am in Saskatchewan and my bees are in zone 3 this is going to be my third year raising them. so i am no expert, but i raise carniolan bees, my mentor raises them and recommend them (he also breeds them)
but i would highly recommend checking out the bee thread on here, lots more...
been starting to build an off grid summer farm, not sure if that counts as a micro homestead though.
got about 160 acres, 4 bee hives and half acre garden.
this years plans are to expand hopefully to 8 bee hives, keep the garden same size and plant about 150 berry bushes.