Young beekeeper going it alone | Recreation/Life

When brother and sister duo Cecil and Cora Mae Gregg got hooked on beekeeping one idle summer, their parents encouraged them to get involved.

There’s a caveat: they’ll have to figure it out themselves.

That’s no deterrent to kids yearning for Baton Rouge. Together, Cecil, 14, and Cora Mae, 10, explore the world of beekeeping on their own with a beekeeping book and curiosity.

The duo’s interest was piqued in 2019 when, in Cecil’s words, they “observed a lot of bees in the yard and near the pool … and speculated about their life cycle and habitat.”

A beekeeping-savvy neighbor passed on his knowledge, while also helping guide the young duo to great resources.

Their interest in beekeeping keeps them in little company, and not just because they are young.

Despite the vital role honeybees play in agricultural production through crop pollination, Louisiana has a surprisingly low number of beekeepers: just 343 out of 115,000-125,000 nationally, according to Louisiana Agriculture Classroom name.

On a broader level, the number of beehives in the United States has also declined dramatically since the 1940s, from 6 million to about 2.5 million, making the efforts of people like Cecil and Cora Mae all the more important.

The two decided to give it a go, and they set out to use every possible resource. They soon turned to literature, starting with Howland Blackiston’s “Beekeeping for Dummies,” which Cecil says they “read aloud, cover to cover”.

They then joined local Capital Area and Louisiana beekeepers associations and also took online beekeeping classes.

The timing is perfect.

“We’re in a COVID lockdown. So we have a lot of time at our disposal,” Cecil said.

In the spring of 2020, they thought they had done enough research and planning, and raised enough money. Time to get out on your own.

They purchased the necessary equipment to get started: the initial outlay included a 10-cell hive, frame and stands, smoker, hive tools, bee kit, barrel filter, glass jars, and—perhaps most importantly—a Only the queen bee some bees.

It cost the two about $450 to get it all set up.

From the beginning, their parents were supportive, but as their mother, Christen Losey-Gregg, recalls, they decided to take a hands-off approach.

“When Cecil and Cora decided to do it, we decided to let them do it completely on their own,” she said. “It’s trial and error for them because we totally leave it to them to figure it out. When things go wrong, we say, ‘Well, look at your book. Figure out what you’re going to do next.'”

Considering the go-it-yourself approach, there are indeed many mistakes. But it also leads to a lot of learning, as their parents hope.

“Because of lack of experience and just reading books to understand this, we had a lot of problems,” Cecil admits. “Books did help, but only to an extent. But I got better. The experience really helped – I won’t make the same mistake again.”

Their first set of hives failed. But their persistence and enthusiasm continued unabated, and about a year later, their hives produced honey for the first time.

Cecil says his favorite part of the process is the sense of accomplishment when it all comes together.

“When the day is over when we finally harvest the honey, once you taste it, you realize ‘I was a part of making this honey,'” he said. “When you put so much time and energy into something, spend all that time practicing … when you finally get to the end, it’s just amazing.”

In the near future, the next step for the couple is to keep the hives alive through the winter. If successful, Cecil says they are keen to “split the hive” – ​​a beekeeping term for transferring the queen bee and several bees to a new hive, thus creating a new hive (the original hive can be left to create itself the queen bee or one introduced by the beekeeper).

What to do if you get stung? While he says it was “very painful” at first, Cecil now handles it with all the stoicism of a stubborn beekeeper.

“It’s starting to feel like a mosquito bite now,” he said. “You pinch it, you pull out the stinger so the venom doesn’t get into you, and you move on. You get used to it.”

Someday they want to sell their honey, but Cecil admits it may be a long time away. “I’d love to get to that point, but I’m starting small and maybe a little bit more.”

Right now, they’re giving away their product — giving it to friends and family in neatly packaged bottles — and improving the process.

At the end of the day, it all comes down to honey.

“I make sure that other people taste as good as I do,” Cecil said.