By Rita Cook  

While local beekeepers and beekeeping production comes in all shapes and sizes in the Dallas area, one local man in town, Blake Shook says he can’t imagine doing anything else and he probably never will.  Vice President for the Texas Beekeeper’s Association and Director for the American Beekeeping Association, Shook lives and operates his beekeeping business just outside of Dallas, Texas, in McKinney and he has been at it since he was just 12 years old.


Doing the math, that was 10 years ago when Shook says he got involved in the trade after taking part in a local youth program that offered one beehive to kids between the ages of 12 and 17. By the time he graduated high school, he says he already had a pretty large beekeeping business. These days he has around 2,000 beehives and each hive has about 80,000 bees.

“Year round we are either producing honey or maintaining the hives,” he explains.  “It really depends on what size of a beekeeper you want to be.  If you just want a few hives in the backyard, it is fairly simple, but being a commercial beekeeper is another story.”   In fact, commercial beekeeping requires a very diverse skill set according to Shook who adds there needs to be lots of flexibility, patience, creativity and a little bit of craziness.
“The challenges we face come from many different areas,” he says. “We face many diseases, pests and pesticides.”

For example, when the varroa mite hit the US in the early 90s, it essentially decimated the beekeeping industry for a few years. Decades later Shook says there is still a struggle to maintain healthy hives because of that mite.
“We also face many dishonest honey marketing companies who buy honey from all over the United States or the world and claim it is a local, wholesome product that they produced,” he explains. “This creates obvious problems for those of us who actually do produce and package our own products.”  

Even with the downside however, there are more than enough rewarding aspects to the world of beekeeping as well.  Shook says there is nothing quite like tasting a product that he has worked so hard to produce or seeing your product for sale on a grocery store shelf or talking to a happy customer.
“From a personal perspective, it [beekeeping] has enabled me to travel to places like New Zealand, Canada and all over the US speaking about beekeeping.”

And, despite the fact that beekeeping is a very small industry, many would agree that it is the backbone of agriculture. Without bees and the pollination they provide, agriculture as we know it would fail so Shook says that he believes beekeepers like himself play a crucial role and it is very rewarding.
Another high note, being such a small industry the world of beekeeping also is often like one big family at times.  “We all have friends that would do anything for us at any time if we needed help, or faced a tragedy,” he ways. “That has been proven countless times.”   

From an eco-friendly standpoint Shook says hands down bees and beekeeping, in many ways are the epitome of eco-friendly.  “No insect or animal takes so little from nature, but gives back so much,” he explains. “As a beekeeper, keeping my produce pure, eco-friendly and healthy is one of my top priorities. The bees produce such a wholesome, pure product and honey is basically liquid sunshine so I want to do everything I can to ensure that product is changed as little as possible between the beehive and the customer's hands.” 

In North Texas, Shook says a surplus of honey is normally produced late April through early July. The rest of the year the bees bring in enough nectar and pollen for them to survive, but not enough to be harvest.  Overall, each bee only produces one-half of a teaspoon of honey in her entire life. Once a hive fills an entire box full of honey, it is time for the beekeepers to harvest it.

While beekeeping is not dangerous, Shook does say getting stung is never pleasant, but the possibility is, of course there.  As for the skills Shook proudly says it takes lots of strength, endurance, creativity, optimism, a very wide skill set and self motivation, “it certainly isn't a job just anyone can do. Many, many people jump into it, and quickly back out.”   

One truth or myth to be cleared up, does local honey clear up allergies?
Well, perhaps it is no myth after all and the story goes that if a person has allergies and eats honey from the location where they live and have the allergies this is a natural healer.  “To be perfectly honest, no one has done much research on this topic because no one wants to provide the massive amount of money it would require,” he says. “But, that being said, over half of my customers buy honey for that reason, and swear it works. The fact that honey helps with allergies has a massive number of supporters who claim it works for them.”  Overall, the theory is that as you ingest small amounts of the substance you are allergic to, your body builds an immunity to it. Many people believe the honey has to be essentially from your backyard, but as long as you get honey from an area that has the same kind of blooming plants as your area has, it should help.

In Texas, the Texas Beekeeper's Association exists to serve the interests of commercial, sideline and hobby beekeepers in the state and has been in existence since the 1800s.  Shook says it is also one of the largest and most active state associations in the United States. “We do everything from try to enact new laws that will help beekeepers to educating the public. We have a large booth with live bees at the State Fair every year and have a Honey Queen program, which has young ladies acting as public relation agents for us all over the state. The association also holds an annual convention bringing in speakers from all over the United States to talk to speak to members.

For more information on the Texas Beekeepers Association or to contact Shook visit www.desertcreekhoney.com or email him at blake@desertcreekhoney.com.

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Rita Cook is an award winning journalist who writes or has written for the Dallas Morning News, Focus Daily News, Waxahachie Daily Light, Dreamscapes Travel Magazine, Porthole, Core Media, Fort Worth Star Telegram and many other publications in Los Angeles, Dallas and Chicago.  With five books published, her latest release is “A Brief History of Fort Worth” published by History Press.  You can contact her at rcook13@earthlink.net