The buzz about bees
Business is booming for local beekeepers, but the prognosis isn’t so hot for the bees. Some populations have declined by 70 percent.
Jim Barlean handles a bee from one of the 40 hives in his Milwaukie backyard. Barlean keeps additional hives on properties throughout Northwest Oregon.
Ellen Spitaleri / Clackamas Review
When it comes to beekeeping, Jim Barlean believes in taking the gloves off — literally.
The Milwaukie resident and his wife Dolores have been selling pure, raw honey from their home just off King Road for more than 20 years.
He does not wear a traditional beekeeping outfit, and even goes gloveless when handling the trays in the hives.
Barlean said he has taught himself everything he has learned about bees and making honey, and added that is “the fun of beekeeping — inventing your own methods.”
“If you are wearing gloves, you are not paying attention to what the bees are doing,” he said. “I used to have the meanest bees, but after I took the gloves off, the bees got gentle.”
He has about 40 hives in the backyard of his Milwaukie residence, and one of his most popular honeys is called “neighborhood honey.” Many of his customers believe it helps their allergies.
“Honey has a certain percentage of pollen in it, and people who eat honey or pollen by where they live tell me they don’t have allergies anymore,” he said.
“Raw honey is really good for you; it tastes good and it contains a minute amount of every mineral and vitamin,” Barlean said.
“Any honey heated over 120 degrees is not raw — it might be pure, but it is not raw,” he explained. “When you heat it up, it loses its nutrients and loses its delicate flavor.”
Barlean also sells beeswax and pollen which he collects from pollen traps that he sets.
From blueberries to bees
Barlean, who was a Marine for 22 years, started out trying to raise blueberries in 1984, but they kept dying on him, he said.
When he went to consult with a local blueberry grower, he noticed the man had beehives.
“I said, ‘forget the blueberries; let me look at these.’ I bought one hive and that was my downfall.”
Soon Barlean had five hives, which he said is the “perfect number for a backyard beekeeper.”
But then a friend “made me take 12 hives, and then I realized that when I gathered honey off of 17 hives it was too much for me to eat. I started selling honey, and the rest is history,” he said.
Now Barlean has 15 beeyards, from Troutdale to Detroit Lake, and tries to keep 20 hives in each location. His bees produce 15,000 pounds of honey, which he and his wife process, put in jars and label.
He takes the honey away from the bees in July and August, and then the bees keep the honey they make from late summer and fall blossoms.
“They need 50 pounds of honey to get through the winter,” Barlean said, noting that he checks the hives all winter long, and will give the bees sugar syrup if they need it.
“Every beeyard will produce a different flavor honey,” he said, as “the bees are flying over two miles in each direction.”
Beekeeping is “fascinating”
It is most definitely a full time job, he noted, adding that he works “seven days a week, 10 hours a day,” during bee season, which runs from March to November.
But he continues to do it, Barlean said, because “there are so many people loving our honey, I can’t say we’re quitting. I get little notes from people, thanking us.”
Customers tell him they ship honey to North Dakota, which is one of the biggest honey producers in the United States, and even take it back to China, because “their honey isn’t as good as mine,” he said.
“My wife says we put too much love into this work not to have the best,” he added.
“I’m a farmer, and [keeping bees] gives me something to look forward to tomorrow. I’m 72 and I’m already planning what to do next year that is different.
“You can never learn everything about beekeeping — it is just fascinating and a challenge,” Barlean said.
People can buy Barlean’s honey at Alice’s Country Market in Damascus and at People’s Food Cooperative in SE Portland, but 90 percent of his honey business is conducted in front of his house, Barlean said.
“We open up at 5 a.m. and close at 9 p.m., and cars are coming and going all day,” he noted.
Barlean added, “Once they taste it, I got ‘em. They are my customers.”
Are bees endangered?
Beekeeper Jim Barlean lost more than 50 percent of his bees in over 130 hives last winter.
“It is sickening to see 20,000, 30,000 or 40,000 bees dead,” he said. “A 10 percent loss is normal — sometimes a queen dies and sometimes I don’t know why they died.”
Barlean attributes the upsurge in bee deaths to Colony Collapse Disorder, which he believes is tied to the use of insecticides. “We also never had much of [a problem with the disorder] until we imported bees from Australia,” he said.
People who live in
neighborhoods don’t need to use chemicals to enhance their gardens and flowerbeds, Barlean said, adding that it is “super important” that people realize how deadly pesticides and insecticides can be to honeybees.
The loss of honeybees could be an agricultural disaster, he said, adding that “billions of dollars worth of agriculture is derived from the presence of bees.”
Consumers would not be eating “fruits and berries” and would not be wearing cotton garments if bees disappeared, Barlean explained.
He also wants to encourage people to contact him or another beekeeper if they see a swarm of bees. Do not spray swarms with water, or use any insecticide or pesticide, he urged, because surviving bees will take the poison back to a hive, and all the bees there will die.
The year before last Barlean recovered 97 swarms, last year 86 and this year only 62 swarms, he said.
To learn more about Colony Collapse Disorder, visit the Natural Resources Defense Council Web site at http://www.nrdc.org/wildlife/animals/bees. Call Barlean at 503-659-9718.
“BEE” safe
The Natural Resources Defense Council offers these tips on how you can “Bee Safe”:
• Bee Native: Use local and native plants in your yard and garden. These plants thrive easily and are well suited for local bee populations, providing pollen and nectar for bees to eat.
• Bee Diverse: Plant lots of different kinds of plants in your yard. Plant diversity ensures that your garden attracts many different varieties of bees and gives them a range of flowering plants to choose from throughout the year.
• Bee Pesticide Wary: There are many natural methods to control pests in your garden. Researchers believe pesticides are a contributing factor to Colony Collapse Disorder. Moreover, some insecticides are harmful to bees and wipe out flowers that provide bees with food. If you must, use targeted pesticides and spray at night, when bees aren’t active.