Buzzing On: Bees and their keepers battling modern and environmental problems

From candles and pomades to a quick fruity bite and beyond, the products of bees are heavily integrated into our lifestyles. Honey bees are responsible for pollinating one-third of the world’s food supply, yet due to issues like habitat loss, insecticide use and disease, United States commercial beekeepers reported honey bee colony loss rates averaging 30 percent each winter, according to Ohio State University’s Department of Entomology. 

Behind most bee colonies are the dedicated individuals that take on maintaining local populations of this important insect as a hobby or full-time career. The endeavor is no simple task. Beekeeping requires lots of equipment, time, knowledge and patience and despite the massive commitment and lack of profitability many still take on the duty. 

Spending hours tending to insects, attending specialized classes and creating associations devoted to this activity, the beekeepers of Southeast Ohio prove themselves to be quite the collection of characters.  

“We’re not crazy,” said David Huffer of The Bee Barn of Southeast Ohio, which provides all a bee keeper could need.

The Bee Barn in Marietta, Ohio specializes in providing homemade beekeeping equipment. 

Inventory at the Bee Barn Featuring handmade wooden frames. Photo provided by David Huffer

Although he may not claim expert level, Huffer has been keeping bees for over 14 years and said he learns something new with each year. 

“We joke all the time that the bees do not read the books that we read,” Huffer said. Each season can bring varying conditions with new obstacles to hurdle that require lots of active maintenance to keep bees healthy and productive.

After retiring from law enforcement in the early 2000’s Huffer and his wife took a trip to Amish country and after a beginners beekeeping course they were ‘bee havers.’ 

“Because there's a difference between somebody that has bees and somebody that keeps bees,” Huffer said. Anyone can have bees, but it comes down to the dedication to maintain a hive year after year that makes someone a beekeeper. He now keeps 55 colonies. 

In 2016, Huffer started The Bee Barn where he would sell the extra equipment he would hand make. Today, Huffer has customers that drive upwards of two hours to purchase equipment from him. 

“When you order stuff online, you can't touch it, feel it and ask questions about it. Yeah, that's where we kind of shine,” Huffer remarked. From frames to mite treatments, the Bee Barn provides all a beginner beekeeper could need.  

Connection and education is what drives the bee keeping community. Huffer said the bee keeping community of Southeast Ohio is very close knit, especially given the difficulty of this pastime.

“Because it is a niche market that you know as just a few people, so if you find somebody else that has the same passion as you, you're gonna take the opportunity to talk to him,” Huffer commented. 

Protection, Practice and Policy

On the frontlines of fostering the beekeeping community and pollinator health in Southeast Ohio is Edward Newman. Newman is the Zero Waste director at Rural Action and the Athens County bee inspector. He is responsible for over 210 apiaries throughout the county. 

Newman has always had an interest in insects, but it wasn’t until he visited a friend’s hive of “really chill bees” that he became completely enamored and purchased his first hive in 1984. 

Newman’s dedication to his work was clear in his eagerness to discuss his role with the county. At our interview he was nursing an injury following a recycling collection event and rushed off to urgent care after our conversation, yet he still took his time to answer my questions thoughtfully. 

In this position he acts as an educator and mentor for newer keepers and maintains hive health by monitoring disease and parasites within the county. 

Newman credits the globalization of the economy in the 90s to introducing more parasites and diseases that completely changed the beekeeping community. 

“It took a lot of people by surprise. And so that was an episode of change in the bee world,” Newman said. 

One of these diseases is American foulbrood, a devastating disease that claimed 80% of the state’s hives, according to Newman. Newman likened it to a ‘bee pandemic.’Affected hives must be burned and buried to prevent the spread. 

Just this February, the USDA granted a license to the first ever honey bee vaccine to treat American foulbrood. 

Along with the American foulbrood is the invasive varroa mite from Asia which causes colony collapse disorder, a mass loss of worker bees. Varroa mites are tiny red-brown external parasites that feed on adult bees and reproduce on larvae, causing malformations and passing on other harmful viruses, according to BeeAware.org.

“So we had to learn how to kill a bad bug on our good bug,” Huffer said.

It all comes down to the rigorous monitoring of hives to regulate the mite population, according to Huffer. 

Drone bees are vagrants of sorts that move freely between hives, Newman explained, they also are the most likely to carry the mite so it's easy for the parasite to spread rapidly. 

“All colonies have mites, it's just how many so we've got to keep that number down below 9%, we try to keep it at 5% or less,” Huffer said. 

Just as important as disease and mite monitoring is moderating the effects of the climate crisis on the bee population and how it affects their delicate position in the environment. 

Radical climate change has massive impacts on the population of bees. As temperatures rise, flowers bloom much earlier and too soon for bees to feed on. Newman stressed that bees need a certain amount of food to get through the winter which they miss out on resulting in the mass hive loss. 

“One of the cool things about (beekeeping) is that it's also a way for you to get tuned into the world, the natural way,” Newman said. 

More than a buzzing hobby or a career path, honey bees are an integral part of the ecosystem and our food supply. 

While films like ‘The Bee Movie’ have attempted to push the plight of pollinators into the mainstream, the economic importance of bees alone can be enough to convince their protection. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said, “honey bees pollinate $15 billion worth of crops in the United States each year, including more than 130 types of fruits, nuts, and vegetables.”

Caution: Bee at work. Photo provided by David Huffer

“There's been a meme going around that has a honey bee on it, and it says ‘If I go, I'm taking you with me,’” Huffer laughed as he shared. “The significance of that is, is that studies show that honey bees pollinate two out of every three bites of food that you take.”

The more accurate estimate by scientists is that about one in three bites we take are pollinated by animal pollinators like bees, according to the USDA. 

The population of pollinators is under threat at all angles from the average insect swatter to oppressive lawn keeping practices that rob bees of local food sources, therefore bees now more than ever require a more protective framework. 

“My biggest pet peeve is a perfectly manicured lawn,” Huffer said. 

Mowing is damaging to both bee habitats and the environment as a whole. The EPA reports that one hour of operating a new gasoline lawn mower can emit the same amount of volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxide as driving a new car 45 miles. Frequent mowing gives flowers such as dandelions and clover, nutrients for bees, less time to grow and a USDA Forest Service report found that lawn cut less often had the highest bee diversity. 

Other landscaping practices such as the use of pesticide that include Neonicotinoids, which can contaminate nectar and pollen and kill bees. It is used on crops planted in Ohio and it is also the most widely used class of insecticide used in the world.

In 2021, Ohio University became an affiliated Bee Campus USA and committed to improving landscapes for pollinators. 

“It's really focused on our habitats and making sure that both the city and the university have policies that support the restoration and the expansion of our pollinator habitats,” said Sam Crowl, director of sustainability at Ohio University and Athens city councilmember. 

Crowl mentioned that a part of this program focuses on creating specific areas for pollinator nesting along with comprehensive landscaping practices keeping pollinators in mind. 

Ohio University utilizes an integrated pest management plan that designates the amount of mowing and pesticides a certain area on campus receives. These zones are number one through four; level one is for areas like the well-maintained golf course, level two is for high profile areas like College Green, level three is for medium profile areas like the backsides of buildings and level four is for minimal maintenance areas that may receive one mowing or less every year. 

According to the integrated pest management plan the majority of Ohio university’s landscaping is under the level three designation where “40% or more threshold of weeds tolerated before treatment occurs,” read the plan. Level 3 lawns are mowed on a weekly basis.

This plan was implemented in 2018 and is guided by the rules and regulations of the Ohio Department of Agriculture as a larger effort to promote sustainability practices on campus, according to the plan. 

Crowl said there is not currently a process of tracking the plan’s impact on pollinator population; he is currently working on an integrated pest management plan for the city of Athens in his role on the city council. 

“There's a lot more you can do with that. So it's a program that they haven’t really been doing much with it yet, but it's just because you got to have people engaged with it,” Newman said.

Newman also compared the lack of support for city wide regulations on landscaping to the push against COVID-19 immunization. “It's tough to do anything for the greater good.”

Meanwhile the city of Athens issues violations to homeowners for noxious or dangerous weeds and lawn grass over eight inches, noncompliance results in the code enforcement office cutting the grass. 

“The Code Office mailed 372 Certified Letters to owners in violation (of Grass and Noxious Weed ordinances) at a cost of $2,444, spending $6,658 on contracted mowing and an additional $8,000 for weed removal,” according to the 2019 report from the Office of Development and Code Enforcement. 

The weed removal, as described in the report prescribes the removal of weeds “that can directly injure public or environmental health or poses a risk of damage to ecosystems, agriculture, irrigation, navigation or other natural resources. Noxious weeds include state listed invasive plant species,” according to Athens City Code. 

The city of Athens does, however, allow and encourage citizens to apply for exemption from some landscaping ordinances for a pollinator-friendly yard for an application fee of $25. 

According to the application, “designation as pollinator-friendly front yard must include: (1) An agreement to reduce all pesticide and herbicide use in the yard. (2) Have at least one pollinator friendly species in bloom during each season from spring through fall. (3) Have at least one native pollinator-friendly species in the yard. This can include trees or shrubs. (4) Have one of the following in the yard: water source, nesting habitat, or protection.”

Both Newman and Huffer agree that the protection of pollinators must go beyond keeping their own hives healthy. 

Newman said lack of engagement and support of efforts at the local and state level are threats to the beekeeping industry. 

“The apiary section (of the Ohio Department of Agriculture) is sort of like a bastard stepchild,” Newman shared.

An office that once employed six inspectors was minimized to one, according to Newman, that dedicated inspector was fired over a small policy violation. 

The position is now unfulfilled, according to Newman. 

He believes that gradual interest of hobbyists and non hobbyists is bringing attention to the hazards that harm bees. 

“I think looking at it more as a whole system like it makes more sense and better for policy making.” Newman commented. “So one of the biggest threats to bees is just people,”

Community and Tradition

The most rewarding aspect of beekeeping, Newman said, is passing on his knowledge. 

“It's really cool. When you see someone and they're a new beekeeper and they're very observant. They're like a sponge for learning,” Newman noted.

Newman works in partnership with Jackie O’s, a local Athens brewery and restaurant, with a teaching-learning apiary. Newman took over the project that was once managed by someone without beekeeping experience, and after several rounds of dead hives Newman swooped in to turn it around to use it as a learning experience for new keepers and produce honey for Jackie O’s brewing process. 

Andrew “Art” Oestrike is the owner of Jackie O’s and a big fan of bees. He said the struggle of transition into bee having and beekeeping came from the time commitment needed to sustainability keep bees, but once his friend Newman came on board and the COVID-19 pandemic hit it gave him an excellent opportunity to get back into nurturing his hives. 

This partnership gave an ideal location for the Athen County Bee Association headquarters at Barrel Ridge Farm. Oestrike said they have hosted workshops and educational meetings to help build awareness and the beekeeping community. 

Oestrike described the beekeeping community of Southeast Ohio as, “pretty hilariously eclectic and awesome.” He said it's a return to traditional farming practices that is now enticing a much younger generation. “You know, there's a lot of experts out there who want to teach young people the next generation how to do it,” Oestrike said. 

Jackie O’s uses the honey to brew a seasonal beer, but Oestrike said the profits is not what drives his passion for beekeeping. “Anything you're doing that's the right thing for the planet, I think helps business,” Oestrike said. “Maybe it doesn't (translate) dollar to dollar, cent to cent but I think big picture wise, it goes a long way to continue to be a part of the threadwork of the community.”

This passion becomes a much larger responsibility for the average beekeeper, to maintain connections to the community and to contribute to the health of the environment. 

“We hope (hobbyists can compensate for the historical loss) but believe it or not since then the numbers of beekeepers and the number of colonies in the United States has grown,” Huffer said.

Huffer is working on passing down his beekeeping teachings onto his grandchildren and he hopes to contribute to the growing of the bee population and the beekeeping community.