There’s the old adage that if you ask 10 beekeepers a question, you’ll get 12 different answers.  That is very true, and sometimes, we find ourselves changing our minds on something halfway through doing it.  While that can be frustrating, given that Heather is a scientist and Jesse is an engineer, it actually adds to the mystery and challenge of beekeeping for us.  We have learned to not be afraid to experiment and try new things.  To sometimes go against tradition and conventional wisdom.  And, to make sure that we’ve read it in at least a half-dozen or more different sources to begin to trust that there might actually be something to it.  As such, you will want to take the suggestions that you read here, compare them to what you read and hear elsewhere, and then formulate your own opinions as to what you want to try.  Keep notes along the way and observe changes in your bees (e.g.: queen, number of bees, food stores, mite loads, etc.), local environment (e.g.: good / poor nectar flow, pollen availability, change in landscape / forage, etc.), and weather (e.g.: cold/mild winter, long/short winter, wet/cool spring, hot/dry summer, etc.) that might help explain why something did or didn’t work in a particular year.  All we can attempt to do here is to provide you with things that we currently practice and believe are important in our operation.​