Now that the outdoor garden is done for the season, time for more indoor projects. I decided to try my hand at building a remote beehive monitoring system from (almost) scratch.

My goal is to build a system that monitors hive weight, temperature and sound levels inside the hive, bee comings and goings (via external camera), ambient temperature, and motion (in case the hive gets knocked over or otherwise disturbed). If all goes as planned, that data will get fed wirelessly to an online dashboard that keeps track of trends over time. I can also set up email or text alerts to let me know if the hive gets tipped or if something else out of the ordinary happens. Or so I’ve read.

While I have basic technical and mechanical skills, I’ve never done a project that requires both computer programming and electronics. So far, the learning curve has been a little easier than I’d expected. At the moment I’m learning the basics of connecting a mini-computer to lights and buttons on an electronics board, as well as how to write the computer programs that can make lights blink and register when a button is pushed. Baby steps.

If you’re interested in trying your own project and want to know how I got started, feel free to shoot me a note!