mo beekeeping — Beekeeping

The space beneath a deck that has now become my beekeeping storage space. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Storing Bee Equipment

If you are new to beekeeping the one thing that can easily sneak up on you is storage. Or to be more precise, storage space.

It’s not apparent spring through summer when bees are using most, if not all, of your equipment. By fall, though, it becomes apparent that your garage can either hold your cars or your beekeeping equipment but not both.

I was facing this dilemma when earlier this year an unexpected option opened up under a deck area. With a little creativity, we closed in the area, gave it a dry ceiling and arranged it for extra space.. The area already had my water totes so with a little of reorganizing it now holds my extra beekeeping equipment including suits and hive bodies.

Another storage area winters over extra beekeeping equipment. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

The storage area - not a he shed, or she shed but a bee shed - is close to one of my apiaries. I now have “easy to move doors” and can use a shoulder to nudge the opening wider.

Beekeeping equipment is now readily accessible to my apiary. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

I added a grapevine wreath with some dried flowers last week, a traditional welcome to my outside garden rooms. You can’t see it well but I have a little yellow bee skep on the right side. Skeps, or woven baskets, are a popular symbol to represent beekeeping, it even appears on garden quilts.

Fun to add another grapevine wreath to my bee shed door. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

It’s wonderful to have most of my beekeeping equipment now all in one place. I can now do a better job of ordering whatever I need for next year; make repairs and, if all goes well, even extract honey in this space.

As I was leaving the area, I noticed one of the sure challenges beekeepers have, keeping track of their hive tools. See where I left this one?