How do I get the best beekeeping information? How do I prevent problems with my neighbors and my bees? Can I be successful keeping bees all the way to putting wonderful honey in the jar? These are great questions that most new beekeepers ask themselves prior to beginning their beekeeping experience.

Visualization is the process of seeing things in your mind before they actually occur and some say it is a very powerful tool for success in any area of our lives. Let's assume they are right. You want to be a very successful beekeeper with your own honey bees in your back yard, right? So, let's visualize what that will look like!

Okay, now relax, close your eyes and let's mentally walk around your future beautiful yard and garden. Your flowers are in full bloom and are delightful to look at with their terrific variety of color, texture and heights. You can smell them and the aroma is amazing. You listen very closely and you can hear the hum of hundreds of very busy bees pollinating your flowers and you know that's part of the reason you are enjoying the beauty of your flowers.

All of a sudden you are snapped out of your wonderful trance with your neighbor yelling across the fence, "Hey, what the heck! My flowers are full of your @%&# bees! I was going to cut some of my flowers but I can't because your bees will sting me!"

What do you do? Even more important to ask is what should I have done even before I put my hive in my backyard?

Okay, let's try this again! Close your eyes and see yourself back in your garden. You are under your grape arbor; the sun is warm and soothing on your face. You lean back, close your eyes, and in your mind's eye you see your very abundant garden. Your tomato plants are vibrant green, they are loaded with blossoms and small fruit is beginning to appear. Your green beans look the same. Vibrant, healthy plants loaded with white blooms...the promise of large handfuls of long beautiful green beans. Your gaze continues from plant to plant with the same wonderful view.

Again, you listen ever so closely and you hear that familiar humming sound. Yes, your bees are working their little hearts out making your garden the most productive it has been in years. What a great decision to start your own honey bee production process!

And then you hear, "Hey! What's with all of these dead bees in my daughter's swimming pool! She's scared to death to come outside now because she is sure she is going to get stung! You need to get rid of those bees now!"

Could this have been prevented! Could you have learned how to properly water your bees so they would not have drowned in your neighbor's swimming pool?

These two "nightmares" are very familiar to experienced backyard beekeepers. The very successful beekeepers have prevented these scenes from occurring because of their foresight and their knowledge of beekeeping. They have prepared themselves with a careful study of the proper ways to care for bees; from the selection of their bees, to the housing of their bees, the location of their hive, right down to the height of their fence near their hive and the direction of the opening of the hive's entrance. They also have educated their neighbors and dispelled the myths of bees that so many have.

Before you start on your amazing journey of beekeeping with its many rewards of fulfillment; get yourself properly educated! Prepare yourself with the best beekeeping information available so you can reap the rewards of positive experiences for you, your bees, your environment, and your neighborhood.

Okay, now back to our visualizations....NO!...quit dreaming and get educated so you can turn those potential nightmares into beautiful dreams of reality.