BOONSBORO, Md. (AP) - For Rick Stephens, it all started in the garden.
When his mother-in-law moved into the Stephens’ Boonsboro home in early 2015, Rick planted a garden for her.
In search of ideas for improving the garden, they started thinking about bees, prompting Stephens to start gathering information on beekeeping.
He started his first hive and was looking for a local bee group, only to discover it had been about five years since a Hagerstown club had disbanded.
So Stephens organized the Washington County Beekeepers Association. The group held its first meeting in January 2016, with Stephens as president.
There are a lot of hobbyists like him, along with several commercial beekeepers as members, he said.
“It’s great to have them in the club because we have so many people that are brand new to it. … There’s a lot of expertise in the club to mentor us,” Stephens said.
When possible, he arranged speakers to come to the meetings on the first Thursday of every month from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Community Center in Boonsboro’s Shafer Park.
Recently, Samantha Ache became president of the club, and Stephens is vice president.
The club draws people from across the Tri-State area, he said.
Stephens encourages people interested in beekeeping to check local regulations because not all communities allow residents to have beehives.
What began as a hobby has grown into concern for the environment and for the food Stephen’s family eats. One-third of the food we eat is pollinated by pollinators, he said.
From his reading, Stephens - who retired from the U.S. Army in 1999 and the civilian sector in April 2016 - has learned that of that one-third, about 80 percent is pollinated by honeybees.
“It’s quite a learning experience. I’m learning a lot all the time,” said Stephens, who has only been stung once, and it was his fault for swatting at a honeybee.
Stephens, who is originally from Rockville, Md., and his wife, Mary, have lived in Boonsboro for 18 years. Their adult daughter and son both graduated from Boonsboro High School.
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Information from: The Herald-Mail of Hagerstown, Md., https://www.herald-mail.com
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