Bee-coming a keeper: How Greenup County is abuzz with beekeeping

Mar. 29—WURTLAND — Eight years ago, Greenup County started buzzing.

Following a presentation on beekeeping at the Woods and Wildlife event by Richard Timberlake, Greenup County extension office agent Linda Hieneman contacted Timberlake to tell him of the interest from the community.

"She had called a couple of us that were just haphazard local beekeepers and wanted to know if we would meet up with these people," Timberlake said. "And so, we met up here in January eight years ago."

And just like that, the Greenup County Beekeeper's Association was born.

Every month, the group meets to discuss a range of topics, from the latest in beekeeping tools and technology, to the various projects the group has sponsored and undertaken in the area schools.

While the group has more than 40 members now, its beginnings were more modest.

"It was just a bunch of older beekeepers who couldn't seem to keep bees anymore because they didn't know exactly what to do," Timberlake said.

Into the group's second year, Timberlake realized there was a need to get new people involved in beekeeping. He started the Bee School to get new people not only involved, but aware the group was there to assist in beekeeping itself.

It worked, and one of the strategies that really connected was taking the activity to local schools to get kids involved.

So, with a goal of sparking the interest of younger people, Timberlake made a visit to Greenup County High School where he was a guest speaker for an animal science class taught by Carrie Davis.

Timberlake's appearance not only piqued the interest of the students, but of Davis as well.

"He came in and spoke to the class and I just knew," Davis said. "I said to myself, if I wanted to keep bees before, I know after hearing him speak, I want to do this."

So, Davis, along with some of her students, started to learn the ropes of beekeeping.

"They really have a heart for helping anybody in the community that wants to learn how to keep bees," Davis said of the group. "And they really have a heart for engaging the young people. They said they'd do whatever it takes and they have fulfilled that promise and more. They would come down to my class and hold my hand with all the kids and walk us through it."

Fast-forward several years later, and Davis is now the president of the club and the focus on schools has expanded into loftier goals.

"They decided they want bees in every school," Davis said. "And they said, 'we'll help you' and they have. We have four schools with hives now and we're adding more with the middle school getting an AG program. The beekeepers have went to the schools to visit with them, showed how to go through their hives and help make their hives successful. and there's been overwhelming response from the kids."

Students have definitely been drawn to the hives, so much so that McKell Elementary had 35 students fill out applications to be part of the junior beekeepers group at the school.

Timberlake was surprised by the number, but eager to have so many interested.

"We're not going to cut anybody out," Timberlake said. "We did everything in our power to find beekeeping suits and equipment and so forth. But what's easy for us is, we can become fourth-graders real quick. They're so excited and we are too. Every time you open a hive, it's just one of those things where, until you've done it and you see all the distinctive behavior and everything else. It's such a fascinating topic now."

It's a topic that first fascinated Timberlake about 18 years ago. It all started when he realized that some bees had set up shop in the soffit under the eave of his house.

They didn't cause any issues, until one day Timberlake looked up and noticed something odd.

"I walked out one day and in May and here was this enormous black cloud," Timberlake said. "And I thought, what in the world? I'd never seen anything like it. and just in short order, they all collected in about a basketball-size cluster on a briar."

After the bees collected together, a process known as clustering, Timberlake decided to call the Greenup County Extension Office for some assistance.

"They put me in contact with a fella and he came out, him and his daughter, and he had brought a box, a beehive," Timberlake said. "And he set it there and he went down and clipped off the thing and set the whole thing on top of the hive and the bees all went in. I thought, 'That is the coolest thing I have ever seen.'"

Before leaving, the bee guy told Timberlake the bees he caught accounted for just half of what was under Timberlake's roof. The other half was still up there.

Timberlake knew then that he was going to collect those other bees himself.

"I said to myself, 'I'm going to do that,'" Timberlake said. "It was just right up my alley. and so, I went out and bought a hive and everything and waited until the next year. Never saw anything. The second year, I walk out, and there's the big black cloud again."

Timberlake immediately retrieved his hive and started to look for the queen bee. Wherever the queen lands is where the other bees cluster thanks to pheromones emitted by the queen. The other bees cluster the queen to protect her while scout bees go look for another place to build a hive.

Timberlake's bees eventually clustered on a tree branch he said was 21 feet in the air.

"And I know it was 21 feet, because my ladder was only 20," Timberlake said with a laugh. "I climb down, trying to think how I'm going to reach them, and I look down. There's a little ball of bees. I got to looking, and there was the queen in the middle of them."

From there, Timberlake placed the queen on his hive and the other bees followed suit, swallowing Timberlake in a sea of black as they made their way over.

Just like that, Timberlake had his first hive and was officially a beekeeper.

"I was hooked," Timberlake admits.

And from that, Greenup County and the surrounding area has gone on to create a healthy beekeeping community.

With meetings happening every month and a couple of live hives located behind the Greenup County Extension Office where meetings take place, Davis says anyone who is on the fence about beekeeping should stop by a meeting.

"Just come to a meeting and pop out back to the hives with us," Davis said. "I promise you'll get addicted to it and then we'll be here to help you with your next step if you need it."

For Timberlake, the mission of the group is simple.

"We just want to help people go from bee 'have-ers' to beekeepers," Timberlake said.

Anyone interested in the group can contact the Greenup Extension Office at (606) 836-0201 or search for Greenup County Beekeepers Assoc. on Facebook.

(606) 326-2600 — wadams@dailyindependent.com