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A HONEYBEE HEART HAS FIVE OPENINGS by Helen Jukes

A HONEYBEE HEART HAS FIVE OPENINGS

A Year of Keeping Bees

by Helen Jukes

Pub Date: May 5th, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4786-2
Publisher: Pantheon

An intimate look at one woman’s experience with beekeeping.

After helping a friend of a friend with his bees, British writer Jukes decided to get a colony of her own even though she knew little about them. “I hadn’t even realized…that honeybees are different from bumblebees,” she writes, “that there are over twenty thousand species of bee in the world, and only a fraction of them make honey.” The author had a woodworker build her a special hive so she could establish her colony in a wind-protected section of her back garden. While she waited for the appropriate time to begin her new hobby, she plunged headlong into the complex history of bees and beekeeping through the centuries, and she shares her extensive research with readers. Though informative, these elements are occasionally dry. Fortunately, Jukes juxtaposes this history with her ongoing interactions with her hive, which brings her tale back to life. Readers share in her concerns about cold weather and how the new colony is adjusting to their nontraditional hive, rejoice in the abundance of new bees, and worry as the hive moves closer and closer to the swarming phase. The author clearly conveys the necessity of dedication, focus, and calm when handling bees, and she palpably portrays the moment when she was able to fully let go of her day-to-day anxieties and concentrate solely on her charges. She also interweaves a late-blooming romance into her story, which further sweetens the narrative. Throughout the book, Jukes portrays her experiences with vivid imagination and a spirit that encourages readers to think deeper about a creature that is vital to all life on this planet. “The honeybees opened me out,” she writes, “led me into a new understanding of the world and my place in it….Flowers, bees, weather, people—they’re all connected, all part of a larger ecosystem.”

Entertaining reading for budding apiarists and armchair nature enthusiasts.