Hey from Maryland

[Zoot]

I've been browsing and posting here for a few weeks - sorry for the delay here.

I'm a former beekeeper returning to the fold after a long absence - about 25 years. We live on a farm just west of Wash. DC. Presently we are shifting gears from a small horse operation to beekeeping (2 hives at the moment) and chickens. I am also an artist and woodcarver.

Fantastic site,
Jim Evans

[beemaster]

Jim:

Not sure if I ever got to welcome you, I see you have 22 posts and it threw me for a curve - but wither way WELCOME ABOARD and I know what it's like to take a break from the hobby and return to it - I think that happens to everyone who has bees but doesn't "need" bees on their property.

The longest stretch without bees for me was probably 5 or 6 years - the urge all of a sudden hits you and next thing you know, you have bees again.

When I started my website, I wanted to do a small section on beekeeping - before you know it I had over 50 pages and hundreds of photos, a logbook section and eventually this forum: all because the year or two  before I decided to get back in the hobby and was having trouble finding a website that I thought had BASIC ENGLISH (most were more technical) and over the years, whether I had bees or not - I lectured to schools and I started thinking that kids need a good homework site or a place to get a good report from.

The forum was ALMOST accidental - it started as a RV Camping forum (once I realized I had software in my server package that made forums) but the RV forum was a HUGE FLOP - I even renamed the RV forum the "World least used RV Forum" and even that didn't get any comments. Then I thought, since my beekeeping home page was climbing quickly into the search engine ranks that I'd give the bee forum idea a try and it took off quickly - now at nearly 1300 member in under 2.3 years.

Anyway... Beekeeping does have that PULL on you and eventually, given the right circumstances, we all return to it and now (whether I have bees or not) I'm heavy into beekeeping, if only the administrative end of the forum and upkeep of my website. Best wishes.

[Zoot]

Thanks John,

You've done a nice job here. I also like your input. Sorry to hear about the RV forum's fate. I've been involved in some site design and you just never know what's going to take off or flop on the internet. There is absolutely no rhyme or reason to it.

You mentioned "pinelands" in one of your posts. Is that what the natives call the pine barrens up there now? I assume you've read John McPhee's immortal book on the subject. Look forward to more chatting in the future.
Jim