Paul Luthi has been buzzing about the benefits of bees since he was just a boy.
“They’re fascinating little bugs,” the genial honeybee herder contends. “Honey bees are very peaceable critters. They’re not out looking for trouble. They’ll defend their hive if it’s attacked; otherwise, they just go about their business.”
And their business is good for all of us. The Moorhead beekeeper, whose Three Bears Honey is a staple on grocery shelves throughout the tri-state area, points out that a third of the food we consume owes its bounty to bee pollination. Indeed, after gathering nectar throughout Clay, Becker and Cass counties all summer long, Paul’s bees winter in the fields of central California, where they – along with some 31 billion cousins – insure the next year’s harvest of almonds and other crops.
Paul and son Travis, who works with him full time in the bee yards and their honey house in Glyndon, are waiting for the imminent return of their hives to the North Country. In past weeks, they’ve replenished their little workforce with new colonies, too. They arrive by mail in two-pound packages – each carrying about 7,000 individuals, plus a separately caged queen.
Paul’s attraction to honey bees dates back to hours spent with his grandfather near Hawley, where he kept a few hives. He says he really caught the bug, so to speak, when – in his 20s – he went to work for a commercial beekeeper based in Callaway. “To be able to watch them do their work while spending time out in the fresh air among all the sounds of nature … it’s just me,” he reflects simply.
The longtime Moorhead resident started his own hobby hive in his mid-20s. Meanwhile, though, his career flew in a different direction when he got to know the owner of Fargo’s Christian bookstore. The bookseller, who also distributed inspirational books through spinner racks in supermarkets, gift shops and other stores, sold Paul the outside aspect of his business in 1980.
Now Maranatha Books has sites across three states. Another of Paul’s sons, his namesake Paul, travels the region distributing both their religious titles and Three Bears Honey. Among the volumes Maranatha sells is one that ties their two family businesses together: “The Buzz About Honey,” recipes for cooking every course with honey compiled by North Dakota cookbook author Marcella Richman.
The senior beekeeper has two other sons as well. Jesse, the youngest, offers a helping hand when Three Bears Honey is especially busy. The oldest, Sam, is a different story. “He started out helping me with the hives, but then we found out he’s allergic,” his father reports. The younger Paul is now the pastor of Northwoods Assembly of God in Perham, Minn.
The Luthi family operation oversees millions of bees at several dozen sites. “We look for a likely spot with lots of juicy flowers, then ask the land owner for their permission,” Paul says. “Most understand how beneficial they are to our environment, and they’re very supportive.”
What makes a bee-worthy spot? Huge fields of commercial crops offer little to honey bees in search of tasty nectar. Instead, they search for blossoms of yellow and white clover, wild flowers, dandelions and a Minnesota favorite, basswood trees. “They do love alfalfa, but farmers cut it before it blossoms,” he notes. If he had one wish on the bees’ behalf, it would be that ditches be left to flourish throughout the summer. “If they’d cut them after they’re done blooming, bees would love it,” he adds wistfully.
Once their bees return from their winter break, Paul and Travis check the hives every couple of weeks, adding boxes as the tiny nectar-gatherers fill up the combs. They keep an eye out for natural threats to their colonies. Infestations of microscopic mites can wipe out entire hives. Four-legged predators, too, can wreak quick havoc. Bears (yes, they’ve been sighted in the immediate area) are attracted to both bee larvae and honey. Skunks have a taste for the bees themselves, sometimes lying in wait outside the hive to slurp up workers as they exit.
Harvest begins in late July or early August. The combs are spun in an extractor to remove their contents, which are gently heated to less than 115 degrees to reduce the tendency to crystallize. What comes out – pale, golden, natural raw honey – is bottled for retail sale in traditional plastic squeeze bears as well as larger quantities.
Along with filling supermarket shelves, the Luthis sell their honey online and at local-foods markets like the weekly Red River Farmers Market starting next month in downtown Fargo. “We hear good things from people who tell us how much they enjoy it,” Paul says. “They’ve been very kind.”
The times, though, have become somewhat less favorable for beekeepers. “The bees just aren’t producing like they used to,” he observes. “Beekeepers are seeing that all over the country.” Bee experts blame several factors: pervasive pesticides, a flowerless rural landscape dominated by cash crops, and the spread of parasites and diseases.
While Minnesota remains one of America’s top honey-producing states, along with the Dakotas and Montana, the number of hives here and across the nation has dropped by half over the past several decades. Consumers have yet to feel the pinch, since two-thirds of the honey on store shelves is imported. “The food industry can import honey for less than it costs us to produce it,” Paul notes. “It keeps prices down.
“Still, the bees do so much for all of us,” he adds. “It’s always good to buy local.”
