Photo courtesy of the Young family.
For Chris and Laurie Young and their daughter, Kate, spreading the word about beekeeping, native plants and other insect and animal pollinators is a family affair.
Even their golden retriever, Griffin, had his own unfortunate run-in with the bees when he ate one. He fully recovered from his swollen face but has left the beekeeping to the humans ever since.
The Youngs first started beekeeping in 2012 in the backyard of their Del Ray home, but their journey to beekeeping started long before that.
“I wish I could say that there was some really big event that said, ‘A-ha! Now I’m going to keep bees!’ but it really was a series of small things,” explained Chris Young.
His wife is a gardener and was learning about the positive environmental impact of planting native plants. Growing up, he remembered having a neighbor who kept beehives in his backyard, although he didn’t interact with them except as a dare from his friends.
After reading “A Book of Bees” by Sue Hubbell, where the author detailed her experience managing 300 beehives at her home in the Ozarks, selling honey and the science behind the process, Young realized it was something he could do. Around the same time, a family friend had moved to a 3 acre “farmette” and was struggling with the lack of bees on her property. Chris Young discovered the Northern Virginia Beekeepers Association and began to take classes. Through the classes he met a lot of neighbors who were also interested in beekeeping including his mentor, Whitney Long.
In addition to the threat of Varroa mites or other parasites which can literally suck the life out of the bees, Chris Young shared that sometimes your own ignorance and clumsiness can be your biggest enemy.
He recalled a time when he accidentally drowned one of his queen bees in honey. He also made the mistake of wearing dark colors around the bees once and was immediately circled by the guard bees. There is a reason beekeepers usually wear white, because a person dressed up in all dark colors can look very similar to a bear trying to raid the hive. He quickly learned that beekeeping is a lifelong process of trial and error, made easier by comparing notes with fellow beekeepers and sharing each other’s experiences.
Beekeeping is an investment of time and money. Del Ray Bee currently manages four hives. Three are located in their backyard and one sponsored hive is in
a neighbor’s backyard. During the busy harvest season in early summer, managing those can take up as much as 8-10 hours every other week. Harvest season can get messy and it’s not unusual to have door knobs around the house sticky with honey. The equipment needed to properly keep the bees can also costly and take time to accumulate.
While Chris Young is the primary person dealing with the hives, his wife and daughter help out in other ways. Laurie Young designed their logo and makes sure the yard is filled with many native flowers and plants to support the bees, while Kate Young has taken an interest in the native bee population.
The Youngs are happy to share their knowledge on the important pollination process with their community. Neighbors know Chris Young as the “bee guy” and often come to him to identify bees, wasps and yellow jackets near their homes.
They rented a booth at Del Ray’s annual Art on the Avenue three years ago offered honey tasting, samples of plants to support local pollinators and an observation hive. They also attend science nights at local elementary schools Cora Kelly, Mount Vernon and Patrick Henry. One of the most rewarding moments at one of these science nights was when a father came up to their display with his two young daughters. The father, who was blind, was able to touch and explore what is on the inside of a hive (without the bees!) and share that moment with his family.
Del Ray Bee looks forward to continuing to share with the community. They have plans to build a new platform for the hives. They are also at the point where they will be harvesting enough honey to sell and are looking into bottling and selling at local farmers markets in the future.
Follow Del Ray Bee on Instagram @delraybee.
