Last Saturday, I attended my first beekeeping auction. There has been one almost every year of our five years of being keepers. I skipped out of working on my son’s Eagle Scout project to attend (more on that to come later).
It’s was like other farm auctions — trucks or vans to haul your goods. You could see them from the highway. I parked on the side of the road.:
And of course there were kids (playing Bionicles and jumping off of stumps and such):
And of course, the merchandise. Ten consigners total, brand new and well used equipment was offered.
This lot of gloves was interesting to witness. I already own three pairs, so I wasn’t bidding, but a lady who was new to auctions was. The auctioneer offered two pairs of gloves, adult medium and child’s extra-small. He’d ask for bids and the winner would choose which item (and how many) s/he wanted to purchase at that price. If any was left in the lot, other people had the chance to buy the remainder at that same price. If there was no interest, then the auctioneer might start bidding over for the rest, or just move on to the next lot. Almost every lot was handled this way.
And of course, we had to pay up at the end of the day. But if we wanted to visit the ‘office’ for a cup of coffee or get a donut (don’t worry, I abided by the junk food ban), we could. With the weather so nice after a week of rain, wind, and clouds, I was trying to catch up on my Vitamin D. Here’s the office.
