What’s in a name?
By: James E. Tew
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What follows…
What follows are some of my thoughts and interactions I have had through many past years. I struggle to put my accumulated thoughts into sensible wording. I’ll try. In my first beekeeping years, beekeepers were terrified of American foulbrood and insecticide poisoning. Little did we know that the experiences with Tracheal mites, Africanized honey bees, Varroa mite establishment, and the final mystery – Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) would make AFB appear elementary. You had to be living through those beekeeping experiences to feel of the psyche of the bee industry during those individual stressful times.
During each of these hand-wringing events, at various sessions and training seminars, outside presenters, who were trained in media presentations and interactions with the public, would present their take on what the bee industry should do survive the rough seas of the time. One of the issues that came up several times was the presentation and function of hobby beekeepers. It was a common discussion topic. Ironically, now at my stage of life, I classify myself as a hobby beekeeper. I sense that I have come full circle.
When does a novice become experienced?
New beekeepers frequently bemoan their lack of experience. After having done this bee thing for most of my adult life, I have only the faintest memories of my novice years, but one memory is vivid. Within my first two years of beekeeping enterprise, I remember finding a late-season swarm hanging near one of my hives. Having been told that a late swarm had a poor chance of Winter survival and that my Fall honey crop would be negatively affected, I logically selected the closest hive and shook the swarm directly into the unsuspecting colony.
It would be a mild statement to tell you that all hell immediately broke loose. Obviously, the two colonies were, in no way, related. The elements of my fiasco were: (1) A 3-pound late-season swarm, (2) a strong, established colony, and (3) a declining nectar flow. Bees killed each other en masse. The swarm was essentially decimated while the established colony was damaged and traumatized. I was simply a dork – and an inexperienced one at that. Ahhh, the confidence and surety experience doth bring. I would never do that now. But there is a darker side to “experience” that is rarely discussed.
The experienced beekeeper develops feelings of confidence and familiarity but loses the sense of innocence and excitement that new beekeepers possess. The experienced beekeeper develops ways of doing things to the point of getting in a rut. Boredom sets in. So, the experienced beekeeper tries other beekeeping venues. Queen production is a common fresh direction. Pollen collection, propolis collection, comb honey production, collecting bee books, and pollination rentals, are other common exploration avenues. But after all that is done, what then? After years of beekeeping exploration, the experienced beekeeper finds him or herself back near the point where it all started – missing the early passion and curiosity that was once felt. Hence, I say that there is absolutely nothing wrong with beekeeping newness and innocence. It may very well be the best time of your beekeeping life; something akin to your teenage years. Don’t rush your early beekeeping years. This philosophy has been mine for a long time. Years ago, at a training conference, I was stunned to get an outside view of hobby beekeeping that has made me revisit the concept of “hobbyness.”
Hobby beekeeping, becoming passé?
The session presenter flatly said, “Hobby beekeeping,” as an industry beekeeping designation, probably needs to go away. I suppose I need to say that a different way. Some time later, I participated in a grant writing workshop. The grant-writing advisors at the meeting I was attending said, “The designation, “hobby beekeeping” needs to be removed from the bee industry lexicon and should not be used in general beekeeping context.” I had the familiar old feeling of being a dork again. The clear opinion of the outside advisors was that all beekeepers are either part-time or full-time. Why bother with this category of beekeepers who are exceptionally part-time and label them hobby beekeepers? Bird watching or stamp collecting is a hobby. Either you keep bees or you don’t. Either you do it some of the time or all the time, so all beekeepers are either part-time or full-time. Why confuse things with this third “hobby” category?
An aside
While sitting at the conference table, my thoughts raced. I’m a beekeeper with many years’ experiences. I expect most things to change, but surely some things are bedrock in their dependability. People begin beekeeping as a hobby beekeeper; some of them grow to sideline beekeepers while even fewer become commercial beekeepers who work bees full-time. Can you understand my surprise that in one meeting and with one fell swoop, the consensus of outside reviewers was to completely drop a major designation and one that has been in beekeeping use for eons? I explored my feelings. (At a church meeting once, when subjected to a radically new concept, a parishioner sitting across the table from me said, “I understand what is being said, but give me a few minutes to accept it.” That was exactly how I felt.)
The reviewers had a sound argument. Time and again, it has been reported that our bees are disappearing so our food supply will increasingly be endangered. Something must be done. Should an industry, consisting primarily of “hobby” beekeepers, be given millions of dollars in funding support? That rings of giving funding to hobbies like fly fishing or electronic gaming. Is this bee population decline a serious issue or not? If it is, it should not be in the hands of people who call their endeavor a hobby.
a. A hobby beekeeper’s yard
b. A part-time beekeeper’s yard
c. A beekeeper’s yard
The second shock wave
For many years, my job was to work with people who keep bees and work with the bees themselves. But I actually spent more time with bee people than with bees. Don’t take this next statement as anything but positive, but I must admit that we are an eccentric lot. After all, we keep bees intentionally. Most people just want to get away from bees. In my experienced and confident state, I long ago embraced the fact that, as a group, we are different. So just as I was mentally recovering from the reevaluation of the hobby designation, I was shocked a second time when one of the reviewers bluntly said, “Yep, beekeeping has an image problem.”
The reviewer continued her thought by saying that her take on our industry was that beekeepers and their bees were contributing to a vital pollination need but we kept referring to the process being a hobby. The public then, too often, sees our hobby as being the harboring of dangerous stinging insects more than the culturing of valuable pollinating insects. While so much media energy has been given to the various positive issues of bee diseases and pests, some local communities have ordinances against beekeeping.
Alternatively, Winnie the Pooh and the ambience that beekeeping provides is the opposing “warm, fuzzy” aspect of beekeeping. Bees adorn nearly everything from nursery room toys to crafts and pottery. Honey is used in innumerable food and cosmetic items. The question is begged, “Does the public generally see bees as ally or a stinging pest?”
Beekeepers are part of the problem. We consistently use the terms honey and pollination in the same breath. A honey crop is now a necessary byproduct of pollination. If we strip away all the trappings, pollination is the fundamental relationship between bees and flowers. Nectar (future honey) is an attractive product to lure pollinators.
Honey is so easy to quantify. We can price it per pound. We measure the success of a bee season by our honey crop. We invest in complicated honey processing machinery. We have a National Honey Board, but we don’t have a National Pollination Board so honey must be more important.
Pollination phenomena are simply not as visually fulfilling as full honey supers. One rarely says, “My bees pollinated over 300,000 blossoms today!” but some of us put our colonies on scales to monitor our incoming honey production. When doing pollination work, we can’t say that we charge by the apple or even the apple tree. We know pollination is important, but it is so vague – so innocuous – so difficult to measure from a bee standpoint.
I’m just a hobby beekeeper
Time and again, I have had people say to me, “I am just a hobby beekeeper. I only have three hives. I don’t do it for the money.” Stop feeling that way! Even if you don’t sell your token honey crop, your colonies still pollinated millions of flowers.
During a break in the long ago meeting I was attending, I tried to explain to the reviewers why beekeepers generally downplay their own importance. Our industry is accustomed to downsizing. Closing USDA bee labs and reducing university bee programs are two examples. Important leaders in our industry have indicated that commercial beekeeping is the core of the U.S. industry and hobby beekeepers are along for the ride. Should we drop the hobby designation in favor of the volunteer designation? Should hobby beekeepers be put in a category with…say…volunteer firefighters rather than a category like bird watching? Do volunteer firefighters see their contribution as being a hobby? Do part-time farmers routinely refer to their activities as a hobby?
After years to think about it, I like the idea. There is no need for the hobby category. We are all either part-time or full-time beekeepers and our contribution is real and important to our society. We need to reevaluate our perception that we are a folksy, craft-oriented group and look at our documented contributions.
Beekeepers are not all alike
Beekeepers are not all alike, but you knew that already. Indeed, beekeepers change their beekeeping interest as they age and evolve. It would appear that I have been attacking the category of hobby beekeepers but I promise that is not the case.
I suspect that there is an undocumented group of “core beekeepers” who would keep bees (or try to keep bees), no matter what the challenge was. I suspect that there are core commercial beekeepers, who would hang on until the very end. Then there is a group that I have personally named “fallow beekeepers” or those who have bees but rarely interact with their hives or aggressive manage the colonies. It seems that I am in that category. At the end of the day, all beekeeper types have the primary interest and values that are shared across the industry. Certainly, hobby beekeeping is one of those categories.
Honestly?
I don’t expect the concept of being a “hobby beekeeper” to vaporize anytime soon, but various movies and television series have recently focused a very bright light on our industry. We presently have the attention of people who are not beekeepers but who do eat three meals a day and they want to continue that fundamental luxury. If we want these people’s help, we need to re-consider our own perspective of our beekeeping selves. “Hobby” may be the term we have always used to describe beekeepers with only a few hives, but these reviewers have made me look at the way the term belittles the contribution that our “hobby” industry makes to our society. Thank you for being a hobby beekeeper.
Wow
Good grief! What got into me? Know this – No matter what strange articles I may contribute, I love beekeeping and I will stay in it as long as health and life allows. Thank you for being a beekeeper of any kind and thank you for reading this magazine. I need the work.
Dr. James E. Tew
Emeritus Faculty, Entomology
The Ohio State University
tewbee2@gmail.com
Host, Honey Bee
Obscura Podcast
http://www.honeybeeobscura.com
