Beekeepers are proliferating in South Carolina. While for a few it’s a living, for most people it’s a hobby, with home-grown honey as a benefit. Kieth Henry of Ridgeway in Fairfield County is one of thousands of hobbyists in the state.
He points out how vital the honeybee is to human’s food supply, as it pollinates many of the fruits and vegetables we eat every day. So important is the honeybee, adds Richard Guess of Camden, that some beekeepers rent their hives to farmers to pollinate their crops. The honeybee is the most studied insect in the world, and has been for centuries, says Guess. But amazingly, he believes, there may be more about the honeybee that we still don’t know, than we do.