It’s officially bee season. This means people are suddenly interested in me again in *that* way. You know: How many hives do you have? Where do you sell your honey? Are bees still in trouble? What’s killing them? What do you mean you don’t sell honey?
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These are all great questions and I understand why you ask them, but I’m gonna answer a different one: Do you really do beekeeping in skirts?
Yes, yes I do. And pants. And bee suits. And shorts. So let’s talk about it. Let’s talk about the skirts. It’s cause I’m a feminist right? Nope. Do feminists even wear skirts? It’s 2019, of course we do.
Beekeeping in skirts is about a number of things. Sure, on the surface level it addresses women having a voice in the male dominate world of beekeeping. However, not all women wear skirts, and I know some pretty fly dudes who like to sport a skirt from time to time, so while the women in beekeeping argument is important, it’s not why I wear skirts.
Physically, they’re more comfortable. Wear what you want.
But I digress, beekeeping in skirts is also a statement about the kind of beekeepers we can become. Beekeepers who move slow, listen to the bees and don’t try to enforce our will upon them. When we are aggressively serving our own agenda we do things to a hive that cause the bees to react and defend. Then we need suits. (Obviously wear a suit until you feel safe and comfortable without one and always be aware of regional issues such as Africanized bees). I wear skirts because I believe in a bee-centric, slowed down approach bees.
Beyond that, the final reason I wear skirts is because of relationship. The relationship I’m interested in while serving the hive is between my seat of creative power and the creative Earth herself. It’s personal. It’s womb to womb connection with nothing between myself and the Earth. It’s an old way. A folk wisdom. A reclaiming. It’s not for anyone else. It’s not sexy. It’s not defiant. It’s relational. What a woman hold between her legs is holy and utterly wise. Dare I say the same for a man. Holy. Wholly. Whole. Nothing less than reverence will do.