At Smith Lake Farms, halfway between Merville and Black Creek are beehives tended to by Deborah Acheson and her daughter, Clea Adair.
Acheson has been a beekeeper for over 15 years, starting in Victoria.
In 2012, Acheson moved to the Comox Valley and bought Smith Lake Farms, taking it from a modest six beehives to a robust 70. Along with the growth in beehives, she implemented educational programs to be offered to the public.
“We offer a number of different programs at the farm to do with beekeeping. The first one is an introduction to beekeeping and that takes you through to the intermediate level,” explains Acheson. “There are separate courses to do with queen breeding and using the French system of Queen breeding. We have plans to do a course for children this summer.”
Smith Lake Farms isn’t just about the bees though. The educational program that would be for children, those under 16, would be a combination of glamping for parents with educational sessions for the kids. The farm is outfitted with several glamping units around its perimeter.
“The parents could come and stay with the children in the glamping units and while the children are at school every morning, the parents get to relax at the units,” said Acheson.
While the Smith Lake Farms aim to educate through beekeeping, there are dangers facing bees in the Comox Valley.
“The biggest danger that the bees face in the Valley is the ongoing struggle with mites. Lots of beekeepers are losing their bees because the Varroa mites just seem to be out of control,” said Acheson.
The key to fighting the mites and keeping the bee population from dwindling in the hives is to be on top of the issue and have a regimented schedule for checking your bees.
“If you’re a hobby beekeeper, the rest of your life gets in the way sometimes,” said Adair.
Acheson states that a proper education goes a long way in keeping a hive healthy and mite free. Many online courses aren’t localized and therefore do not educate on the specific climate that the Valley has, leaving potential beekeepers out of the loop on the mite issue.
“The wet West Coast of Vancouver Island is not like the arid, dry cold of Saskatchewan. It’s not like the heat of a lot of the [United] States as well. It’s very different,” said Adair.
With the education that Acheson is offering at Smith Lake Farms, the potential beekeeper is taken through the first year of beekeeping in local conditions. This is matched with a lifeline in Acheson who is there for her students at any time.
“When they do have a question they are benefiting from my local knowledge. Such as the mites being particularly bad this year. Lots of people are having a problem with them.”
Other than the particularly rough season with mites this year, climate change is also affecting the bee population within the Valley. The temperature changes have meant that a natural predator, the wasp, has made itself more threatening. In previous years, wasps would naturally be killed out from hunting bee hives due to weather. Now, that is all changing.
“The wasps are not dying off the way that they usually would. We just had our first hard frost last night, in November, whereas normally that would be as early as October,” said Adair.
The wasps tend to be awake sooner than bees take a while to warm up in the mornings and are targets for intruding wasps while they sleep.
“We lock up the bee hives first thing in the morning to attempt to keep the wasps out while the bees continue sleeping. At lunch time we go through the hives and unlock them. The casual beekeeper doesn’t usually have time for this, leaving during their lunch hour to tend to the bees,” added Adair.
When it comes to the average Comox Valley resident helping the plight of bees, Acheson and Adair have several ideas on how people can contribute.
“The more beekeepers we have the better, so becoming a beekeeper is a good thing but you need the proper education of course. Also, choosing to buy these locally and not import [bees] from other places,” said Acheson.
If you don’t have the means or time to become a beekeeper, Adair recommends looking for seeds and plants that appeal to bees.
“We’ve done the math and the best bang for your buck is borage. It’s a great flower that you can start from seed easily, it replenishes its nectar faster than any other plants. Another thing is leaving your dandelions [in your lawn].”
While many do not have the time to become beekeepers themselves, they can contribute through growing nectar-rich flowers and plants to help the bee from dying out.
“Whether it’s nectar or pollen, if you can plant flowers that are going to grow in the dirt so that they are available to the bees, such as sunflowers or cosmos, the blooms will help the bees pollinate,” added Adair.
For more information visit: www.smithlakefarm.com
