Honey started as a source of food 10,000 years ago in Africa, and now has made its way to a full time modern day living in America. Beekeeping as you may already know, is the practice of taking care of and maintaining hives of bees to collect their honey. Not only does this produce a source of food for consumers on the market, but through the process of pollination by honeybees, plants are able to reproduce and expand. It is not overselling to say that beekeeping is a crucial element in our world today.  

“Honey bees are really responsible for about 2/3 of the fresh fruits and vegetables that are eaten, without them we could not have fresh fruits and vegetables on the scale we have them today. Everything would be on a much smaller scale, food would be more expensive and there would be less of it. We would be forced to eat things like grains, and our diet would be much more bland without the honey bee,” longtime Beekeeper Daniel Payne said. 

Payne is a local beekeeper in our community and is grateful for and enjoying the experience of becoming one.  

 “I have been beekeeping for 12 years, and it’s the best thing I ever did. I get to keep bees, observe all the mysteries of the hive, see nature, learn new things every time I go, and I get to involve the family in the activity,” Payne said.

 Many individuals have made not only honest livings out of beekeeping but multi- million dollar companies out of it, but doing so takes hard work and effort.  

 “The hardest part of beekeeping is being able to perform the duties at the proper time. I have to work around the weather and my work schedule and the schedule of my help,” Payne said.  

 Payne’s Apiary started out as a small project with a couple of beehives and a man with a passion for learning, and now it has grown into a sizable source of income and everlasting knowledge.  

  “It was something that I never had done before, and I wanted to try something new.  

I am going to go until I can’t go anymore, it’s not that hard, just a few days a year you have to really work hard. Hopefully someone will want to come along and pick it up after I do and turn it into something that really is self-sufficient and profitable,” Payne said. 

 Beekeeping is a profession that has been around for thousands of years and will be around a thousand more. It is not only a great profession but is necessary in the world today. But  some days you’ll just have to swing a pick-axe and others it’ll be a breeze. It is not for the faint of heart, it takes dedication. 

“Go buy yourself a good fishing pole, you’ll have a lot more fun,” Payne said.