RE: You get what you pay for, and sometimes more!
Wow, where to start but to say Thank You. I stumbled across your mentoring post today and was very intrigued by it. I have only been posting about 1 month and somehow have a reputation of 51, still trying to figure that out with all the other operational aspects of steemit. I also appreciate your desire to become a beekeeper. I'm not sure how close you are to any BIBBA (Bee Improvement and Bee Breeders Association) courses, but if you can I would highly recommend attending. I have become personal friends with one of their Trustees, Roger Patterson, who is head of education. We started a Bee Improvement effort here in the US as an affiliate of BIBBA and Roger has been over here 2 years in a row teaching at our workshops.
I have been doing weekly "Beekeeping for Everyone" post that you may find informative as you prepare for bees next year.