A Message from Our President

Friends,

One of the most interesting gifts I gave my father was a beekeeping starter kit. I ordered the kit from the Sears catalog around 1986. My father had mentioned beekeeping would be an interesting hobby, and I thought the gift would motivate him to set up some hives on our farm. Before he set up the hives, my father met with a beekeeper who lived a couple of miles from our home. The beekeeper mentored my father and told him which books and magazines to purchase about beekeeping.

Along with my father, I read the books and could hardly wait for the magazines to arrive. I learned much about bees and beekeeping. Beekeeping was mesmerizing to me. One of the most thrilling things about bee-keeping, besides having raw honey, was how a beekeeper could order honeybees and have them delivered by the United States Postal Service. The mail carrier would have to drive around with a contained swarm of bees in their vehicle until they ventured to our home. I am sure the mail carrier would change their usual route and put our house first on his list of deliveries to not endure hearing bees buzzing all day on their route. The bees were delivered in a wooden frame which was covered with a screen like you see on a screen door or porch. I would be charged with task of feeding the bees several times a day by brushing sugar water on the screen of their container, until my father arrived and suited up in his beekeeping safety gear and put the bees in their hive on our farm.

Learning about and watching bees taught me several life lessons. I learned the importance of working well with others. Every bee has a job and if each bee does their job and cooperates the hive thrives, if not, the hive dies. I learned to plan for the future. Bees make extra honey to feed the hive during the winter, they plan ahead so their hive can continue grow- ing. I learned to do good without a reward in mind. Bees are selfless. If one or two scouts know where some colorful flowers are, they don’t hoard the pollen for themselves so they will look like heroes to the other bees. They go to their hive and do a wiggle dance that tells all the bees exactly where the beautiful flowers are, so they can go gather pollen, too. Overall, bees work to create a vibrant community that is achieved through communication, planning ahead and doing the selfless hard work necessary to thrive.

Our Temple community is much like a beehive. We are each a bee in the hive. Like bees, we need to communicate, work, plan and cooperate to keep our Temple vibrant and growing. Selfless contributions make our Temple a wonderful place to be.

I appreciate each of you. Thank you for your membership. Please continue to help our Temple thrive and grow.

I wish you a wonderful March and happy spring. Whenever you see a honeybee during the upcoming warm months, think about all the things they do for us and all the lessons they teach to be contributing members of our beloved Temple.

Tina Lyon Board President