Akeem: When the bees land on top of me, on the face part. I just stay still until they move off. Or my dad just takes it off.
How would you describe the state of honeybees in North Carolina?
Kamal: Bumble bees and carpenter bees are native to North America, but I think it’s important to identify that honeybees are not. They need a tropical environment. You will only find them in the wild if they were essentially colonized at some point down the line and then made it out into the woods [and adapted].
The winters are very harsh on them, and Varroa mites are as well, so they’re very dependent on the beekeeper in this part of North America. [That said,] we’ve had a lot of success with our swarms, because if you catch a swarm, they typically have the genetics to survive in this area.
Kamal, you’re primarily a farmer. What motivated you to write a kids’ book?
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