Robert,

You probably made a good move by not getting into bee keeping.  It's a lot
of work, extremely labor intensive, and far easier to get the sweet nectar
and/or pollen at the local NF store or Co-Op.  Believe me, you're missing
nothing worth the effort.

If you have a "super" for your own honey...and don't use much, then it's a
different tale.  You wouldn't even need the fancy bee keeper's gear (suits,
bonnets, smoke blowers, centrifuges, etc, since they can stand to lose a bit
of the stuff.  The pollen collecting is a bit more of a project, though.  We
never tried that, but had friends who did.

The "foulbrood" disease that decimates so many hives is basically the result
of the factory style bee farming that goes on.  They take almost all of the
honey, and then replace it with sugar syrup.  No wonder the bees get sick.
Same mentality that pervades the factory farming of animals.

It was hard for us to give up that tasty stuff, but I've been off of it for
so long that I no longer miss it.

TAke care,

Ric