I can talk bees for hours” says Trish Lemm, as she tends to the two hives in her yard late Sunday morning along Anderson Street, in Durham. Lemm is a member of the Durham County Beekeepers Association.
This is the third year Lemm has kept honey bees in her yard. Her hives are new; she lost her others over the winter.
“It’s always hard to tell what actually got them. It’s probably a combination of things,” says Lemm, who moved the hives from the side of the house to the front in hopes of controlling the pests. “There’s not as much sun back there so the hive beetles get worse when the hive doesn’t get quite as much sun.
“I like them being visible. I think it’s cool for people to drive by and see bees in their neighborhood.”
The hives have drawn attention.
“We’ve had a couple people drive up just asking for honey, seeing if we sell honey,” John Lemm, Trish’s husband, says. “It’s kind of funny. We’ll find people parked in the driveway or walking around just coming up to us asking if we have anything to sell, but we don’t really have enough hives to do that.”
