The Buzzing science and art, Beekeeping
Beehive set up at local barn ( Wyatt Pinney/ The Puma Prensa)
By: Wyett Pinney, photo editor
Man’s best friend is usually considered the dog, which is a shame because bees exist. While they may not have been our partners for as long as the canine, the history of beekeeping is extremely rich and still actively developing.
Bees are an important part of local ecology and benefit the plant life that grows in Sonoma County. The county has enough variation that the Sonoma Beekeepers Association divides it into North, East, West, and South territories so that everyone can get the most helpful advice from the organization for their region.
The Sonoma County Beekeepers Association is a membership-based organization that provides various resources for beekeepers. Its newsletter keeps members actively updated, and it offers community education and gardening programs.
Beekeeping dates back roughly 9,000 years, and now there are roughly 120,000 beekeepers in the United States. The country's wide variety of climate, ecosystem, and landscape offers beekeepers an incredible variety of options and results. From local honey flavors made with nearby plants, to candles and other wax creations, the possibilities are nearly limitless.
Sonoma County is no stranger to bees and has many local businesses that revolve around the fuzzy creatures. There's Beekind in Sebastopol, Bees N Blooms in Petaluma, or Sonoma County Bee Company, all of which sell bees, the fruits of their labor, or plants that make good honey. Local companies dedicated to safe bee removal, like Bee Conscious Removal, also exist. Sonoma County is lucky to have access to a large and positive beekeeping community, with a plethora of resources dedicated to supporting it.
Beekeeping produces many products, especially a few that people don’t consider when starting. There are more obvious ones ,like pollination or honey, but there is also royal jelly, which is a strong nutrient that fosters the growth of a queen bee. Beekeeping also produces wax, bee venom, and bee propolis, which is the adhesive bees tend to use and collect.
Even for the ancient practice of beekeeping, new discoveries are still being made. According to the owner of the Beekind store in Sebastopol, Doug Vincent, “It was just a few years ago that they learned that just giving royal jelly to a bee [doesn’t] make it a queen, but rather that it involves the withholding of certain proteins.” He would go as far as to say that “behind humans, bees are probably one of the most researched animals on the planet.”
And while beekeeping can be intimidating because of their stingers, it doesn’t need to be that way, where Vincent says, “as long as you don’t bother them, you will be fine,” and it can be incredibly fun. While his favorite part is collecting the honey, beekeeping is a multifaceted hobby that, depending on the beekeeper’s perspective, can be more of a science or an art.
This variety is part of what has kept people interested in our little furry companions, and our natural curiosity is one reason it remains a commonly researched subject. In addition to being beneficial to the environment, fun, and creating several cool results, it is an exciting subject worth studying. And for those that want to get into it, the county has an excellent community for learning how to beekeep.