The Watauga County Beekeepers got the year off to a sweet
start with a short course in the I.G. Greer Theater at ASU in
Boone.
About 150 people attended the meeting, a record number for the
annual course, which is designed to get new beekeepers busy with
their hives.
While much of the crowd was comprised of Appalachian State University
students, a few veterans of the trade were on hand to share their
wisdom.
Bob Cole, a longtime member of the beekeepers’ association,
has been tending bees for 79 years.
Cole has also taught about bees overseas under the auspices of
the United States Agency for International Development and was
awarded the Order of the Long Leaf Pine, one of the state’s
highest recognitions for public service.
“We’re 50 years late,” he said of the current bee
situation. “We’ve needed them for 50 years, so the older
beekeepers can teach it to the younger people. It’s not something
you can learn in a year.”
Cole said the short course was a simple introduction to a sophisticated
challenge, and while many would be discouraged by the investment
of time and money, the success would come not only in honey, but
in more productive crops and healthy landscapes.
“It’s to bring those people together who have an interest
and to show them what they have only dreamed of is possible,”
Cole said. “We desperately need people to carry on beekeeping
for the pollination that honeybees provide to the food industry.
“It’s a little expensive, but well worth the effort,
and the fact that as long as we acknowledge that as much as one-third
of our vital food supply is dependent on pollination, not only
for food but for the seeds to plant. Small gardens are essential
this day and age, but you don’t have good production of small
gardens without honeybee pollination. It takes some work, but
if you stick with it, the rewards will be well worth it.”
Honeybees aren’t the only insect that are of interest to
crop producers.
Apis lignaria, a small bee, only makes enough honey to feed its
eggs, but it is a highly efficient pollinator, living in cracks,
knotholes, straws, or any place where it can lay an egg.
Cole said research is under way to use the lignaria to offset
some of the honeybee losses, with two different varieties living
on the two coasts.
Cole said honeybees and lignaria work together and complement
each other, instead of competing, due to different hatching seasons
and ability to get into different-sized crevices.
Cole said about 90 percent of the group was young people, which
showed great promise for the honeybee despite problems, pests,
and challenges.
“There’s still the ongoing problem with mites, and also
with the small-hive beetle, which was imported from Africa,”
Cole said. “The colony collapse disorder is still ongoing,
not quite as bad as it was in the beginning, but we still don’t
have a concrete answer as to what can be done to eliminate this
particular phenomenon.
“In the ongoing investigation of this particular problem,
several things have come to light. One was a virus out of Israel,
and another was a situation where certain additive foods proved
not to be as nutritious as they were touted to be. Thirdly, a
type of new pesticide turned out to be highly disorienting to
groups of bees who flew through areas where the pesticide was
used. Therefore, it is suggested that those people spraying pesticide
should look closely at the contents,” he said.
Cole said a rule of thumb for achieving maximum pollination is
two colonies of bees per acre.
“I have no idea what the ratio is in Watauga County, but
it’s critical, and it’s way below what it should be,”
he said. “With growth in population in this area and the
world, we need more people to keep bees.
“When you take the nectar sources away from the bees through
the clear cutting of the forests and spraying chemicals on every
plant in sight, you take away not only their food sources, but
the pollination of the crops that feed you.”
Steve Underwood, one of the presenters, started a bee club in
Wilkes County 15 years ago and is active in Watauga County’s
association.
“It’s pretty much to give a kick start to these youngsters,
including the pros and the cons of it,” Underwood said. “The
biggest challenge right now for new beekeepers and old beekeepers
alike is dealing with this vorroa mite. It’s a vector for
more diseases than we were ever aware of before.”
Underwood said most people had no knowledge of bees and pollination
besides what they’ve seen on television. “What we attempt
to do is at least enlighten them a little bit,” he said.
Underwood said organic growers and other gardeners want bees primarily
for pollination, but honey has proven not only a historic sweetener,
but full of medicinal advantages, as well.
Honey is believed to help with localized allergies, and it can
be applied as a poultice on burns. It absorbs moisture and contains
a small amount of hydrogen peroxide, which is a cleanser.
Honey is a folk remedy for sore throat because it smooths the
esophageal lining while the hydrogen peroxide cleanses the tissue.
Beeswax can be used for clean-burning candles and it is good as
a lubricant for carpenters and home-maintenance chores. It’s
used in lip balms as a base because it is an inert product.
“In the hive, it’s used to protect the larva for the
first 21 days,” Underwood said. “It is 100 percent organic
and actually comes from a gland on their belly.”
Amy Johnston, president of the beekeepers’ association, said
the biggest success was that 90 percent of the people in attendance
said they planned to keep bees, and she was pleased to see strong
attendance and support from local businesses.
The Watauga County Beekeepers Association meets the first Tuesday
of every month at 7 p.m. at the Watauga County Agricultural Conference
Center in Boone.
For more information on the association, contact Amy Johnston
at (828) 262-1012 or join the e-mail group at Watauga_Beekeepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com.
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