Learn first. Then start.

In 2016 Orlando Magazine ran a piece about Esther Vickers, who lives near downtown, given a hive on Mother's Day, sitting in the overwhelm of a new box, then learning with Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association. Beth Fox is named there as a founder of OBBA. The line worth keeping is theirs: learn first. Then start. And know that you care for the bees.

That is the order. Club night, Bee College, the 4-H book, then a nuc or a package, then FDACS. Not a Craigslist box on a Sunday because the yard looked empty.

The magazine's 2016 beekeeper counts are stale. Use Keeping Bees in Florida for how many people keep bees in Florida now. The magazine's sidebar of other clubs is not our club page. Orange County's club is still OBBA, as UF/IFAS names it.

Bee Happy, Orlando Magazine, 2016 https://www.orlandomagazine.com/bee-happy/

Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association, UF Orange https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/orange/local-food-systems/backyard-beekeeping/

Keeping Bees in Florida, Keeping Bees in Florida https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AA264