I just ordered my first Flow Hive and am in the process of learning and planning. I have a small (1/2 acre) citrus grove and wildlife habitat in San Diego County. Some of my trees are from the original grove and are over a hundred years old. I make some serious marmalade from my Seville orange that won Gold and Silver at Dalmain. Getting a bee hive just feels like the natural next step.
I’m happy to bee here! 
Welcome Claire 
oh my gosh I LOVE marmalade! Well done on this accomplishment 
You’re in good company here - lots of us enjoy making & cooking things along with beekeeping. Check out this thread:
@Dawn_SD is in your neck of the woods and is a serious badass gourmet cook 
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum from Point Loma! 
I have never seen Seville oranges in the US, so I delighted that you are cultivating them. Seville orange marmalade is my favorite - I used to make tons of it in the UK when we lived there.
If you haven’t already, may I suggest that you join the San Diego Beekeeping Society (http://www.sandiegobeekeepingsociety.com)? They have a facebook page, and are holding monthly meetings online during the pandemic. Their talks are usually very informative and members are very helpful, although some are suspicious of Flow hives.
Hilary Kearney of Beekeeping Like a Girl is a member, and runs courses for beginners. She has a Flow hive herself. I don’t think she is doing hands-on courses at the moment, but she does offer some online training too - https://beekeepinglikeagirl.com.
If you need bees, Mark Huerta is also a senior member and sells very nice nuclei with gentle queens, but he sells out early so ask him soon. Bee Safe Bee Removal - SD County (619) 420-4546 beesafe@sbcglobal.net (mailto:beesafe@sbcglobal.net)
Failing that, I have had several great packages from Mann Lake:
Live bees | Package Bees with Queen - Italian - Shipped | Mann Lake Ltd.
Finally, I would like to suggest that you buy a second brood box. Our climate is prone to prolonged nectar dearths, and to survive the lean times, your bees will need space to save food for those times. You should let the bees fill the second box before you consider adding the Flow super.
I hope that I haven’t overwhelmed you, but I am glad that you joined this forum. You will find lots of helpful people here, who will happily help with any questions that you might have. 
Hi Dawn, and thank you so much! This is great information and exactly what I need to know.
I did join the San Diego Bee Keeping Society last week, but I recently pulled the plug on Facebook, (which is something I’ve wanted to do that for a long time – I work in the software industry, so it’s not that unusual.) I also ordered Hilary Kearney’s book, but haven’t received it yet.
That’s good advice about the second brood box. My trees bear fruit at different times of the year, but I don’t want these little guys to go hungry!
Maybe sometime after this pandemic is over, we can have tea and marmalade!
Claire
Thank you, Eva! It’s so much fun to meet like-minded people! That’s a great link – I love all this stuff. I’ll have to read it later because I’m still at work, although at home. 
– Claire
I will bring the bread for the marmalade sandwiches! I love baking bread. I have a new sourdough starter brewing right now 
Yay! Sounds like a plan!