Currently we have 17 Honey Bee hives and have ordered 100 more for the spring of 2009. 3 of the 17 we purchased in 4# packages and added them to the boxes we built. The rest we have rescued from barns and houses where they were going to be destroyed. We run a free bee rescue service www.BeeCharmers.org We got into bees early this year because we noticed no one was pollinating our plants. We had been reading articles here and there about the honey bee decline, but other than in our food bill we hadn’t noticed it. Bees pollinate at least a 1/3 of all the food we eat and are responsible for pollinating even more of our veggies for seed saving. Bees are a must for seed savers. We can’t live a healthy, productive life without bees so we got involved. We took a class before our first bees arrived and dealt with any scary feelings of having that many buzzing insects hovering around us. We were both shocked how the bees seemed to respond to a calm mood by being calm, but get frustrated or angry and the bees get angry! So, needless to say I’ve learned to have more Zen moments. Especially when working around the bees. 
Did you know that all the workers that gather the nectar and do all the pollinating our females? We didn’t either, but now we know so much more. We have even built a solar collector to melt all the extra wax so it can be used in candles and medicine. Of course we are thrilled at the prospect of honey, but then there is the propalis. A sticky resign the bees make out of tree sap to seal cracks in the hive. It can be used in toothpaste, wound salves and healing creams. It has many of the some antibiotic properties that honey has. Next time you get a burn try honey. It keeps the wound free from germs, seals in the moisture allowing your wound to heal faster and with a smaller scar. Actually, it is amazing all of the uses for all the bee products. They have a real place on any farm.