Author
Ross Conrad
While there are African American beekeepers in the United States, generally speaking with a few notable exceptions (such as the city of Detroit), they tend to be few and far between. When I had the privilege, pre-Covid, of offering a bee presentation to beekeeping groups across the country, I would never see more than two or three African American faces in the crowd, if there were any, even in states with high populations of African Americans.
The state of Vermont where I live is not a big state. The latest census figures (2020) peg the population of Vermont at 643,077, the third smallest population in the U.S. behind Wyoming and Washington DC. Vermont is also one of the whitest states in the union trailing only Maine in the percentage of the population who are white. So when I met beekeeper James Key at Northeast Organic Farming Association (NOFA) winter conference a few years ago, he made an impression: not just because of his passion for bees, but because he is the only African American beekeeper in the state of Vermont that I have met in over 30 years of keeping bees here.
James graduated with a B.A. from Norwich University with a self-designed major that focused on Ethno-botanicals and their healing properties, and has published a couple articles on the subject. For awhile he owned a café and sold sushi and other foods to some of Vermont’s largest grocery and health food stores before transitioning to his other interest, health. As James tells it, “Over the last nine years before Covid, I worked in the lab at UVM Medical Center. My work there ended when the outbreak began, during the spring of that year. While working at the hospital, my interest in beekeeping began, out of trying to solve the problem of why there wasn’t a presence of honey bees around my garden.”
James started keeping bees in the spring of 2018 and has built up his apiary to 10 hives of locally raised bees with up to five nucleus colonies to use for queen replacement if needed. He is hoping to expand to 25 colonies and a second bee yard in 2022.
It has been my pleasure to be of occasional assistance to James during his beekeeping journey, and being the resourceful man that he is, he has tapped other Vermont beekeepers as mentors as well, including current Vermont Beekeeper’s Association President, Andrew Munkres, as well as picking the brains of notable Vermont beekeepers, Bill Mares, and Michael Palmer. As James explains, “My hive management philosophies are gathered from a host of beekeepers before me. Some are my current mentors and some from beekeepers like Kirk Webster, Tom Seeley, Randy Oliver and Brother Adam. I practice treatment-free beekeeping using IPM management, green frames for drones, brood breaks by making splits, through working with bees that have VSH behavior and certain traits for living with mites, and adopting newer proven methods that are being developed as we speak.”
Marketed under the “Farmer James’ Apiculture” label, James produces honey, candles, lip balms, lotions handmade soaps, and honey sticks. His primary markets are in Vermont such as the local farmers’ markets, but he also is branching out and marketing his honey at the “Eastern Market” in Washington, DC. However, producing products from the bee hive is not James’ primary motivator. “The thing I’m most passionate about in keeping bees is that it keeps me involved with my natural environment, learning how the changes in that environment not only affect the bees but humankind. They keep me motivated to learn how to keep the population of bees flourishing and healthy for the survival of them and humanity,” says James.
James achieved his Vermont Beekeeper Certification two years ago and when I asked what it’s like being a beekeeper in the lily white state of Vermont, he said, “All my experiences are unique in one of the whitest states in the Union. Some people can describe such uniqueness as color difference but for me it’s all about my encounters. I’ve told many people how my goals and pursuits in this state have been supported by white people. Really, people who are “color” blind, and want to support me as an individual, as a person, like them with a common goal. That is to live a happy, healthy life. There’s more classism than racism in this state. Some people here do lack the willingness to support a person like me, fearing unforeseen reprisals they may get from their neighbors. Many in this state feel that supporting diversity means giving up Anglican values or losing their heritage.” James continues, “…the best thing is seeing people’s faces that come visit Vermont and are so taken aback, that I’m the first and only African American, Vermont Certified Beekeeper. They are amazed and supportive of me in such a homogenized farming profession.”
I also asked James to share his thoughts on the current state of beekeeping and what the future may hold. He replied, “My thoughts about beekeeping in the U.S. are all over the place. I have thoughts about migratory pollinating, toxins used on farms and in neighborhoods that have minimal regulation, mono-crops, the list grows. Specifically, I would say that beekeepers need to be more involved in their communities, focusing more on the survival of bees and the ecosystems in which they live in their states. Simply, I feel that some of the practices of beekeepers need to change, but what exactly those changes are, I’m still figuring out. This is my third full season and I still have so much to learn in my own backyard about beekeeping.”
James practices what he preaches about getting involved in the community, and at the 2021 Summer meeting of the VT Beekeepers’ Association, he was elected to serve on the VBA board of directors.
