Bees in the backyard

On a quiet, dead-end street in Edgewood, there’s a buzz in the air. It’s the sound of hundreds of bees flying to and from their homes, a row of white boxes in George and Brittany Stegall’s yard.

The Stegalls are part of a growing number of backyard beekeepers. From their six hives, four in their yard and two at Sims Ecoscape, they produce their own honey and beeswax lip balm and candles.

Some lackluster tomatoes started the Stegalls on the path to beekeeping. George wanted to produce food from his own garden, but his tomato plants were not getting enough pollination to grow properly. When he saw a cousin take up beekeeping in California, George was intrigued. 

After a few months of research, he presented the idea to his wife, who was “100 percent on board from word one.” They attended a symposium on the subject in Auburn, and then bought their first set of bees in spring 2010.

“We’ve been hooked since,” George said.

Four years in, the Stegalls have been surprised by the fun of beekeeping and are expanding their number of hives. In 2013, they also sold honey at farmers markets as Edgewood Bee Company because they had a “rock star” hive that produced around 150 pounds of honey. That hive died over the unusually harsh winter, so the Stegalls have not sold honey this year. They do, however, plan to be back in business in summer 2015.

The Stegalls’ neighbor, Suzanne Clisby, has also taken up beekeeping. Clisby is a retired mail carrier and began keeping bees in 2011 as a hobby. She is also a master gardener and has planted camellias and other plants that bees love in her yard. With plenty of flowers and a creek running between their homes, the Stegalls and Clisby have an ideal environment for honeybees.

George said he is still learning about the best ways to care for his hives. From understanding the bees’ moods to combating pests and fungi that can kill a hive, there is no typical day in beekeeping.

“Every time I go into a hive there’s something, some new angle or they’ve done something different that I’ve never seen before,” George said.

Keeping bees has also made the Stegalls more ecologically aware.

“It ties you into the environment, the seasons,” George said. “I’m looking at it and thinking ‘This is good for the bees, this is not good for the bees.’”

Twice a year, George gets to experience his favorite part of beekeeping: the honey harvest. In June and September, the Stegalls and Clisby get into their beekeeping suits and spend around four hours removing frames full of honeycomb from the hives and extracting the sweet liquid that will make its way into the homes of their family and friends.

“It’s fun labor,” George said. “It’s so awesome when you uncap it and you see this plethora of honey just pouring out. It’s like a faucet of honey.”

Neighbors have had both positive and negative reactions to their backyard bees. Some are intrigued and want to see the hives in person, while others are terrified of bees stinging them or their children. Clisby said this reaction is often because people do not know the distinction between honeybees and the more aggressive wasps and yellow jackets, and many people fear rare but deadly allergic reactions to a sting.

“There’s just a fear that sometimes you can’t explain away to people,” Clisby said.

However, the Stegalls and Clisby have met a handful of other beekeepers in Homewood through the Jefferson County Beekeepers Association, and the hobby seems to be growing. George said in his four years as a beekeeper, he has seen plenty of people join the “weird, quirky beekeeping world.” He and Clisby hope they will see many more.

“I just encourage people to give it a shot,” Clisby said.

To learn more about the Stegalls’ hives and honey, visit facebook.com/EdgewoodBeeCompany. To learn more about beekeeping, visit jeffcobees.org.