Helping to SAVE the HIVES

Love ’em or hate ’em, fancy ’em or fear ’em — bees might not be friendly, but they definitely are our friends.

We might not like to admit it, but the human population depends on the bee population more than most people realize.

Pundits have been prophesying about the near-apocalyptic damage to our food supply should bees disappear from our planet, a hot topic since colony collapse disorder (CCD) — the disappearance of worker bees from a colony — entered our lexicon in 2006.

According to Earth.com , about one-third of all food eaten by Americans comes from plants that are pollinated by honeybees, constituting 130-plus types of fruits and vegetables, not to mention seeds and nuts. If the bees don’t pollinate, the food don’t grow.

The loss of said flora (apples! coffee!) would have severe economic impacts on the food industry as well as health care. When healthy natural food becomes so scarce as to be financially out of reach, people might well be tempted to turn to more affordable junk food. (Twinkies for dinner, anyone?)

And let’s not even start on the wane of flowers.

Angela Holbrook Bartholomew and Beekeepers Association of Southwest Florida President Dennis Riggs check out two honeycomb frames from one of her beehives in Fort Myers.

While CCD and the state of bee colonies are issues of global concern, Florida is especially feeling the sting.

When bees visit flowers in search of nectar, they often brush against the flower’s reproductive parts, depositing pollen. The plant uses the pollen to produce a fruit or a seed.

Many plants cannot reproduce without pollen — and that’s why CCD is so worrisome.

Main causes of CCD include pesticides, air pollution, parasitic mites, viruses and extreme-weather events, like hurricanes.

Florida’s bee population is struggling. In turn, Florida beekeepers are not only spreading the message that bees are vital to our ecosystem, but also, they’re desperately helping colonies recover from disease and destruction of their homes after Hurricane Ian.

Angela Holbrook Bartholomew with a mature honeycomb frame from one of her beehives in Fort Myers.

And it’s not just the professionals: Backyard beekeeping is also generating a buzz in Florida.

Counting the casualties

After the widespread destruction of beehives and habitat wrought by Hurricane Ian, industry leaders have been working hard to revive the insects’ numbers, plus spread the word about their benefits.

A GoFundMe program helped Eli Mendes — owner of Tropic Trailer and Tropic Honeybee Farm, both in Fort Myers, and vice president of the Florida State Beekeepers Association — deliver several truckloads of sugar syrup to beekeepers in Fort Myers, Arcadia and Winter Park in November and December of 2022, to feed their bees.

“Bees had no forage (right after Ian),” said Mendes, who also credited Greater Good Charities and bee supply companies for making the program possible. “We had to help beekeepers.”

LEFT: Sakata Seed America Farm Manager Cory Dombrowski shows the status of hybrid seedless watermelon breeding that’s being aided by beehives provided by B. Keith Councell. RIGHT: B. Keith Councell (left) checks out some of the 12 beehives provided to Cory Dombrowski, farm manager of Sakata Seed America, in Fort Myers. RANDY KAMBIC / FLORIDA WEEKLY

That included himself, since he also lost hundreds of beehives.

“The honey producers that we work with near the coast got beat up so bad (by Hurricane Ian), we had to get more from others,” said Allen “Buddy” Walker of Walker Farms in North Fort Myers.

Since 1969, Walker Farms has been producing and bottling many types of honey, predominantly orange blossom and saw palmetto. It also offers the Just Bee Free line of all-natural soap and bath products, beeswax candles, honey pots and more.

Don Murray, who launched Heritage Pointe Pure Honey in Fort Myers in 2010, offers locally sourced honey from 1,000-plus beehives at eight farmers markets during busy season and via a website ( heritagepointepurehoneyllc.com ).

“I was lucky with Ian. I lost about 30 beehives, as most were inland,” he said.

However, he did need to replace many tops and lids — and hasn’t been able to resume providing sea grape and black mangrove honey, since “Ian stripped the leaves from such vegetation.”

Ian wasn’t as kind to B. Keith Councell, former president of the Beekeepers Association of Southwest Florida (BASF) and current vice president of the Florida Farm Bureau. Approximately 3,000 of his beehives on his Cape Coral property and throughout Lee County were destroyed, and his house was severely damaged. (He moved with his family to Arcadia.)

“We lost 80 to 100 beehives from Ian, much less than others,” said Briesa Ruby of Rubee’s Raw Florida Honey LLC, near Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in Naples.

A former nurse at HealthPark Medical Center in Fort Myers, she and her husband began operating their 5-acre bee farm six years ago, after his brother gifted them eight beehives as a wedding present. They dedicate 50 to 100 of their approximately 500 hives for breeding queen bees, some of which they provide to Councell.

Dennis Riggs, based in Alva in East Lee County, is the current president of BASF. The organization has approximately 40 members.

Removing bees is one of many services provided by Eric Baxter, owner of Baxter’s Bees Honey and More. ERIC BAXTER / COURTESY PHOTO

“Some have many beehives; others just a few,” Riggs said. “Most are backyard beekeepers.”

New members get hands-on training and mentoring in tending bees consisting of six hives in Alva. They learn from more experienced members who also make subsequent house calls.

“We teach what they should be doing and why,” Riggs said.

“I love to take care of things,” said former Lee County EMS and Gulf Coast Medical Center paramedic Angela Holbrook Bartholomew.

She now applies this passion to bees. Upon becoming a BASF member last May, Riggs gave Bartholomew a nucleus colony (a queen with five frames of her brood). She now has 22 beehives — many of their early occupants being “rescues” from bee removals — on family properties with a variety of fruit and vegetable trees in North Fort Myers and Fort Myers.

“The association continues to be so supportive,” said Bartholomew, who also is researching and experimenting in trying to ease CCD.

One of the most effective tools is public awareness, especially through education.

Creating converts

Councell manned a booth with a beehive at the Edison and Ford Winter Estates Garden Festival in November, and still conducts local bee mitigations and removals. He also makes, establishes and maintains beehives for local clients including Sakata Seed America, in Fort Myers.

Last November, Councell gave a presentation on bees to 1,200 school children at the annual three-day Ag-Venture event in Sebring, and is planning on conducting 4-H regional camps this summer there and in Cape Coral. He is also helping disabled veterans become beekeepers, as “being near bees can help with PTSD.”

A recent grant from Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC) will enable the association to make presentations this year at residential communities, garden clubs, schools, public events and other settings.

“We explain beekeeping, from pollinating flowers all the way to honey in the supermarket,” said Riggs, who also sells and delivers beehives plus does live bee removals, rescues and relocations via Denrig Inc. ( www.honeybeeman.com ).

The new year brought several new developments for beekeepers on Florida’s east coast. At the conclusion of the three-year tenure of Eric Baxter, Kevin Easton became president of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association (PBCBA), a Palm Beach Gardens-based nonprofit launched in 1974.

“We’re always looking for volunteers from our members (currently numbering approximately 250) to help at events, presentations and more,” said Easton. The 15-year member also was a previous president and outreach director, and he conducts beekeeping workshops at his home and provides bee removal services.

Baxter, owner of Baxter’s Bees Honey and More in West Palm Beach, recently earned state certification to sell queen bees, allowing him to “especially help small backyard beekeepers.” He packages and sells honey under cottage law derived from approximately 250 beehives, and also conducts bee removals.

After its single-day debut last year, the PBCBA’s second annual South Florida Honey Bee Expo will be held Feb. 16 and 17 at Palm Beach State College. New expo highlights will include instruction on making products like candles, lip balms and sandwich wraps, plus creating fabric art.

PBCBA members and other experts will lead informative sessions for beginning, intermediate and advanced beekeepers, including at an onsite apiary and more, all with the theme of the role of and care for queen bees.

The association holds monthly meetings that are free for members and $10 for non-members at 6:30 p.m. on the first Friday of each month at the Pine Jog Environmental Center in Palm Beach Gardens.

“We want even the novice to know these aspects of beekeeping,” Easton said. ¦

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