"In the early days when help was scarce, the crop was harvested by 'bees' - all the farmers coming together to harvest each others' crops. This method of overcoming labor shortages was common practice, becoming a custom with its own traditions. The men gathered outside for the work, and the women prepared bounteous meals all day (an attraction one would not want to miss.) Threshing bees were the most prevalent, but there were also bees for sawing, wood cutting, slaughtering and butchering, silo filling and barn raisings. In 1904, the Woodmen Lodge gathered to hew sills for the new Woodmen's Hall to be erected in Colchester Village. Bees disappeared when mechanization made it possible for farmers to do many things alone. Today, two farmers will work together, each contributing specialized machinery and their own labor to tasks which cannot be done alone.” p54

 

In her book, “Being Neighbours”, Catharine Wilson has examined the diaries of over 100 Southern Ontario farmers between the years 1830-1960. The book gives a glimpse into the lives of farmers working together in bees and the subtle politics of mutual dependancy. “Being Neighbours” is available for research at the HEIRS library. (Catharine Anne Wilson, FRSC, is the Francis and Ruth Redelmeier Professor in Rural History at the University of Guelph and founder and director of the Rural Diary Archive website.)