The Bee Source has a lot of useful information on bee keeping. What got my attention were all the free plans for building things like a honey extractor, solar wax melter and the Bee Vac. Most, if not all, of the plans have a web page and a PDF download. I never knew you could purchase bees on the Internet?
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I currently teach in Lehigh University’s Master’s of Technical Entrepreneurship program. I'm also an kit maker, author, father, tinkerer, and member of the MAKE Technical Advisory board.
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I’ve been keeping bees in the back yard for two years now. It’s a blast and it’s quite easy to get started.
Here’s a link to a previous article on backyard beekeeping with a few photos of yours truly:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/05/backyard_beekeeping_-_splitting_a_hive.html
The University of Minnesota has a few classes for amateur beekeepers, and a number of online resources at their bee lab website. It’s aother good place for info:
http://www.extension.umn.edu/honeybees/
I’d recommend finding a local amateur beekeeping group and downloading as much info as you can get your hands on. Next spring you can be ready to start a hive of your own.