College

JOHNNIE VOICES
interesting things. I entertained a career
as an anthropologist, so I could learn how
people in other cultures live, what they strive
to attain in their lives and how they celebrate.
It was the celebration and power of
music and dancing that I became intrigued
with next, while at the same time pursuing
the sciences. I had no clue that I would be
able to include all of my childhood interests
into one career path—that of keeping fuzzy
insects for my livelihood.
Now, close to two decades after the bees
found me, I feel a little more “interesting”
—enough to write. After travelling the globe
from farms to forest lands, following the
bloom from flower to flower and from hive
to hive, I recognize the pieces of my life’s
puzzle. And, so, today I am a professional
apiculturist, one who keeps bees. I am a
specialist. I am a queen honeybee breeder.
The heart of the hive rests with the queen,
and in selecting and following Mother
Nature’s lead, I help to nurse hives; by doing
so, I immerse myself in their culture and feel
their musical vibrations.
Keeping bees is very different from “having”
bees. In order to keep bees, one has to
constantly learn from the natural and manmade
forces and their interactions. Synergy
is the interaction of individual conditions
that yields an effect greater than the sum
of the individual effects. The interactions
between a bee and its environment, between
its colony and their environment, are everchanging.
Mother Nature’s dynamic interface
requires the ability to adapt and the
ability to relate to more than one stimulus.
The bees rely on the natural and supplemental
forage that surrounds them. They are
at the mercy of the elements. Their importance
to plants is profound. Also known as
the “winged angels of agriculture,” their
efforts help to produce more than ninety
percent of all food. As Hippocrates claimed,
Ihad no clue that I would
be able to include all of
my childhood interests
into one career path—
that of keeping fuzzy
insects for my livelihood.”
Kirby inspects a hive of honeybees.
“Let food be thy medicine, and medicine
thy food.” Seventy percent of all cures are
derived from plants, and it is this connection
between horticulture and medicine that
keeps the bees, and man, healthy.
This year marks the tenth anniversary of
my small bee farm, which is nestled where
the Santa Fe, Carson, and Pecos National
Forests “kiss.” The idea for the farm developed
out of a love of books. When I met my
partner Mark Spitzig (who runs Superior
Honey Farms in Michigan now) while working
at a bee farm in Florida, we started eating
dinner together with a dessert of heated discussions
about Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.
Books fostered our conversations, and it was
28 THE COLLEGE | ST. JOHN’S COLLEGE | FALL 2015