Enjoyed reading this post being 2 years into beekeeping myself now. After 2 years of beekeeping Ive learnt four important things 1) It costs a lot of money in the beginning 2) Stings are still bloody sore 3) Ive yet to get a single jar of honey from my lot so it isnt as easy as it looks and 4) Swarm control gets in the way of holidays. But I love working with my bees and Im confident that when the honey comes it will be well worth the wait. And the excitement of things like seeing your first homebred queen starting to lay beats holidays anyway.