Emily with frame of bees

Transcription

1 E mily Anderson Brown, of Scottsdale, AZ, (formerly of PA and MD) has figured out how to requeen Africanized hives successfully. This is a highly useful skill to have in Arizona, as she does bee removals and relocations and deals with Africanized takeovers of her own hives. First, she explained, I break down the larger hive or swarm of maybe 50,000 bees into three or four small nucs, and immediately move those nucs to different yards. Small Africanized nucs are much more likely to accept a European queen. Second- and this requires a lot of babysitting - she waits longer than usual to release the new queen. It definitely takes more time. I had to learn to understand the mentality of the bees in the hive. I have a process I use to determine when I can safely release the queen and the bees will be ready to accept her. Emily, a beekeeper since her teens, is a careful observer. Third, your choice of a queen source can make a difference in acceptance of the queen by small, Africanized nucs, Emily has found. Queens from Kona in Hawaii or Koehnen in California will often work with Africanized bees. In addition, queens from certain breeders tend to work better under Arizona desert conditions. Queens from Weavers in Texas fall into that category, in addition to Kona and Koehnen, as well as queens from several other California breeders. A big problem has been being able to get small quantities of queens when I need them. If I would raise my own queens here, there s a good chance they would be Africanized. I m trying to find breeders who cater to the sideliner and might have small quantities available when I need them. I may need only 25 queens at a time. March 2016 My biggest problem in keeping hives going in this environment is losing queens and getting laying workers. Recently, winters here have only had a few nights below freezing, so summer heat is the hardest time of year on the bees. From June to October, daytime temperatures every day rise to at least 100 to 105 degrees, and in late July and August, temperatures spike to 115 degrees. This would not be fun for the bees or the beekeeper! Emily makes sure her hives always have plenty of water available, puts several extra boards on top of each hive to help insulate it from the sun s intense heat, and provides shade when possible. Emily with frame of bees A former Pennsylvania and American Beekeeping Federation National Honey Queen, Emily Anderson Brown may seem like an unlikely candidate for working with sometimes Africanized bees and running a bee removal and relocation business, in addition to her own hives, in the harsh, Arizona desert climate. I wear thick boots because of snakes (including diamondback rattlesnakes,) scorpions, and poisonous spiders, which frequently lurk under or in the shade of hives or at the edges of the bee yard. The thick boots also give protection against cactus spines. It is an unforgiving environment. It s hard to find good help, so I do most of the work myself. Some of my hive locations are remote. When I m working alone, I bring a Camelbak full of water, put wet cloths around my neck and head for evaporative cooling, and wear an Ultra Breeze, ventilated bee suit. The Ultra Breeze has three layers of fabric, each with holes in it, but the three layers have the holes staggered to keep the bees out, while letting the air come through. The suit also has a lot of Velcro and a metal zipper. It s a very well designed suit, the best for our conditions here. I feel safe in it, and I can wear this suit for a longer period than other suits I ve tried. I pick and choose my bee removal/ relocation jobs, Emily continued. I try not to open up houses much anymore, because it can be tricky to schedule to have them reclosed right away. But swarms can be found in some very interesting places around here. Many homeowners in the desert areas have irrigation boxes in the ground, which swarms find attractive, and are not difficult to access for removal. I ve come upon back- 309

2 [followed by a blood clot and several more surgeries which have kept her sidelined for a while,] I retrieved and relocated several swarms/hives high in the trees. The feral beehives do so well here that some can live untouched in trees for years. Swarm collecting is such an adventure out here that it helps to keep me excited about bees. As soon as I remove a swarm, I relocate it into an empty hive that I have already set up in one of my beeyards. Most of the swarms I retrieve are in gentle swarm mode, which is usual for swarms, but some are aggressive, and some are Africanized. Emily checking one-story hive with a prickly pear cactus behind her. yard grills full of bees, a roll-top desk in an old barn that housed a swarm, as well as compost containers, pool bins and a somewhat unusual electrical box at Costco that swarms have decided to call home. Some swarms I m called to remove are simply hanging from the sides of houses. Right before I had surgery after tearing a meniscus in my knee while beekeeping, Chemical-free Beekeeping possible in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area Emily has found she can practice chemical-free beekeeping in the AZ desert as well as in urban areas. I haven t even needed to use the organic acids to date, she explained. I enjoy the science behind the bees. I ve tried experiments with mite levels. I do find mites at certain times of year, and that used to worry me. I found, though, that if I didn t do anything, most of my hives came through the season just fine, so now I let the bees deal with the mites. In her area, that works. Some of my hives have mint planted near them, and the bees love working the mint flowers for pollen and nectar. I believe that may help. (A MI beekeeper has made a similar observation with his hives that worked mint.) Emily also theorizes that another reason her bees may be able to handle mites and stay healthy could be because of the extremely wide variety of pollens and nectars in the area, more than can be found in most areas. In the valley area, we have a diversity of pollens and nectars, from desert plants to non-native vegetation used in landscaping in urban areas. A wide variety of pollens, particularly, would tend to give the bees a more complete balance of the amino acids they need for complete protein, and this might also be one of the secrets to their success here, that other states don t have. Products and Prices Emily s hives do produce honey in this harsh climate. That honey is in such demand because it is local and chemical-free, raw, and unheated (in addition to being delicious!), that it commands a price of $15$18 per pound, and Emily never has enough to meet the demand. I tell people it s worth it, and customers flock to buy all I can produce, she continued. Coming to Arizona from PA and MD, I was convinced there would be no honey production out here, but I can take 60 to 80 pounds of honey off some hives. I don t sell in large containers, like gallons. I market my honey in small jars to niche markets, where it brings a premium price. Emily also produces cut-comb honey, which she ties with a red ribbon for Christmas sales, if she has any left. She has found that 14 ounces of comb honey is too large a package for most customers, so she has begun ordering smaller, hard plastic cutcomb boxes that hold a rectangular 6 to 7 ounce cut-comb, and these sell particularly well. Another specialty product is cinnamon honey, sold both as a liquid and creamed. When I sell at shows, these sell out very quickly, especially the cinnamon creamed honey, she noted. Honey Bath Bombs?! One of her more interesting products, a honey bath bomb is a hard ball which, when dropped into the bathtub, makes the water fizzy, soft, and smooth. It s kind of fun. This product is still being perfected, and hopefully will be for sale in the coming months. She also sells a gift sack of a bottle of honey, a lotion bar, and a lip balm. My beeswax cappings, melted in a solar wax melter, produce a gorgeous bright yellow wax. I used to try to do wax melting and candle pouring at night, but right now, for lack of time, I m mostly making rolled candles. Getting ready to relocate this beautiful swarm! 310 Honey Plants Emily, like other urban beekeepers in the Scottsdale-Phoenix area, has found her hives benefit from the variety and abundance of irrigated pollen- and nectar-producing plants surrounding homes, including Texas sage, which produces abundant nectar and blooms several times a year, and a number of herbs and other flowering plants American Bee Journal

3 vest, in June, produces a very light-colored spring honey from desert blooms, catclaw, and fairy duster plants. In summer, bees collect nectar from mesquite, as well as palo verde, wildflowers and random desert plants. Some years, I m able to separate out bottles of pure mesquite, and I label that as a specialty honey, as it is quite unique. Monsoon season starts the middle of June, and runs through the end of September. The second honey harvest comes after an uptick in the nectar flow in September/October (which brings another swarm season, to keep life interesting,) and then beekeeping slows down until the next swarm season begins the following mid-february. Removing a swarm from under the patio ceiling. that are attractive to bees. The greater Phoenix metro area itself has about 4 million people, many of whom plant, on purpose or by chance, pollen and nectar producing flowers, shrubs, and trees that are attractive to honey bees. Trees, such as the mesquite and palo verde, can be found in residential and commercial areas for shade, and are also amazing nectar- and pollen-producing plants in early spring and summer. Farther south, there are orange groves to which some beekeepers move their hives. For the desert yards, which begin blooming in March and April, the first nectar flow is pretty substantial. For later flows, a lot depends on how the rains come. Every rain brings another flowering of desert plants, and the desert hives also work the mesquite blooms, which produce a lot of nectar, resulting in a thick, delicious honey. Supers can fill up quickly after a desert rain, and I have to be ready to give the bees more room to store the nectar they are bringing in. Emily s first honey har- Bee beard - Emily wearing a bee beard during her Honey Queen days. March 2016 Public Relations Bonanza for Bees and Beekeeping in AZ But moving Africanized swarms in the desert and encountering diamondback rattlesnakes is not all this former Honey Queen is about not by a long shot! Because of her natural gifts in public speaking, teaching, and working with people, which were honed during her time as PA and ABF Honey Queen, and her adeptness at marketing, Emily has been a real public relations bonanza for honey bees, beekeeping, and local honey in Arizona When you re passionate about something, she commented, you can find ways to involve others. I usually pick one big Home and Landscape Show to do every year. These are 3-day events, and I love being a host. I bring in the National Honey Queen, and we do 3-5 live television interviews together. We do cooking demos, and I have a huge booth with all my products for retail sale. [Her honey is labeled AZ Queen Bee.] It always thrills me to meet other Honey Queens who are also beekeepers and aspire to do similar things. Because of time Senior picture- Emily was so in love with bees and beekeeping that she had her senior photo for the yearbook (shown) taken in full bee suit and veil. constraints with two young children, the rest of the year, Brown wholesales her honey. Resident Beekeeper for Butterfly Wonderland I get paid to take care of the indoor observation hive at Butterfly Wonderland, a major Arizona tourist attraction in North Scottsdale. I have to be sure the observation hive is never without bees, but because the Butterfly Wonderland is open seven days a week, I have to make needed changes and work on the hive before 9 AM or after hours. Some design problems make the hive tricky for bee survival in the winter. The entrance faces north, for example, and NATIONAL HONEY QUEENS AND PRINCESSES This photo was taken at the 2016 ABF Convention in Florida. Left to right Anna Kettlewell, Louann Hausner, Emily Brown, Gabrielle Hemesath, Hayden Wolf, Rachael Seida, Rachel Bryson, Danielle Dale. They travel back to the ABF Conventions because they are still involved in the industry and are life-long honey and beekeeping promoters. (Quote from Emily) All are former ABF National Honey Queens or Princesses. 311

4 that used my AZ Queen Bee honey to make Plum Honey Ice Cream, an artisanal specialty honey ice cream that was newly released this past September. Prior to that, I partnered with a local microbrewery and we created an incredible Double Honey IPA with over 40 pounds of local honey. I organized a Bees &Beer event, and even had an observation hive on display at the bar. They sold out in 2 days! Emily teaching a child to make rolled candles with cut beeswax sheets. is shaded. The runway where the bees enter the building is excessively long. A couple of times a year, I have to come in and remove and hive the resident colony, then put in a whole new colony of fresh bees. The bees are under glass, and the queen is marked in hot pink or green. I put some capped frames of brood on the side people can see. I also added a traditional Langstroth-style hive on the outside of the building for guests to view from just a few feet away, but behind a glass window. A few times a month, I will do open hive demonstrations and guests can watch me check the bees, look for the queen, or remove honey supers. Collaboration with the Community I partner with other local businesses during the month of September, which is National Honey Month. This year I worked with an amazing Arizona ice cream shop Teaching School Children about Bees The busiest school teaching season for Emily is spring, primarily February, March, and April. At least one of those months I will do at least 8-12 school presentations. I typically present to 2nd graders, since that is the year they learn about insects, so it fits right in with the curriculum. I make it fun, with an observation hive, a bee suit for me and one for a student, who helps me with the smoker. We do a bee dance, taste honey, talk about bees, and roll candles. We pack it all into 45 minutes to 1 hour. I prefer to give three or four presentations back-to-back to smaller groups of one class at a time, rather than teaching larger groups. The smaller classes make it a more intimate experience, and give each child more time to ask questions and to see the bees in the observation hive. Recently I was scheduled for a presentation in my son Carson s classroom, and the children began asking HIM questions. I couldn t believe how well he did. I was so proud, both as a beekeeper and as a mother. He knew all the bee facts, and he was pretty outgoing- in front of all his friends! He is now 8, and my daughter Ellie Bee is 6, and she s already excitedly looking forward to doing the same thing. Setting up an Observation Hive at a Charter School Both my children go to a charter school where there is a separate building devoted to science. That s why we wanted them to go there. They have a science lab with live animals and insects. There are chinchillas Emily s son Carson calls on a classmate to answer a question about bees, from among enthusiastic volunteers with raised hands. 312 and baby quail. They can watch mice reproduce. I asked if the school would like an observation hive, and they loved the idea. We were able to buy a nice observation hive with money provided by a Whole Foods Garden Grant program. Whole Foods has a pilot program for a beehive, which covers the cost of the hive and the beekeeper s time. Whole Foods wants to interest more people in beekeeping. I had a conference call with the company about the program and how it works. We arranged to have the observation hive built by Draper s Super Bee in Millerton, PA, ( ) Draper offers a furniture-quality hive with a real nice wooden stand so kids can watch what s going on in the hive at their level. The teachers and I devoted a couple of weeks to lessons about honey bees for all 600 students in the school. The kids respected the bees, thoroughly enjoyed learning about them and about beekeeping, and by the end of the year, they even got to taste the pure honeycomb produced by the bees in the hive! We purposely didn t mark the queen. We wanted the children to learn to find her. By the end of the year, after watching the hive every week in science lab all year, they were so good, they could pick out the queen easily. Putting on Arizona s First Honey Festival! The Waldorf Astoria manager in Scottsdale wanted hives on the hotel property. He offered to pay Emily to maintain them. We had a couple of photo shoots with me working the bees, and it gave them good publicity. They asked me to put on the first Arizona Honey Festival. In preparation for the Festival, we selected an open-air shopping area, with a big stage that was very close to the resort. The head chefs planned a lot of foodie events. I brought in the National Honey Queen and I gave a beekeeping presentation onstage and answered questions. We had a kids room with candle rolling and stickers and cookies kids could decorate. It was a lovely two-day event, and I was amazed at how successful it was. But it turned out to be a one-time event. The next year, the resort had a different manager, who asked Emily to relocate the hives. The resort wanted to build on that piece of property. It was a useful learning experience, though, in how to set up such events, and also spurred Brown on to invest in some really nice labels, which she is still using. I needed really classy labels, she explained. The Hotel wanted to give my Arizona honey to guests and VIP s. I needed labels with a really polished look. A friend who is into photography and design worked with me to design the perfect labels, and we sent them to Lightning Labels in Colorado to be printed. The finished labels arrived the day of the event! I ve always thought that honey should be presented like the amazing American Bee Journal

5 Carson (left) and Ellie Bee Brown, Emily s children, checking out the new indoor observation hive at their school, just the right height for children. product that it is, and those labels do that for my honey. I made similar labels for my lip balm. Anything I can make myself at this point, I still do. My operation is still relatively small because my children are young. I try to keep it reined in. But eventually I d like to do a lot more with bees and honey and beeswax products. Winner of the National Good Food Show Emily was the first, and so far the only, Arizona winner of the Good Food Awards, a national award program based out of San Francisco. This year her rectangles of cutcomb honey carry cool stickers that announce they were the winning product in the Good Food Awards. Emily was a finalist in 2014, and the winner in 2015 with her Emily at the Bees and Beer event featuring a Double Honey IPA made from AZ Queen Bee Honey. March 2016 Emily at Whole Food s Human Bee-In, where she is educating customers during National Honey Month Raw Desert Bloom Honeycomb. (A new group of finalists were selected this past October, and the new 2016 winners were to be announced in January.) The criteria are pretty strict. Winners must use sustainable practices, exhibit ethical qualities such as commitment to the environment, produce artisan-type products, and be committed to educating their communities. I m trying to encourage other people in Arizona to enter the competition, as it is quite an honor to win this coveted award. Then came an invitation by the James Beard Food Foundation. I was asked to be part of the Taste America event, she recalled, probably because of the Good Food Award. I received phone calls and s. They had five cities picked out, and called the event Taste America. The winners go to each city and are paired with two local food artisans. I worked with Michel Nischan and allowed visitors to taste my award winning honeycomb. Clearly, the award has some perks! In marketing, I ve tried to hone in on branding and my logo and make that work for me. I recently gave a talk to the annual Western Apiculture Society Convention on Managing Media to Make More Money. Beekeepers from across the region came away with some novel, exciting, and easy ways to promote their products. When experiences come your way, Emily advises, Give them a try. Some may lead to bigger and better things. In late November, for example, now that she is becoming better known state-wide, Visit Arizona magazine came out for a photo shoot. The photographer took some fantastic photos. Also, Homestead magazine contacted me several times saying a photographer would be in town for a convention and would like to take photos of what I m doing. I finally said, OK, for a couple of minutes on this one particular morning. I took him to one of my local apiaries, and to the observation hive I m paid to manage at Butterfly Wonderland. It was supposed to be a short blurb in the magazine, but ended up as far more than that, as my photo was the entire cover of the magazine. Teaching new Beekeepers My husband will go out and help every now and then, and my 8-year-old son Carson helps with removals and pulling pollen traps. I ve mentored with a couple of other people if I thought they showed dedication past the phase of Beekeeping is Cool! I show them how to remove and relocate bees, and try to gauge their level of excitement and determination Good Food Awards Winner with pure, raw, honeycomb. 313

6 ties, she is on the Board of the American Beekeeping Federation. She is thinking of hiring an employee next year who can bottle and make beeswax products while Emily herself does the beekeeping, until her children are older and she has more time available to devote to her business. 1st TV interview Always Wanted Own Business Right after graduation, my husband was offered an electrical engineering job in Arizona, and we ve been here ever since. I worked for a while in the Arizona Game and Fish Department and for several homebuilders before earning my MBA from Arizona State. But I ve always wanted my own business partly because it would give me flexibility as a Mom. My business so far has four facets: beekeeping; swarm removal and swarm relocation; honey and product sales; and consulting and presentations. Born to be a Beekeeper Emily became entranced with bees and beekeeping in early elementary school after reading a book about bees. She decided then Emily handing out samples of her own award-winning honey comb at James Beard Foundation s Taste America event in Scottsdale, AZ. 314 and there that she wanted hives of her own someday. As an early teen, at the age of 16, she began attending the local bee club in York, PA near her home. I was the only young female in the club, which is kind of amazing because today there are so many women in beekeeping! My parents thought I was too young to be responsible for my own hive at the time, but a mentor, Dave Neff lived around the corner. We met at the bee club. He let me put on his jacket and open his hives and experience what he did with his hives. I was really enthralled, and knew for sure this had to happen. When I was sixteen and could drive, I bought my own bee equipment for two hives, and hived two packages. I had my senior picture taken in my full bee suit and veil. This was before You Tube videos and the Internet, so a lot of my experience was by trial and error, but I learned quickly. I highlighted my beginning beekeeping book, First Lessons in Beekeeping. Emily hived swarms, and built up to 12 hives while in high school, and spent a lot of summer nights painting hive equipment in her garage. I left soccer practice early the day my first packages of bees arrived in the mail. I told the coach I had to go my bees had finally arrived! I was giddy with excitement! Then as American Honey Queen, I met host families all over the country and learned about the many ways of keeping bees in different areas and from commercial beekeepers. A lot of the queen candidates were from beekeeping families, but I was one of the few who got started in beekeeping on my own. When I got married, the tables at the reception were adorned with Honey, I Do -- labeled jars of honey for all the guests. Emily s interest has never waned. Today, along with all her other bee-related activi- American Bee Journal