Hobbyists Face Large Demand for Local Honey

A blanket of bees recently paid little attention to Michele Boling as she opened their hive and pulled out a thin wooden frame to examine the contents of tiny hexagons of beeswax. 

Some were filled with glistening honey, and others had been capped with wax, indicating they were full. 

Boling was checking to see how far along the hive was in storing honey for the winter.  

With three beehives in her backyard in Bowling Green, Boling is among an "explosion'' of hobbyist beekeepers that Kentucky State Apiarist Tammy Horn has seen in recent years. 

She says that rise in hobbyists has coincided with a leveling off in the number of commercial beekeepers.