When people ask me how I got started with bees, the honest answer is—entirely by accident. In the fall of 2016 I was a few years out of my undergraduate degree and working as a bartender. One evening, a customer mentioned his beekeeping hobby, and I responded with a curiosity that I now understand to be more or less universal. When he suggested that I enroll in an upcoming introductory beekeeping class, I smiled and said, "yeah, maybe," but thought to myself yeah right. The thing is...I was afraid of bees, but I passed along the information to a friend who I thought would be interested. When she mentioned that she had signed up for the course, I decided to join on a whim. Though driven by a mixture of curiosity, boredom, and a dim hope that learning more about bees would make me less afraid of them—I had no intention of actually becoming a beekeeper.

A few months later I was questioning my own sanity as I went to pick up my first colony of bees. To be clear, the beekeeping course didn't magically cure me of my fear, but it seems that curiosity and admiration won out. I've  since earned a couple hundred bee stings and have 15 +/- hives under my care on any given day. Whereas once I was afraid of bees, I am now afraid for bees.

Bees taught me to never give up on the possibility of change. I lived with a fear for so long that it seemed like something I was born with, but that simply was not true. This realization continues to serve as a buoy of hope in times of doubt and stagnation, and it brings me great joy when I am able to share my experience with others.

Please, reach out!