Behind the Veil: Ian Munger

December 10, 2010 by Lori Harley

Ian Munger

North Berwick [York County]
Beekeeper Since: 2009
Hives: Currently 3 hives split between 2 rural apiaries; these from several hives combined in late fall.
Day Job: Detective

Beginnings: I have always been interested in bees. I used to go to the fairs to look at the observation hives. Beth, my wife, was at first hesitant, but now supports my bee habit.

Lesson(s) Learned: I tend to always be in a hurry in my daily life. I like to cross things off my list and keep to a schedule. The bees don’t seem to read my list and will do things on their own time. As a beekeeper I must be patient and trust the bees. They also have taught me to accept that things will not always be perfect. I tend to try to want the bees to keep their hive organized and overly clean. However, they keep adding propolis to the top cover no matter how much I scrape it off!

Goals: Next year I plan to expand my apiaries by adding several nucs and raising Russian bees. I hope to also begin raising queens.

View: Attention to detail and the ability to absorb information serves me well as a beekeeper. My computer skills give me ways to store information and help to teach others about bees.

Style: I consider myself a natural, but responsive beekeeper.

Bees: I consider my bees to be pets.

My Skill Level: Newbee 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Master Beekeeper*
* Sometimes I feel my skill level rises to a 6 or 7, maybe even an 8 when my bees are happy and healthy. Then the bees do something to catch me off-guard, and I feel my skill level sliding back to 1.