Welcome to “The Hive…”
Welcome and thank you for visiting the 4 Queens Sanctuary! We are glad you are here and hope you enjoy the content, information, knowledge and products that we are planning to share. Nestled in Southeastern Illinois surrounded by the Shawnee National Forest one will find it hard to believe you are in Illinois - it isn’t flat as most envision Illinois. A majority of the land is rolling hills and hardwood forest which is not conducive to farming; but it is conducive to Apis Mellifera - the Western Honey Bee.
The idea to blog was due to family and friends asking about the property, what we were to doing to improve the habitat and curiosity about bees. What you will find in the blog and information throughout the site is conversation around the “the how” and “the why”…in other words why are we doing what we are doing and how does it impact our objective and goals. It has certainly been a great learning experience over the past 15 years and we are excited to share this with you. Blogging seems to be a great way to share content and share our journey with a broad audience - we are new to this so time will tell.
The majority of the content will focus on the honey bee and how they live for their short 6 week lifetime. While I grew up around farming and bees, my appreciation has grown over the past couple years due to managing my own bee yards or apiaries as they are called. Each and every time one of the hives is opened it is a learning experience in so many ways.
There will be other topics that we post or blog about ranging from habitat projects, interviews with other beekeepers, habitat management and history of the area. If you have questions or a topic you’d like to learn more about - please let us know!
It is no coincidence we are launching on Veteran’s Day - as a US Navy combat veteran I / we are proud members of the Farmer Veteran Coalition, a non-profit organization focused on assisting veterans in transitioning from the service to a career in farming. It is a great organization that supports veterans in so many ways. I would also encourage you to take a look at all of our partners and resources, each of them do great work that may not be publicized or widely known.
In addition to our website, you can find us on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube; I would also encourage you to subscribe to our mailing list for blog updates and product information.
In closing, thanks again for stopping by and remember, “in a world where you can be anything - bee the change…”
Sincerely,
David & Carol Musgrave