Woman seeks to bee all she can
Alison Dietz | The Chronicle-Telegram
NORTH RIDGEVILLE — Bonnie Pierson doesn’t mind a bee sting now and then. In fact, she finds them useful.
The North Ridgeville resident knows about the healing qualities of stings — bee venom is made up of a strong anti-inflammatory substance and stimulates the body to heal itself. Pierson uses the stings to relieve backaches.
It’s a good thing, then, that she has 20 colonies of bees living in her backyard.
Pierson has kept bees since 1994, when she realized they were missing from her yard.
“I hadn’t seen bees in three or four weeks,” Pierson said. “I decided I needed, or wanted them. They should be a part of your life.”
She soon had Spencer beekeeper Denzil St. Clair drop off 200 pounds worth of equipment for her to start with, but she had to figure out what she was doing on her own.
“I went to the library; there was nothing,” Pierson said. “I went to the Lorain County Beekeepers meeting. There were like six people there.”
Pierson made her way up the chain of beekeeping organizations, learning what she could. She eventually started taking study trips to various countries, including Brazil, Peru and Australia.
“As soon as they’d come up, I’d sign up for them,” Pierson said.
Now she knows a lot about taking care of her buzzing tenants.
Before visiting the bee hives, Pierson makes sure everyone is wearing light colors.
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| CARL SULLENBERGER / CHRONICLE | ||||
| Bonnie Pierson gets some help demonstrating bee handling from granddaughters Mary Pierson, 7, and Olivia Pierson, 4, at her home in North Ridgeville on Tuesday.
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“They’ll think you’re a bear and sting you if you’re wearing black,” said Pierson’s 7-year-old granddaughter, Mary, citing a common belief about the insects.
Maintaining the hives is an involved process. “The first thing you have to do is monitor them,” she said. “You have to look for how much space they have and how much more they need.”
Pierson accommodates her bees in brood boxes, which hold the queen bee and her descendants. These are placed below the honey supers that hold surplus honey. The number of each fluctuates per hive depending on the amount of room the bees need.
Illnesses can plague the insects as well. They are susceptible to mites, and their immune systems can be compromised by the chemicals used to keep the mites out.
To mitigate this problem, Pierson is working on getting all-new, chemical-free equipment to house her bees.
Keeping an eye on the ecosystem is also important, as it is a delicate balancing act.
In recent years, many beekeepers were worried about colony collapse, where adult bees simply disappear from the hives without warning.
“I lost the usual four out of 20 colonies over the winter, but I don’t call that excessive,” Pierson said.
She said that she hasn’t heard anything about collapse from her other bee-enthusiast friends.
Having bees fly away is not the only thing that can go wrong in the hives.
According to beekeepers, this year is meant to have one of the largest nectar flows in many years, but that doesn’t necessarily mean more honey for collecting.
“A larger flow means the queen lays eggs like crazy and there are lots of larvae to feed,” Pierson said.
This summer’s weather isn’t helping, either. “With six days of rain, all of the nectar washes off the plants,” Pierson said. “The bees use up the surplus for feeding the larvae. Cold nights don’t help, either, because the bees have to keep the larvae warm.”
Even with all this to worry about, Pierson likes keeping her hives. “It’s a craft,” she said.
“You have to test what you read, and get your hands in the bees and watch them.”
Contact Alison Dietz at 329-7128 or metro@chroniclet.com.
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Filed by Alison Dietz | The Chronicle-Telegram July 24th, 2008 in Local and State. Popularity: 2% |
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