Keeping busy

Normally when someone picks up a hobby, it’s something pretty standard: baking, collecting stamps, bird-watching, etc. But in his sixties, Larry has opted for a less conventional hobby: beekeeping.

Never in his life did he think he would become a beekeeper, but when his daughter gave him the suggestion he kept it in mind. Fast forward six months and Larry found himself enrolled in a beekeeping class.

Many of his other classmates wanted to study beekeeping for another year to make sure they knew what they were doing, but Larry hopped right into it.

“I wanted to get bees as soon as possible,” Larry said.

He bought a nucleus of bees which is several frames of honey, pollen, larvae, eggs, etc. and he set to work. From there, he started to cultivate his hives. There was a lot of trial and error along the way. Some of his queens died and the hives went down with them. But now Larry has got the swing of it.

In the backyard of his residential Missouri home, Larry has tens of thousands of bees and about eight hives that he regularly collects honey from.

One hive can produce about 11 gallons of honey and Larry makes sure it’s all handled with care.

Unlike, commercialized companies he does not pasteurize any of his honey. He simply filters the it which allows all of the natural nutrients to stay in the honey. This all get jarred and gets sold to neighbors, family, friends, etc.

“Honey is a pain,” Larry said. “It’s better to raise bees and do pollinating than it is to this. This is work here.”

But as time-consuming and tedious as it can be, Larry loves the being a beekeeper. He enjoys taking care of his bees and sharing his passion with others.

“I go full-fledged into anything I do,” Larry said. “Everything that I do, I over-do.”

As far as hobbies go, this one has kept him busy, as well… a bee.