Spring Week 11

While in the garden on Sunday, I found a wayward honeybee. Wayward honeybees are discernible by the way that they walk around the garden. I had trouble transporting it back to the hive as it was still so busy actively being lost, so I gave up and said, “Nature will take care of itself!”. We had just watched The Secret Lives of Bees from National Geographic, and I remembered that hundreds of honeybees die each day, and the hive still thrives. I’d also read the journal prompt for the week, and this situation was not “something unnatural happening within a natural system”. I no longer felt the need to intervene.

Shortly after I wished the bee “good luck” and went inside the house, I saw Matthew out the window. He had a small shovel in hand and was coaxing that goofy little bee home. It didn’t look like the creature had gotten more cooperative in the last five minutes. Matthew just had more resolve than I did to try and try again to deliver it back to the hive platform to her sisters.

The next night, I put my journal aside after beginning this entry. I told Matt, “I saw you yesterday moving that bee with a shovel.” and then it began. I wished I had a recording for what came next. 

Matthew set out to be a hero of bees. This hive is three weeks new, and his first attempt at bee rearing. When the bees arrived and the hive was installed, there were many young, flightless bees that wandered about after dropping off of the frames. This is normal— they find their way. Matthew’s instinct to help— normal. Yet, after placing the saved honeybee closer to home, his doubt set in. There are so many species of bees! Who was he to determine this solitary bee traversing the mulch near the grass’ edge was one of his? What if the hive determined the saved bee was an intruder? “We just watched that bee show.” he says. “Bees are really smart, what if it was playing?” What if it just needed a break, and he’d put it back to work? What if? What if? What if?

I believe that next time we will both let the bee be. Nature will take its course.

May 31 & June 1, 2026