Dad started keeping honeybees on the farm in the mid-1950s. He was allergic—he used to really swell up when he was stung—but he kept them anyway. As far as I know, Mom was never stung. I think the rest of us all experienced being stung.
When we were in high school, David and I captured a lot of swarms around the community. Some folks thought we should not domesticate them, but we believed honeybees played a crucial role in nature and wanted to help them along—and we really liked the honey.
For a long time, I did not know that honey would not spoil. It sugars, but never spoils!
Beekeeping in Nebraska has taken big hits from farming practices over the years. Not very many folks can increase their number of hives by simply capturing a swarm from a neighbor’s yard like we did. Brother-in-law Charlie had to work really hard to keep enough hives alive to meet the pollination needs of an organic farm—and provide us with all the honey we could use.
This clip, from Dreaming of a Vetter World, features Charlie Poneck, my brother-in-law and one of the unsung heros of both bees and the Vetter Farm.
Nurturing soil—nurturing community,
Jay
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