Brenda and John Belcher never had much interest in bees. Growing up, John would visit his Uncle Leonard, who was a beekeeper, but Brenda often went barefoot as a child, so getting stung on the foot did not make for a pleasant image.

This all changed a few years ago, when John’s co-worker, Ricky Grace, would come in to work every day and talk about beekeeping. In him, they saw an enthusiasm for bees that they had never considered before.

Then one day, her husband was sitting in his office at work and looked out the window, where he saw a group of bees swarming inside a portable cement mixer. It was right before fall, when the bees were forming a temporary swarm until the scalp bees could come so they could set up a hive…

To read more about the Belchers’ beekeeping hobby, check out the June 2014 issue of Hoover’s Magazine. Find your copy here.