The state inspector.

He showed up early and I took him to the hive. He didn't seem very nice, a gruff old man that wasn't thrilled to see me. It was sunny and super hot. He opened my hive, and sighed audibly. He told me everything was terrible and I should get rid of the bees and give up right now.

No, wait. That was the nightmare I had last night.

The actual inspector showed up to my house today at 4:30. It was overcast and almost but not raining, so it was cool and comfortable outside. I showed him to the hive and he went about his business of opening it and doing an inspection. Without gloves because he's a professional badass and not a wuss like me. He pulled and replaced frames with skill and experience, not all freaked out and super slow like me. He moved a couple frames around to a better location, explaining why, and continued to give me lots of tips about what to do and when. He said I should be able to get honey next summer like I hoped. He answered all my questions. Most importantly, he said everything looks great. He gave me his card and said to contact him anytime I had questions. He was super nice.

He had me sign some papers and pay my registration fee of $10. In a few weeks I'll get my official Certification of Registration and I'll be fully in compliance with the State of Florida Department of Agriculture. It's officially official, I'm a beekeeper.

And that's that. It was not a nightmare, it was all good. I know it was silly to think it would be anything but fine, but hey, brains are weird.

Tomorrow, August 17th, is National Honey Bee Day and I'm going to a Honey Bee Festival to celebrate. I'm going to bee with my people! 🐝