Interview and Photo by
Emily Darrell

How long ago did you start keeping bees? What prompted you to start?
I started an orchard about 15 years ago and I knew I needed to have bees to pollinate my apples and cherries and pears and things. So this friend of mine I knew, who was a state apiarist, I got two hives from him. And then he and I kept talking bees from then on. Eventually I ended up with 36 hives. I really enjoy it. I sell most of my honey. I sell it at the Swift Creek Berry Farm and I sell it at Miss Hertzler’s [Hertzler Farm and Feed.]  I also do some pollination at the Swift Creek Berry Farm for the blueberries.

The last decade or so has been really rough on bees – from Colony Collapse Disorder [the mysterious disappearance of massive numbers of honeybee colonies, which began in 2006], to the Varroa mite, to Africanized bees taking over in certain places . . . What do you make of all this? Do you ever worry that honeybees might get close to extinction?
Well, it would be a disaster for mankind if that did happen. Because we are so dependent upon bees for pollination –to get apples, melons,almonds. You even need bees to pollinate clover, to get clover seed – alfalfa, to get alfalfa seed. It’s essential that we keep bees going. It’s essential for agriculture, and, you know, the food supply of the United States and the world.

I know that honey bees don’t generally sting unless they’re provoked, or smashed, or if their hive is threatened. But have you ever been stung really badly or gotten swarmed?
No – nothing that I didn’t cause myself, by dropping something when I shouldn’t have dropped it.
The honeybee has got one thing its mind and one thing only, and that’s making honey for the good of the colony. So they can light on you, they can get in your hair – they’re not going to sting you unless you threaten them, unless you step on them barefooted, or you go up and rattle the hive. They’re not going to bother you – not like yellow jackets, where if you just go by their nest they’re going to sting you. One thing about a honeybee, if they bite you, they die.  A yellow jacket can sting you 100 times and won’t die.

Colony collapse disorder was big in the news about 4 or 5 years ago and, to my knowledge, the mystery hasn’t been solved. There are a lot of different theories going around about what is causing CCD. Do you have a theory of your own?
My theory is – and, I think, from what I’m reading is – colony collapse disorder [is caused by] nutrition, or lack of nutrition. We’re finding more and more about the nutrition of bees, especially when you over-winter bees. Because sugar water or fructose or whatever they feed ‘em –corn syrup – provides carbohydrates. But [bees] also need protein. So [beekeepers] are using more and more pollen patties that have protein in them. These help the bees have a balanced diet through the winter. And I think, probably, a lot of the colony collapse disorder was due to the lack of good nutrition. This is my opinion, now. Because if you talk to 100 beekeepers you’ll get 110 different answers.

What’s the best thing about keeping bees?
One of things that I’ve really noticed is that every plant, or tree, or shrub, or whatever, I really noticing it blooming, going through its cycles. Because my honeybees are following that cycle. You first notice the maples turning red in early March, and right on the end of that bud is a little drop of nectar and the bees go and get it. That signals the queen to start laying, because spring is coming. Noticing the plants and the things that happen in nature is probably the biggest thing for me.

I’ve heard eating honey can help prevent allergies. Do you believe this?
Yes. If you get local honey that has not been pasteurized, it has a little bit of every plant in your area in it– maybe a minute amount of it ... it helps you build up an immunity. If you get honey from the store and it’s been pasteurized, it takes those virtues out of it. It takes the benefits out of it. Some of the honey you buy in the grocery stores has been cut with fructose or corn syrup or has been diluted. Local honey just tastes better, and it’s better for you.