“ had no idea there were so many people interested in beekeeping living on the Island,” David explained. Whidbey Island (pronounced Wid-bee) is the largest Island in Washington state and is located in the Puget Sound area north of Seattle. The Pacific Ocean waters surrounding the Island are a Mecca not only for waterfowl, fish, and whales, but also for outdoor summer water sports, fishing, and recreation enthusiasts. At different times of the year (during fall and spring) pods of gray whales and orcas are spotted in the area as they gather for a couple months to feed before either migrating south to warmer Mexican waters for the winter, or north to Alaskan waters for the summer. Whidbey Island is about 50 miles long and only a few miles wide. It is heavily forested, especially with firs and cedars. Besides natural meadows and wetlands, there are numerous small farm fields cleared by earlier settlers. The island has an abundance of birds such as bald eagles and osprey that attract the attention of birders from across August 2009 the nation that flock to the area for relaxing vacations and to enjoy its scenic beauty. Today, a wide variety of residential and summer vacation homes (many in the million dollar plus price range) built on small acreages dot the landscape. The largest town on Whidbey Island is Oak Harbor (pop. 20,573), which is located on the northern section of the island. Also, the Oak Harbor Naval Air Station is located adjacent to the town. Travel to the Island from the Washington state mainland is via a 20 minute state-operated ferry from the south. There’s another ferry at mid-island (that goes to the Olympic Peninsula), and a bridge on the north that accesses an adjacent island. The southern ferry leaves the mainland from the city of Mukilteo. The main transportation route is Highway 525 that runs the length of the Island down its center. David Neel lives on the southern part of the Island near the town of Freeland with his wife Mollyshannon and he manages Island Apiaries. As a result of this initial meeting the Whidbey Island Beekeepers Association (WIBA) was formed and it is now affiliated with the larger state-wide Washington State Beekeepers Association. David was also elected president of the new group even though he claims there are more knowledgeable and experienced beekeepers than himself on the Island. The consensus was, because he took the initial step to organize and plan the meeting, that he should be the first president. The new bee organization has also set up a web site at www.whidbees.com. Right now David is talking with other Northwest affiliated beekeeping organizations to see whether there’s enough interest to jointly plan and cover the expenses of bringing in a nationally-known beekeeping authority as a guest speaker at a future meeting. David said the vast majority of beekeepers on the Island are hobbyist with only a hive or two and there are a few people whokeep between 10 to 20 hives. He said as far as he knew there are only a couple commer- 773 (l) David Neel manages Island Apiaries and is pictured with his bee truck. He was instrumental in forming a new beekeeping association on Whidbey Island this past winter. (r) David is shown at his home bee yard. cial pollinators who live in the area. David and his wife have been living in a rental home (with an option to buy) on a couple acres of land along with their two dogs for the past five years. They moved to Whidbey Island from Tacoma, Washington, to care for David’s mother when she became seriously ill with cancer. When they moved, he left behind a career in the educational field where he worked as a behavior disorder teacher with the Tacoma School District. Mollyshannon presently commutes daily to Seattle (via the ferry and an interstate highway) where she works for Children’s Hospital. David explained, “Once we moved here we loved it and decided to stay.” It wasn’t long before he also decided to get back into beekeeping and started raising bees again. Today he runs Island Apiaries, which caters to a local market selling honey, beekeeping supplies, and specializing in backyard flower and garden pollination. As a kid growing up in the state of Georgia between the ages of six to 18, David worked with an uncle who had a large beekeeping operation. He got out of beekeeping when he headed off to college. He later married and began his teaching career. “You might say I’ve re-blossomed back into beekeeping and really enjoy it again.” He said unfortunately a vandalism inci- dent at a wintering yard destroyed a bee truck load of his hives, thus curtailing most of this season’s backyard pollination plans. Now, his main focus for the next couple years will be to build his bees up to about 100 hives. He’s also negotiating with two beekeeping friends, looking at the possibility of forming a partnership where they could combine their beekeeping equipment (extractor, beehives, bee truck and trailer) and skills and explore the market for additional bee pollination contracts. They would also assist each other with honey sales at the local Tilth Farmers Market in the community of Bayview, as well as the Seattle area. Besides caring for his bees, he’ll occasionally substitute teach at the South Whidbey Children Center, a K-5 school, in their before and after school program. He said he’s heard of some other beekeepers in northwestern Washington (west of the Cascades) who have suffered huge bee losses. Also, according to David, bee losses due to flooding this early spring have been a major problem in the region as a combination of heavy rains and melting snow created the worst flooding conditions since 1925. His beekeeping equipment includes a pickup truck and he has access to a 1 ½ ton bee truck and a trailer when needed. He also has a large frame honey extractor which he purchased from another beekeeper. The last week in March of 2009 found David, as president of WIBA and another Whidbey Island beekeeper, driving to California to pick up bee package orders for distribution to local association members. He later made a second trip to California during the third week of April picking up 110 more bee packages. Most of the people keeping bees on Whidbey Island only have a few hives and Marie Lincoln, who co-owns the Chocolate Flower Farm along with her husband Bill near the town of Langley, is no exception. They specialize in raising chocolate-colored flowers and run a combined flower, gift, and chocolate shop named The Garden Shed in town. A year ago they purchased three beehives and set them in back of their display garden to pollinate their flowers. Marie said that because they are only “bee-ginners” when it comes to raising bees, Steve Noble, a local beekeeper, stops by periodically to check on the health of their hives. She added that he’s been providing them with a wealth of information on keeping their bees “happy, healthy and thriving.” Whidbey Island beekeeper Tom Schioler, who lives near the community of Greenbank, manages Golden Harvest Bee Ranch. He has kept bees for nine years and for the past five years he has been a commercial (l) Whidbey Island beekeeper Tom Schioler has been keeping bees for nine years. Here he’s standing in his bee yard at the Five Acre Farm, a vegetable and sunflower farm, which his bees pollinate. (r) Tom inspects a hive. 774 American Bee Journal (l) Tom Schioler owns and manages the Golden Harvest Bee Ranch on Whidbey Island. (r) Beekeepers Tom Schioler (on right) and Wendell Ankeny (on left) confer with the Five Acre Farm owner Damon Gibson and Soma Mansfield about the pending pollination season. This year’s crop will include a combination of vegetables and sunflowers. bee pollinator. He usually runs about 100 hives and then sells honey in season at local and regional Farmers Markets on weekends at Coupeville, Port Townsend, and the Seattle suburban city of Ballard. The Ballard Public Market is open year-round on Sundays. Following the initial island-wide beekeeping association meeting, which Tom attended, he said while he was pleased that so many newcomers were interested in learning about beekeeping, he was a little disappointed in the reaction of some of the people. He even had one lady tell him that she wasn’t interested in learning how to raise bees from a commercial beekeeper as she only wanted to learn how to raise bees organically. He said although he tries to raise his bees as chemical free as possible, he does use Mite-away formic acid pads. He hoped that these new hobbyists will find mentors they can work with as that’s the best way to get started and learn how to keep bees. Tom said his mentor was Jim Malsch, a commercial beekeeper from Arlington, Washington, which is located about 25 miles northeast of Whidbey Island in the Skagit Valley. This farming region on the west side of the Cascade Mountain Range is noted for Bill Lincoln co-owns the Chocolate Flower Farm at Langley, Washington with his wife Marie. Bill and his dog, Nellie, are shown at the farm’s display garden. The owners keep three beehives, in the background, to help pollinate their flowers. having large flower farms of tulips and daffodils. He also has a beekeeping tradition in his ancestry and said his great grandfather was an eye doctor back in his home country of Denmark and kept bees. He said he grew up hearing tales from his grandmother about the benefits of bees and the healthful qualities of honey. As an adult Tom said he traveled a lot, but always at the back of his mind he thought that if he ever settled down somewhere permanently, he would raise some bees. He spent more than 16 years living in Asia buying and selling gemstones and making jewelry. He lived in Japan four years, Thailand two years, and eventually Hong Kong for ten years until the Chinese Government took over in 1997. When the Chinese took possession of Hong Kong from the British Commonwealth, he returned to the United States. He said at the time he lived in Asia he was married, but he isn’t now. He started raising bees after reading everything about beekeeping he could get his hands on from the library. Like most people taking up beekeeping for the first time, he worked with his mentor starting small with a few hives and then built up over the years to 25, then 50, and finally to 100 hives. He laughs about it now, but he tells the story of his early days of beekeeping when he hauled beehives in his enclosed van while wearing a full-suit with gloves and a veil and the bees were literally flying around everywhere. He eventually bought a flat-bed bee truck for proper and safer hauling. Tom’s commercial business name was Golden Harvest until a lady once asked him (l) Fields of wild loosestrife can be found across Whidbey Island in wetlands. Beekeepers say the purple flowers when in bloom make great honey. (r) On a sunny day Mt. Baker (10,781 feet above sea level) some 55 miles away and the Cascade Mountain Range can be seen from Washington’s Whidbey Island. August 2009 775 (l) Here’s one of Tom’s bee yards at a lavender and sunflower field on Whidbey Island. shop is ready for building frames. (Photos courtesy of Tom Schioler) at a farmer’s market how many head he was running on his ranch. He told her, “Oh, about six million.” That’s when he changed his name to Golden Harvest Bee Ranch. According to Tom, Whidbey Island beekeepers can mainly produce five different kinds of honey and he believes they’re very fortunate because in a lot of beekeeping states and region’s bees largely forage on only one particular kind of plant such as clover. He sells the following types of honey to his customers: loganberry, lavender, wild flowers, blackberry, and loosestrife. He yards bees for pollination at several lavender farms on the island and then places them at additional yard sites for foraging and honey production. Although he doesn’t do it anymore, in some previous years he’s hauled his bees to California for almond pollination and then back to Washington state for the blueberry fields and apple orchards. Now he keeps his bees closer to home. A couple years ago one of his lavender farm owners also planted five acres of sunflowers. That season his bees from that yard produced a record supply of honey. Normally his bees will make about 25-30 pounds of honey per hive. That year they each produced about 60 pounds of honey. Unfortunately, according to Tom, the lavender farm only planted sunflowers that one season as the owners apparently had trouble marketing all the seeds. When setting hives in bee yards, his bee truck has a boom that will only hold two hives on a pallet at one time. Therefore, due to the weight restriction load of his boom, all his beehives are placed in yards with two bee hives per pallet. Over the years, Tom has developed a coding system that works for him when he inspects his hives in his yards. He first marks down the date the hive was last inspected. If it is a good healthy hive, he writes the letter “G” on top of the box with a piece of white soap stone, meaning the hive is in good condition. Other symbols include: “VG” very good condition, and “P” for poor shape. He’ll also mark down what type of honey is in the supers. For example, “LV” is lavender, “BB” blackberry, and “LS” is looses- 776 trife, “LB” is loganberry, and “WF” is wildflower. While checking hives, he’ll also stick a colored push pin on top a bee box as a reminder that the hive needs some special additional attention. A yellow pin means it needs food; a white pin means it needs some attention as it is a weak, or small hive; a blue pin means it needs to be requeened; and a red pin indicates that the hive is in danger of dying off. His bees are mostly New World Carniolans. He says they work best for the region because there are a lot of rainy and overcast days on the island and he thinks they are good cold weather bees. He also has some Italian bees plus a few Russians. He found that Russian bees are good honey producers, but they are a little more active and aggressive, thus he places these boxes on the outside of a yard and marks the word “Hot” on the top. He once found one of his Russian hives upended and lying on the ground some 40 feet from his bee yard. He believed someone was attempting to steal the hive. When the bees became a little agitated the thief probably got stung a few times so he dropped the hive and ran. Tom said there are several different places on the island that have large areas of wetlands with loosestrife plants growing wild and when he first saw them, he thought it was fireweed because of their purple flowers. He later found out it makes great honey, but the state has it classified as an invasive noxious weed and has made on-going attempts to eradicate it. An old timer beekeeper once told him that loosestrife, which is native to Europe, was brought onto the island by farmers decades ago and planted for its honey production qualities. It also provided a steady blooming source for foraging honey bees as blackberries and other wild flowers in the surrounding forests didn’t produce enough nectar to sustain the bees. According to Tom, another foraging problem the island has with wild flowers is that the county and state crews are continually cutting down blackberry patches growing along road right-of-ways and land developers often bulldoze down the thorny black- (r) Tom’s wood berry bushes when clearing land for home construction. Tom rents a caretaker house on two acres of land, which has a shop he uses for woodworking, storage for supers, and honey extraction. His rental property is sandwiched between $2 million dollar summer homes. He has a great view from his back porch that overlooks the Pacific waters of Saratoga Pass where he often sees whales, bald eagles, and seagulls. He’s currently recovering from a huge 75 percent loss of his bees due largely to a combination of CCD, an infestation of Nosema ceranae, mites, and the rest to winter kill. While he struggles to replace his bees and build his business back up to what it was, he’s unhappy with the assistance and support he and other fellow Washington state beekeepers receive, or don’t receive from state and federal agencies. Beekeepers in Washington state are required to register their hives and pay an annual $25 and up registration fee with the Washington State Department of Agriculture Plant Protection Division. They are then assigned an apiary registration number. Tom brands all his boxes, supers, and frames with his number 860 for identification purposes. Tom claims a fellow beekeeping friend of his, Wendell Ankeny, who helps him sell honey at the Port Townsend farmers market, was told by a state entomologist at Washington State University last year that they didn’t have the facilities to test his bees when some of his hives died. Wendell is a semi-retired Methodist Preacher who is still serving at the Trinity United Church in his home town. He kept bees for more than 40 years back in Minnesota, but now as a hobbyist, living in Port Townsend (a ferry ride away from Whidbey Island on the Olympic Peninsula) he only keeps eight hives. When his hives started dying, he sent frozen bee samples to the university laboratory in eastern Washington for testing. He received a letter back from them stating that they weren’t equipped to diagnose his bee problems and suggested sending them to another lab. Tom believes that the federal and state departments of agriculture have double standards when it comes to beekeepers. “If a American Bee Journal cattle rancher contacts a state, or federal agency about a huge 75 percent loss of his cattle herd, say due to hoof and mouth disease, you can bet they have some program established to test his cattle and compensate him for his losses.” As far as bee insurance goes, Tom said it mainly covers theft and vandalism, but not losses from diseases, mites, pesticides, winter kill, or CCD losses. He said, while some countries of the world are very supportive of their beekeepers, recognizing the important role bee pollination is to agriculture, he doesn’t believe the U.S. is. He cited as an example the European country of Denmark, which he claims pays $100 per hive per year to commercial beekeepers to help cover the cost of maintaining healthy hives. He added, “While our government is spending millions of dollars for bee research funding, the actual beekeepers are not getting one red cent to help them with their problems.” He also cited an example of a western Washington commercial beekeeper he knows who lost all 900 of his hives last year due to a combination of CCD, pesticides, mites, and other problems and he finally just gave up, quit beekeeping, and he’s now growing flowers instead of bees. Tom Schioler is proud of the fact that as a voting member of the Washington State Farm Bureau he, along with the help of Richard Boslaugh, vice president of the Is- land County Farm Bureau, were instrumental in developing a statement in the Washington State Farm Bureau Policy book that says beekeeping is essential to state agriculture production and must be supported by legislature. Prior to this, he said, beekeeping wasn’t even mentioned. He hopes that with this bee statement in the bureau’s policy book, it will help when lobbying the state legislature for future funding. Whether the beekeepers on Washington state’s Whidbey Island are new “bee-ginners” with only one or two hives, a sideliner with a couple dozen hives, or a full-time commercial pollinator, they all face some of the same challenges as they try to keep their bees healthy and producing quality honey. Hawaiian Queen Ph. 808-328-2656 Toll free: 888-485-2244 FAX 808-328-7433 email: [email protected] www.hawaiianqueen.com WE BUY POLLEN AND PROPOLIS SEND US YOUR SCRAPINGS WE SELL Pollen Traps—U.S. Bee Pollen Royal Jelly—Bee Propolis Extract CC POLLEN CO. 5455 N. 51 st Avenue, # 17 Glendale, AZ 85301 Tel: 1-800-875-0096 Fax: 602-381-3130 CALL FOR PRICES August 2009 777