Photo by Emily Stutzman
Beekeepers Tom Vance and John Durbin smoke bees to lure them into hives where the workers make some of the sweetest local honey in the country.

•September 28, 2016•

By Emily Stutzman
for the News Progress

Honey at the grocery store is identified by the classic bear-shaped containers. Some may even buy locally grown honey at farmer’s markets or orchards. However, there are an increasing number of people who have started raising their own bees. Local farmer, John Durbin is one of those. Durbin has lived in the Sullivan area for many years and is one of the founders of the Arthur Beekeepers Club, which meets on the first Monday of every month at the Arthur United Methodist Church at 6:30 P.M.

“The intention,” he explained, “is to give people information that’ll help them keep their bees healthy.”

The Arthur Beekeepers Club has been meeting informally over the summer, with their first formal gathering on September 5. Durbin, who has lived in Sullivan for many years but only started keeping bees in 2013 is one of the officers. He invited me to attend the meeting and offered to let me try some actual beekeeping as well.

The first step of the beekeeping process was to fire up the smoker, which was fueled by cedar chips, and don some white beekeeping suits and gloves. We then headed out to the row of white bee hives a safe distance from the Durbins’ house.      Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.