Harvest Time for the Bee Man

Tom Elliot keeps his bees with no protective gear

Tools

By Lauren Maxwell
Bio | Email

Story Created: Aug 5, 2012 at 9:54 AM AKDT

Story Updated: Aug 5, 2012 at 9:54 AM AKDT

PETERS CREEK - It’s a hobby that some might find frightening but one Peters Creek man has been at it for thirty years. Tom Elliot is a beekeeper who is harvesting honey from his backyard hives.

“I like the bees, I enjoy looking at them and pretty much every year I learn something new,” says Elliot.

Elliot performs his honey harvest in late summer, pulling out the wooden frames from the hives that are filled with wax, honey and lots of bees. He shakes off the majority of the bees and brushes the rest off to the ground. He wears no protective clothing and uses just a small smoker to keep the bees feeling calm.

“What it amounts to is that I know how they are going to react,” he says. “If you understand something you won’t be afraid.”

Over the years Elliot has brought his bees in to classrooms, talked about them endlessly at the State Fair and offered fun facts like this; if you are stung by a honeybee, you can rest assured it is a female.

“That's interesting for kids because the males don’t have a stinger and they can’t sting, but the vast majority are females.”

Elliot’s bees are a summer time hobby but they do produce the honey that will last throughout the year. This year, he says, the yield will be down.

“Bees don’t care for our cool, wet weather, that’s not bee weather.”

Even so, he may harvest about 30 or 40 pounds of honey, all of it made from wildflowers and clover that grow in his own backyard.
 

You have indicated this comment should be removed.

Close

The comment has been submitted for review. Thank you .

TAKE MY BEES PLEASE said on Tuesday, Aug 7 at 12:13 AM

When I get bee hives around my house I get my shop-vac out and catch every last one of them, he can have mine if he needs or wants them.

98582496
Inappropriate? Alert Us!

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

KTVA CBS 11 | Anchorage, Alaska News and Weather and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.