LOCAL Houston | The City Guide AUGUST 2015 | Page 29

Local August 2015_FINAL.qxp_002houston 7/27/15 12:18 PM Page 29

By Jill Patir + Carla Valencia de Martinéz
Photography by Gabriella Nissen

Shelley Rice

M

ention the decline in bee
populations in the Houston
area to most people, you’ll
probably be met with shrugged shoulders and a “who cares” attitude.
However, if you were to dig deeper, you’d
realize that this decline, known as Colony
Collapse Disorder, has the potential to drastically affect our daily lives. The number of bees in our
area has been on a downward spiral since 2006,
with significant drops around 2012–2013. Bees use their natural instincts to
help farmers around the world pollinate and fertilize countless crops. The effect
it has on you? These crops result in full shelves of fresh produce in our grocery
stores. Without help from bee colonies, the availability and quality of our produce is in a position to be limited. As we started working on this piece, the name
Shelley Rice kept coming up so we tracked her down at The Grove while she was
checking in on the Discovery Green hive honey comb.
Inspired by the novel The Secret Life of Bees, Rice took Donald Burger’s beekeeping class in 2008. “It was really the only thing available. I followed his instructions, ordered my bees and started reading Beekeeping for Dummies.” Her bee
pick-up date was April 1, so Rice loaded up her kids and drove them all to
Navasota to BeeWeaver Apiaries (who have been providing bees for over 125
years to beekeepers) and picked up 4 packages of bees. “They were these wire
boxes with 3,000–4,000 bees in each one. And it started like that. I started at
the Last Organic Outpost with just two hives and two in our backyard in
Bellaire.” Rice credits Jennifer Scott, the driving force behind Zelko Honey, as the

bee whisperer. (Jamie Zelko started the HEIGHTS HONEYBEE PROJECT with her
wife Dalia and Jennifer.) “Jennifer is who I learned from.” People started asking
Rice questions and she quickly realized her purpose. Today she is one of the
most preeminent beekeepers in the city and, at 55, is a year into a five-year
master beekeeper program at Texas A&M. Rice is also one of the top fresh
honey suppliers to many of Houston’s restaurants including Chef Ernie at The
Grove who is currently the city’s only establishment with their own bee colony
that serves local honey and provides pollinators for downtown and surroounding
areas. “I was Randy Evans’ beekeeper for three and a half years. What I do for
Discovery Green, when they have films, or anything bee-related, I am their go-to
girl. I pull together whomever they need. I’ve done a couple of programs for
them. I do bee swarm removals and I’ve taken bees out of the trees for them.
It’s a great relationship. But I’m also the beekeeper at the Lat Organic Outpose;
I’ve been there off and on for six years. Down the street I supply to Weights &
Measures and also Urban Eats.”
A few ways to help preserve the bee population include choosing plants that
bees like and avoiding use of pesticides and herbicides in your garden. Shop
at farmer’s markets for produce and honey to help support local farmers and beekeepers – and as a bonus, you’ll get organic or near-organic produce. And finally, although it’s tempting to, if you do have unwanted bees, don’t kill them. Many
local beekeepers will be happy to take them off your hands and keep them alive
and safe.

Further information available at these websites.
www.houstonbeekeepers.org | www.lastorganicoutpost.com
www.thebeewrangler.com

august 15 | L O C A L 29