In Focus

Busy As a Bee (Keeper)

BY ALLI SCHUCHMAN

Islander Bryan Kramer took some beekeeping classes in 2012. “I’m always interested in learning something, and this was something that I knew nothing about,” he said. “I really got into it. It just fascinates me.”

Kramer started with two original colonies and currently has 42. He keeps his bees primarily on Bainbridge at the Bloedel Reserve and Winney Farm, where he processes and sells Sun Shower Honey Company honey. “Last year I did about 680 pounds,” he said, “and the year before I did almost 800 pounds.”

Kramer said that his honey comes from different sources, depending on where the bees gather the pollen and nectar. Late this spring, it came from maple, but as summer progresses, it will transition to mostly blackberry.

While Kramer’s care of the bees is complex, the work taking place inside the hives is exponentially more so. “A well-mated queen lives and is productive for about two years,” he said. “In

the height of the summer, she’ll lay 2,000-plus eggs a day and a good healthy bee colony will have 60,000-plus bees in it. But you end up with the bees dying at almost the same rate that she’s laying, because once we hit the middle of the summer, the bees are working themselves to death.”

It does sound arduous. Kramer said that it takes 2 million flowers and a cumulative flying distance of 90,000 miles to produce a pound of honey. The average worker produces just 1/12 of a teaspoon in her lifetime.

And the question everyone is asking...how often does he get stung? “I don’t wear a bee suit all the time,” Kramer said. “I just put it on if I’m in an apiary and I’ve got two or three nasty colonies. Over the year, I probably get stung 150 to 200 times.”

Such a buzz kill.