We are a small family farm near Raleigh, North Carolina. At first, it felt like we were farming old minibikes – Scott is a mechanical engineer who enjoys restoring old vehicles.

One Christmas, Scott built three beehives as gifts for family. Christine later realized his ulterior motive when he confessed he’d wanted to keep bees since he was in high school.

He bought a nuc – a queen and a few frames of brood – and got lucky catching a few swarms in the first year. He spent the first winter in the wood shop building swarm traps and hives.

Folks became interested, offering to host swarm traps and eagerly watched them for signs of bees.

“I see bees!” Neighbors would delightedly call when they spotted scout bees at the entrance of the olive-green swarm traps.

We felt like vandals. Swarms like these have to be collected at night, when the bees are tucked in for the evening. In the dark, Scott would climb up a ladder in someone’s backyard, tape closed the hive entrance, and heft the 60 pound box of bees, comb, and honey down to the truck. We would bring the hive home, let the bees acclimate, and give them more spacious accommodations.

By year two, we had two dozen hives.

Year two is also when Christine started to pester Scott about chickens. He agreed to build a coop and Christine was shocked when he casually supported building what can only be referred to as a chicken mansion.

“I figure it can be a playhouse for the kids when you get bored of chickens,” he said.

(Christine hasn’t yet tired of the chickens).

Year two came with a mobile sawmill and Scott began milling his own lumber, making his bees even more locally beneficial.

Scott salvages local logs and turns them into beehives that benefit the ecosystem.

We planted wildflowers and encouraged local flora that are homes and food for insects and birds. Our garden and orchard grew and thrived in the presence of bees. Christine began propagating plants and learned that chicken math is real.

When the weather is still we love to watch the bees zip back and forth across the pond, hurriedly commuting pollen back to their hives.