Basic beekeeping doesn’t require huge amounts of money, time or
space, and it can be done just about any place where flowers
bloom. If like to drizzle amber honey on your morning toast or
into green tea, you might want to give beekeeping—or
apiculture—a try. Our country could certainly use some new
beekeepers. According to Troy Fore, executive director of the
American Beekeeping Federation, there are an estimated 100,000
hobby beekeepers in the United States, down from 200,000 in the
1970s. Urbanization has played a role in this decline, along
with the spread of parasitic mites that have decreased
production and increased beekeeping costs. “The possibility of
being stung, problems with mites, and the labor involved puts
potential beekeepers off,” says Jack Robertson, a beekeeper with
25 years experience who keeps 250 hives near Olympia, Wash.,
with his wife, Virginia. But small-scale beekeeping doesn’t
require huge amounts of money, time or space, and it can be done
just about any place where flowers bloom, m