A MORNING IN THE BEE YARD
Martin Marklin, age 61, wakes up before dawn, pulls on his boots, and heads outside. He approaches his bee-buggy: a small, two-seater Mitsubishi truck painted in black in yellow. The truck bears a few modifications including a slot to hold the bee-smoker, a light up “stinger”, and two antennae (wire coils with painted foam balls).
Martin moves about his bee-yard gathering his hive tool, smoker, veil, empty frames, and other equipment. He loads it all into the bee-buggy and sets off.
The drive to his next bee-yard is peaceful, the route well known and the winding roads empty. Martin has five apiaries (bee-yards) one at his home and four on the properties of friends. Many have asked him to keep hives on their land, but he is particular about his locations. He only keeps honeybees in spots that have ample forage, a nearby source of water, and beautiful scenery. The last requirement is more for Martin than for the bees.
The first thing Martin does when entering a bee-yard is not opening a hive, rather it is to walk amongst them observing. In a conversation with Martin he said, “Most of the time I stand outside and observe. You can tell a lot about the health of the hive before you even open the lid. Are they coming and going? Bearding? Gathering pollen?”
When it is time, however, to open the lid, Martin does so without a bee-suit. In fact, he prefers to work in just shorts and a tee-shirt. After fourteen years of keeping honeybees, Martin is not afraid of the sting and prefers to have as little separating him from the bees as possible.
Martin fills his smoker with the traditional wood shavings and newspaper plus a little sprinkle of incense, his own special addition. The smoke works to calm Martin as much as it does the bees and allows him to enter a peaceful headspace. With the smoke wafting around him, Martin begins lifting the lids of the hives and entering the world of the bees.
A CANDLEMAKER’S JOURNEY INTO THE HIVE
Sixteen-year-old Martin stood in his mother’s kitchen melting crayons. This was the very first step in his journey to become a candle maker. Thirty-two years later, nearing his mid-life crisis, Martin had an epiphany. He realized that despite working with beeswax every day, he had no idea how bees made it. This thought sparked the purchase of his first package of bees and the discovery of a new passion.
Over the years, Martin’s one hive grew to around 150 and his single bee-yard expanded to five. Now he sells his honey in his retail store and even has a honey tasting area. The flavor of honey varies depending on the plants the bees pollinated. Because of this, honey from each of Martin’s apiaries tastes, and looks, different.
A MILLION LITTLE TEACHERS
The more time Martin spends in the bee-yard, the more he has come to learn and the more his skills as a beekeeper have advanced. “You have to anticipate their next move. Beekeeping isn’t about being invasive, it’s about providing them with the necessary things to survive” says Martin.
The lessons Martin has learned, however, go beyond beekeeping.
LESSONS FROM THE HIVE
1. Collectivism over individualism
Martins notes that “The bee is a superorganism. It’s about numbers, you don’t think about the individual bee you think about the colony, the collective.” They are also altruistic, everything they do is for the good of the whole. A queen can choose whether to fertilize an egg. If she does, the egg will become a worker bee (female), if she doesn’t it will become a drone (male bee). Drones provide very little benefit to the colony from which the come; their sole purpose is to mate with the queens of other hives. This means that the queen who makes drones is doing it for the sake of the species as a whole and not for the benefit to her own colony. “Beekeeping reminds me that I am part of a larger society” says Martin.
2. Work with not against
Honeybees play a vital role in the health of ecosystems. Without them we lose the plants we love. In just the month of February, 90% of all U.S. bees are transported to California to pollinate almonds. This practice has benefited humans but at a great cost to the honeybee. We can follow the honeybee’s example, however, and produce food that supports humans without harming the environment. The “Bee-Better” Certificate program is one step in this direction. Martin reminds us that “beekeeping reinforces that everything is interrelated. We can’t isolate one thing without affecting the whole.”
3. Share the good news
Bees have a highly complex and effective way of communicating with a funny name: the waggle dance. This dance is used to communicate the location of food sources. Martin says this dance is “the sharing of good news.” When we find something sustainable, beneficial, and good, we should share it with others.
CLOSING UP THE HIVE
It is the end of the day. Martin is in his final bee-yard closing the last hive. He may be sore from lifting the heavy supers and from the several stings he endured, but he feels a sense of accomplishment.
“Beekeeping keeps me focused and humbled. They go about their work tirelessly and without complaining.” With this thought, he turns on the bee-buggy and drives home.
-Posted by Anna