I’ve been keeping bees since 2003 and like all beekeepers, there is a scéal as to how I ended up with bee venom in my blood. My story begins with my grandfather Jerry Kevane who lived in Reenbee, just east of Dingle, Co. Kerry. My father told me that in the 1930s Jerry received two hives through the Congested Districts Board. Jerry was a meticulous man and in the weeks before the arrival of the hives, he acquired some old white flour bags from a local mill and fashioned himself a bee suit. My father recalled watching him sew the suit by candlelight. The bees arrived and, the very next day, Jerry set about “examining” the new arrivals. My dad sat on the ditch watching, with a mixture of excitement and awe, as his dad set to work.