Children licking candy apples walk past wide-eyed fish in rectangular glass tanks.
They stop and stare. The fish stare back.
Meanwhile, the children’s parents listen to vendors discuss new farming techniques that use nature-friendly chemicals.
Those are just some of the scenes at the State Fair of Virginia, which runs through Oct. 8. Besides the usual sights and smells, this year’s fair has a special hum in the air. The incessant sound-zzzzzzzzzz-fills the center of the Virginia World Room, luring clusters of curious people who want to know what’s behind the buzz.
They discover 60,000 honey bees busy at work under the steady gaze of “Bob the Beekeeper,” also known as Bob Stapleton of Henrico County. Stapleton sets up a bee display at the fair every year to sell his honey and educate the “young-ins” on apiculture, the study of beekeeping and the life and habits of bees.
Stapleton, a VCU alumnus, is the president of the Richmond Beekeepers Association, an organization of 85 members serving central Virginia. He said many of today’s youth don’t know much about bees or their relationship to nutrition.
“There seems to be a little bit of a disconnect between the honey bees and the young people nowadays,” he said. “They can go to the local supermarket and get all the fruits and vegetables that they could want. Usually the apples are well rounded, juicy and well developed. They don’t see the little knotty apples that don’t receive the proper pollination.”
The honey bee is directly responsible for about two-thirds of all food products, Stapleton said.
Honey bees’ honey can also be used for healing purposes, he added.
“A lot of people take local honey for various allergy problems that may develop,” he said.
A colony of bees uses its surrounding environment to produce honey. The result is tailored honey to a given area, which may help with allergic reactions to plants, trees or flowers.
Stapleton said honey produced within a 50-mile radius of an allergy sufferer provides the best results.
“A lot of people prefer taking a teaspoon of honey in their tea every morning instead of taking shots or pills,” he said. “We refer to them as the angels of agriculture.”
Bob and Barbara Platt, a married couple selling honey bee healing skin cream, agree with Stapleton. They have been working with the skin cream for 15 years.
The Platts, who make their cream in Orlando, Fla., say it is used for dozens of skin problems.
“It’s the greatest thing in the world for dry skin,” Platt said, noting that it is good for dry feet, cracked heels, dry elbows, face moisturizer and chapped lips.
Stapleton’s interest in bees began as a child in the 1950s.
“I started working with bees with my dad,” he said. “He would go out and cut a wild bee tree down and usually try and locate the queen and put it in a box.”
During the 1970s, Stapleton took classes at VCU, worked a full-time job, raised a family and worked with bees – a hobby he loves.
“I enjoy this more than 60 or 70 hours of work, full-time, 8 to 6 each day, six to seven days a week,” he said.
Stapleton now owns 60 colonies of bees in Henrico, Goochland and Rockville, just to name a few places.
The bees have stung him more than a few times.
“I really wouldn’t try and count them,” he said.
Stapleton stressed, however, that they don’t deliberately sting.
“Normally when I get stung by bees I don’t have my equipment on,” he said. “I’m back taking a break at my truck, having a Coca-Cola and maybe a package of Nabs. The bees got frustrated. They didn’t want me to be messing with them that particular day, and they seize the opportunity to come peck me on the nose or ear.”
If you work with the bees with proper equipment, he said, you usually will not get stung.
“Bees are busy going out and doing tasks,” he said. “They’re not interested in stinging you.”
He said the only way they would harm you is if you ran around the yard and stepped on one or if you got in front of the hive as they’re going in and out. If the bee gets tangled in your hair and you start swatting at them, they’ll get frustrated.
Stapleton said working with honey is relaxing and a form of therapy for him as well as a family get-together. A grandfather of seven grandchildren, he puts them to work bottling the honey and placing labels on the jars.
He said beekeepers talk to their bees, and “as long as the people in those little white suits don’t pick us up and take us away, I reckon it’s OK,” he said.
Marvin Wynn, a 9-year-old who attended the fair, watched the bees swarm around in shock. He said, “I’ve never seen so many bees before.”
Marvin’s mother, Janice Wynn, said she’s amazed how bees create honey and help pollinate the food people eat. Still, she stays away from them.
“I might fall down and cry if I saw this many bees at one time,” she said, laughing.
How to start your own bee colony
Step one: You can buy an already-functioning bee colony from a beekeeper for around $150 to $160.
Step two: Buy your equipment. You need: A bee suit, hide, smoker, bee brush.
Step three: You need a queen bee. Queen bees can be purchased and they are mailed through the U.S. Postal Service. Tending bees are sent with the queen to take care of her during her travels.
Step four: Buy a package of bees. Italian bees are suggested, because they are non-aggressive, easier to relate to and readily available.
Step five: Start in the right season. Late April through early May is a good time to start. Remember, however, you may not see a surplus your first year. It takes the bees a while to become comfortable and organized.
Step six: Join your local bee association. Here is the contact information for the one in Richmond: http://richmondbeekeepers.org/
Facts about bees and their colonies:
Honey is sold at $5 a pound.
You can get 60 pounds of surplus from a strong, healthy colony.
Starting cost for a colony is around $300.
It’s best to have them in a rural setting.
Bees have tasks. They clean cells, retrieve water, pollen or nectar, take care of the queen, feed a young larva. Then they graduate to a guard bee, where they protect the hide from predators.
Females are the working force.
The queen lays around 2,000 eggs a day. She is kept away from the other bees.
A colony is between 40,000 and 60,000 bees.