I have a ton of hobbies that don't involve me making money- it's this new thing I've heard about called "work life balance". I highly recommend it.

What is this "life" you speak of?

Hobbies are only useful if you actually have time to enjoy them.

It'd be worth a calculation.

Every single beekeeping book has a chapter on selling honey, because all beekeepers are flush with it. When you consider that most of the "hours" spent making honey are spent by the bees, I could see making $50-$100/hr (but not necessarily translating that to $100-$200k/year)

This is very true.

You'll never make that much as a hobby beekeeper. The real money is in pollination.

That said, the hours worked calculation for me last year was $650 / 10-15 hours or so.

> most of the "hours" spent making honey are spent by the bees

I take this as a confession of guilt in the enslavement of poor unwitting bees. Nobody told 'em a bunch of humans were gonna steal their booty. And to top it off, they don't get pissed and stop making -- we steal, and they just still keep making more for us to steal... ;)

Change your inputs (culture), change your outputs (requirements). Ergo, you don't need that kind of money if you live more sustainably. <IdealistRant/>

So, IMO, try bee keeping[1][2] and see if it starts to change your culture :)

[1] http://www.beesource.com/ [2] http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm (not affiliated)

Going to the movies must be beyond gouging if you look at it from that perspective.