Carroll county beekeepers living the sweet life
Text and photos by Tom Brenner
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- Angie McDaniel, left, examines the honeybees after being transported forty miles from Baltimore to Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- A close up photograph of the McDaniel’s colony honeybees. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Angie McDaniel, left, and her husband, Steve, right, examine the honeybees after being transported forty miles from Baltimore to Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel, left, uses smoke to calm down the bees before transporting them from Baltimore to the McDaniel residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel moves his bee colony to his truck where he will transport them to his McDaniel Honey Farm residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel lifts up a section of his box bee hive to examine honey production created by his bees located in the city of Baltimore. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel adds fuel to his bee smoker before transferring the bees from his truck to his residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel adds fuel to his bee smoker before transferring the bees from his truck to his residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel lifts up a section of his box hive to examine honey production created by his bees located in the city of Baltimore. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- A view of the McDaniel’s Honey Farm located in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- A Close up of the McDaniel Honey Farm colony of honeybees. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Steve McDaniel, a 35 year beekeeping veteran buts a drone bee into his mouth. “Let me show you how calm bees can actually be”, he said. Drone honeybees do not have a stinger, therefore are harmless. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Angie McDaniel, left, watches her husband, Steve use smoke to calm down the bees after transporting them from Baltimore to the McDaniel residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Angie McDaniel lifts up a section of the box colony into the back of Steve’s truck. The bees will be transported from the city of Baltimore to the McDaniel residence in Carroll County. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
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- Angie McDaniel, left, watches as her husband, Steve, displays part of his bee hive’s. (Tom Brenner/Baltimore Sun)
As I first walked up the concrete sidewalk beside St. Vincent’s church, all I could hear was the frequent hum of cars passing on the Jones Falls Expressway. When I moved closer to the church courtyard, the buzz of bees became louder and louder. Beside me were Steve and Angie McDaniel, owners of the McDaniel Honey Farm of Carroll County. They came to transplant their box-colony of honeybees from Baltimore city to Manchester, MD.
In the past four years, honeybees in urban locations have been dying at alarming rates due to increased pesticide use in cities. Previously cities were considered safer areas for bees to be reproduced due to low pesticide usage. Rural areas were statistically worse due to high pesticide use by farmers in order to protect crops from pests and invasive species. Now, with new laws in place to protect insects, the bees once again have a chance to thrive in the countryside.
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