Beeyard Gratitude
By: Becky Masterman & Bridget Mendel
Besides the witches in Marlon James’ Black Leopard, Red Wolf who move through the novel haloed by bees, we’re hard pressed to find examples of beekeepers who don’t need a place to keep their hives. Could be a rooftop, a backyard, a farmer’s field, a hollow log, a garden. No matter where, a beeyard is a place requiring negotiation. Neighbors, landowners or rooftop sunbathers must be consulted, wooed and rewarded for tolerating your admirable yet stinging insects.
Generational beekeepers often have long-standing relationships with landowners, who allow them to keep their bees on farms or in fields in exchange for “yard rent,” a yearly gift of honey. This is an often-informal agreement based on tradition and mutual respect, not money, though land access is crucial for the beekeeper’s business. The landowner goes out of his way to support bees and beekeepers, planting habitat or leaving wild spaces, sometimes against their own economic interests.
In turn, as Minnesota/Texas beekeeper Dan Whitney explains, the beekeeper also goes out of their way for the farmer:
“I’ve helped old men [landowners] cut trees, fix fences, [help] cows give birth…
I am an asset to the land as well as the bees. I have keys to numerous gates that no one else has. Most of my landowners are old. They can’t bushhog anymore. Their children appreciate what we have done for mom and dad over the years, and when they pass, the kids say our bees are always welcome on their land. Makes the beekeeper proud to hear that.
Landowners plant stuff for us or leave sections wild. Isn’t it amazing that in this litigious society we live in, people will give you permission to place stinging insects on their land in exchange for honey? Landowners are people that ‘get it’. They understand the importance of bees to mankind and nature.”
Dan Whitney is a first generation beekeeper. He took over about 30-40 beeyard relationships when he bought his business. He now maintains about 125 relationships with landowners between Minnesota and Texas. He says the rule of thumb is to give the landowner about one pound of honey per colony on the land.* Some landowners just appreciate the pollination services and don’t want the honey, but he encourages them to take some for themselves and donate the rest to their church or other people in their communities.
Some generational beekeeping operations trace their beeyard relationships back to the early 1900s or before. When we asked Mark Sundberg, current president of the Minnesota Honey Producers Organization and owner of Sundberg Apiaries, Inc., about the history of his beeyards, he shared that he has seen records of his earliest yard relationship going back to his grandfather’s time in 1920; his home yard was established in 1907.
As implied by their name, “backyard” beekeepers, keep their bees in their own backyards. The concept of “yard rent” may not apply. But gifting honey to neighbors is still a means to show gratitude to those who plant flowers for pollinators and tolerate the occasional pooped-on car. A jar of honey and the story of your hives is also a smart way to start a conversation with the pesticide-happy guy down the road or the person who just doesn’t like bees (yet).
Yard rent prep for commercial beekeepers is a serious operation done with pride. This photo shows part of the yard rent production process for Dan’s Honey Company and Whitney’s Lonestar Queen Company. Photo Credit: Dan Whitney
One of our favorite beekeepers has mastered yard rent gratitude and includes an educational component. We remember years ago when John Miller of Miller Honey Farms asked to buy hundreds of copies of Plants for Minnesota Bees (https://beelab.umn.edu/plants-mn-bees) to include with his yard rent and to pass out at his landowner BBQ. Having a talent to scale solutions that improve bee health, Miller was a significant supporter and part of the conversations in the founding of Project Apis m. (officially founded by Christi Heintz and Dan Cummings) and the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund (founded by habitat evangelist Pete Berthelson) which support projects that help landowners (with and without bees) place effective bee forage projects at low or no cost. Miller understands the importance of bee yard relationships as a pathway to improving colony health through nutrition. Combining big picture habitat options with an open house and BBQ on his farm, Miller celebrates the relationship between landowners and beekeepers while giving them sophisticated opportunities to improve habitat for the bees on their land.
This Miller Honey Farms appreciation event (held in their
overwintering facility) demonstrates their gratitude for landowner relationships and an enormous capacity to connect with people
who can increase bee habitat. Photo credit: John Miller
Honey bees will continue collecting and storing honey long after they have enough to get through Winter – if flowers are in bloom in the environment. This hoarding trait can be explained biologically, but, assuming the lens of poetry, we also can call it generosity. We thank the farmer for allowing the bees on his land; he in turn thanks us for the bucket of honey, for the bees and their excesses.
*This rule of thumb likely varies by location and beekeepers. Our suggestion is to check with your local beekeeping clubs for their guidelines.
Acknowledgments
The authors would like to thank Dr. Marla Spivak for helpful edits and suggestions and John Miller for his insightful responses.
Becky Masterman led the UMN Bee Squad from 2013-2019. Bridget Mendel joined the Bee Squad in 2013 and has led the program since 2020. Photos of Becky (left) and Bridget (right) looking for their respective hives. If you would like to contact the authors with your own yard rent stories, please send an email to mindingyourbeesandcues@gmail.com.
