'Just being in the bees'

UNC students and faculty alike have found solace in an insect many tend to run from — bees.

Beekeepers attract colonies, maintain the hives and monitor the health of the bees while collecting honey, wax and other products.

Due to an interest in sustainable agriculture, junior Bronwyn Fadem recently began beekeeping to help protect the bee population. She helps maintain the beehives at Hope Gardens, a student-run farm founded by the Campus Y.

“Beekeeping is one of those things where you can surprisingly do it in a lot of places,” Fadem said. “A lot of students could, theoretically, get a hive at their home. But it’s like a pet, you know you have to have time to take care of it.”

Fadem said bees are one of the most fascinating organisms she has ever learned about, and they are not as aggressive as she once thought.

Kevin Lanning is the chief information security officer for UNC Information Technology Services. He said he came across beekeeping when he wanted to join the Peace Corps.

“I went to the Peace Corps recruitment office and asked them what kinds of skills they were looking for,” Lanning said.

“And the one program that no one had signed up for was the Africanized beekeeping program, the so-called killer beekeeping program, in South America.”

Lanning went to Paraguay and learned beekeeping skills and developed a passion for the activity. He said now he keeps three to five hives in the summer.

“Right now, at this moment, I don’t have any bees, but I have two hives set out to attract new colonies,” Lanning said.

David Eckert, the dispatch service manager for ITS, began beekeeping in 2009 and currently manages 11 hives, which he said is a lot for a hobbyist beekeeper.

“I manage (bees) to collect honey and to provide pollination wherever they are, and just to have fun,” Eckert said. “I like getting outside and just being in the bees. I think the management puzzle of keeping honey bees healthy is an interesting thing to be a part of.”

Eckert said he eats, sells and gives away the honey he collects, and he makes candles, lip balms, hand creams and other products with the wax. He has also entered his honey and bees in the N.C. State Fair.

“I won the blue ribbon for the extracted amber honey this year, 2015, and that won best-in-show in the honey bees category and I also won the blue ribbon for a bulk display of honey,” Eckert said.

Lanning also collects honey and wax. He said he periodically takes his honey to a place that makes mead, or honey wine, and trades honey for mead.

“It’s really soothing. It’s really calming,” Lanning said. “And I know people think about stinging insects as not very calming, but for me, they’re a social group of insects that are all working together on a common goal ... It’s really relaxing for me.”

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