Beekeeping is sweet deal for honey queen

By Ed Mahon

SMULLTON — A sheet of newspaper separated Maya Althouse's hand from 3 pounds of bees — totaling somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 stingers.

She later encouraged neighbors, who had stopped by to watch her set up the hive, to also touch the newspaper covering the hive. Her parents and 11-year-old sister Raven had done that about 15 minutes earlier, and emerged sting free.

“Put your hand on it, you can feel the heat they make. They’re all in a big mound right now on top,” said Althouse, clad in jeans, a sweatshirt and a beekeeper’s top that screened her face. She only took off her white gloves when trying to feel the heat that the swarm produced.

She quickly pulled up the newspaper, revealing to four neighborhood children the pile of bees, burrowing down into the hive, and a separate cage containing the queen. Althouse then fielded a question on stings.

It was the first large hive she has set up, but she’s growing used to teaching others about honey bees.

The Pennsylvania State Beekeepers Association named her the 2009 honey queen. It’s not a beauty pageant, but a search to find a honey industry spokeswoman and an advocate for honey bees, whose numbers have been dropping drastically in North America.

“I want to get the word out about how important they are and how incredible they are,” said Althouse, who gave a presentation on bees at the Pennsylvania Farm Show in January. On April 18 she’ll be speaking about bees at both the Bellefonte Family YMCA and the Old Gregg School Community Center farmers market.

Althouse’s family moved to Centre County from Miami Beach, Fla., about two years ago. They now live next to Amish neighbors in the tiny village of Smullton, about half a mile south of state Route 192 in Miles Township.

“The country life is so much more laid back. ... And the people up here are so nice,” said Althouse, 17, who’s involved with Penns Valley Area High School’s literary journal and is a big John Steinbeck fan.

She got interested in bees after talking with farmer and beekeeper Mike Byers at Millheim’s farmers market two years ago. Craig Cella, a bee inspector with the state

Department of Agriculture, met Althouse in October. He thought she’d be perfect for the position, because of her public speaking skills and passion for the topic.

“It was like talking to a sponge. She just wanted to soak everything in,” said Cella.

She can recall a good deal about bees, such as how far they travel from the hive (about two miles), how much of the world’s food supply is pollinated by them (one-third), the health benefits of honey (eating locally produced honey in the winter helps you fight off allergies in the spring), and how to subdue bees while you set up a hive (spray them with sugar water).

“They’ll be busy cleaning themselves and eating it off themselves,” Althouse said Thursday, as she set up the hive in her back yard, a few feet from a rope swing. “It won’t let them fly away as easily. Because they’ll be sticky and uncomfortable, and just want to clump together.”

When finished, the hive with its four white supers resembled a dresser.

The 3-pound package of 10,000 to 15,000 bees — which could eventually multiply to 40,000 — cost Althouse $80. She could be taking the goods to farmers markets later this spring.

“If there’s a good honey flow,” she said.

Althouse, her parents, Stephen and Jody, sister and neighbors made it through the setup of the hive unscathed. But Althouse has been stung three times in the four days since.

One of the stings came as she worked into the evening to set up a solar-powered electric fence to keep bears away from the hive.

The small pain was worth the view, however.

“It was neat seeing them all come back to the hive as the sun was setting,” Althouse said.