Tom Parnelle s heart dropped when he surveyed what was left of his beehives Saturday morning.
The Gastonia beekeeper has invested a decade into nurturing more than a dozen colonies of honey bees with partner Sean McCaffrey on a quiet plot of vacant land off Lee Street.
It s a hobby the IT professional has grown over time into a sweet side gig that usually produces enough honey annually, equating to approximately $3,000 in revenue, to treat Parnelle s family to a well deserved vacation.
He arrived Saturday, however, to find his 15 hives knocked over and bees scattered and dying in the cold. They all kind of mass together in the hive and sort of waggle to stay warm and protect the queen, Parnelle said. But with the hives opened up and the bees scattered, it s just too cold for them and they die pretty quickly.
Winter weekend fun on the North Fork for families, couples and friends newsday.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from newsday.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
John was the first Norfolk master beekeeper Norfolk’s first-ever master beekeeper is also a master of publishing as the treasurer of a successful church magazine for several South Norfolk villages. Kevin Gotts reports. The art of bee-keeping can be traced back for many thousands of years, including references in the Bible and in the Egyptian pyramids. Retired science teacher John Everett, from Rockland St Mary, is one if its modern-day practitioners and lays claim to being Norfolk’s first-ever Master Beekeeper, recognised by the British Beekeepers Association, after passing no fewer than 13 practical and theory exams back in 2009. John met future wife Ruth in Uganda in 1969 where they were both teaching science. After returning to the UK in 1975, they moved to Rockland St Mary, where they have a small orchard and breed honey bees, sell beekeeping equipment and run beginner’s beekeeping courses. At present they have 30 hives in three sites at home or nearby.