis he sells
Sadly he's decided this is his last year working with the hives, he's now 74 and wants to takes things a little easier. He tried to convince me to stay in Korea and take over the hives, but as much as I love it here, I miss the UK and still intend on return next summer.
Thanks for reading :)