Last fall I started teaching Sue Monk Kidd's novel, The Secret Life of Bees, in my high school English classes. I bought a hive body to display in my classroom and had some of my students paint and decorate it. My students enjoyed the novel and the bee shrine that grew around the hive body displayed in class--I gave extra extra credit if students brought in bee-related items--and I particularly enjoyed Kidd's loving descriptions of apiculture. Curious, I bought Beekeeping for Dummies of all things and read it cover to cover. Suddenly, I found myself poring over the Dadant Company catalog and ordering all the equipment and supplies necessary to begin raising bees. In May, I ordered 3lbs. of packaged bees from the Draper apiaries and awaited their arrival at the post office. Apparently the post office wanted to be rid of them because I received two phone calls asking that I pick up the bees. The woman who brought them out held them at arms length with a horrified look--honestly, you'd think I'd ordered a werewolf--but I was finally ready to start my own apiary.