Carmen Atwater discusses the impact Helene has had on local bees

by Clark Wilson

An autumn breeze, slightly chilly and laden with the scent of crisp, colorful leaves, carries tendrils of white smoke, a calming measure for the bees, which moments ago were buzzing in purposeful agitation and are now already beginning to drift in slow contentment. I feel my own mindset carried in the same direction.

I am at Carmen Atwater‘s apiary where she has created a space, Healing at the Hives, for the community to partake in her personal form of meditative practice and the foundation of her business, Feral Farms: tending to tens of thousands of bees.

Atwater frames her workshop around the five senses, encouraging over a dozen hurricane-weary Ashevilleans to breathe in the aroma of waxy hives; to sample the sweet, flowery taste of fresh honey; to see the focused and diligent workings of a superorganism — thousands of bees simply carrying on, no matter what. It was an inspiring and restorative way to spend the afternoon.

Afterward, we sat down to discuss bees, her business and, of course, how Tropical Storm Helene has affected the bee world.

Xpress: Driving around Asheville, I often see “Save the Bees” bumper stickers or license plates, usually adorned with the stereotypical honeybee. Could you elaborate on what the motto really means, particularly for the native bee species of Western North Carolina?

Atwater: Yes, so the term “Save the Bees” really has been popularized over the past five or 10 years and has been thrown around in a lot of different contexts but is most often used when talking about European honeybees, now an agriculturally managed species. At one point they were really struggling from colony collapse and huge die-offs, particularly due to the use of pesticides. However, the European honeybee is now doing fine as a species, so the continuing efforts and hopefully the larger public consciousness should be geared toward native bee species, of which there are three to four hundred in North Carolina alone.

Honeybees are important for the crops we need them to pollinate, but the native bees often have a specialist relationship with plants that they help to pollinate or reproduce, which no other bee can necessarily achieve. And it’s the native bee species that are most at risk from habitat destruction and development, and the use of pesticides affects every insect and pollinator, period. So the “Save the Bees” ideology is helpful for all bees, and honeybees are often the “in” where people get interested and you can start to elaborate more on the issue.

How does your business attract environmentally conscious residents and encourage them to take it a step further and keep bees on their own property?

I really think of honeybees as a vehicle for getting people interested in the hands-on aspect of relating to the natural world and caring for the environment. So it’s not that someone keeping honeybees on their property is necessarily helping the environment in a big way — what’s helping is the education that comes from the process of getting to know the bees.

To be a good beekeeper you have to become more attuned to the natural world as you learn about the native plants: when they bloom, when the weather patterns are changing and how so many things within the ecosystem come together to affect these little creatures. So my primary goal with Feral Farms is for people to appreciate that when you feel that you are part of the ecosystem rather than just an observer, you are much more inclined to protect and honor that.

What is the story of your personal fascination with bees to then envisioning and creating your own business?

My background is in wildlife conservation. In the years after I was out of school, I was involved in big hands-on conservation projects all over the world, but I eventually found myself really craving more connection to the land itself. Beekeeping was my way of resituating myself within the ecosystem.

For a time, I was working for an international company as an urban beekeeper in Southern California, helping to install and manage beehives on rooftops of schools and businesses. But being from Greensboro, N.C., I was still wanting to move back home and connect to the land that raised me, where I originally fell in love with nature. The business grew organically from people I met in the community.

My first sort of “client” was a woman I met at the beekeeping supply store who had just been given five beehives right before winter and was desperately needing guidance but hadn’t been able to connect with the right kind of support for her. A lot of people are interested in beekeeping but feel too intimidated because there is so much that can go wrong and there is often not enough of a safe space for people to show up as they are and to be nurtured along the journey.

It seems like starting your own business presents so much opportunity to infuse identity with a personal brand. As a young, queer-identifying woman, how is your business infused with your identity and values?

I think identity shapes everything that I do and how I connect to other people. I don’t think I would have felt the courage or empowerment to do something like start my own business prior to coming fully into my identity as a queer woman. There is a femininity and a queerness in the way I relate to the bees, and it’s important to me to introduce and attract different voices to this sort of niche space in the larger agricultural world.

What have you already learned from your experiences that you would pass on to a similarly interested young woman contemplating turning her passion into a business?

It’s easy to doubt yourself to a point where you prohibit yourself from going for it. If I hadn’t had a few external pushes, I don’t know that I would have been able to pursue my business. As a solo entrepreneur, it’s a huge risk you take, and the sooner you can lean on others for support the better.

On the practical side of things, I would say hire a financial adviser early. It was hard for me because I feel part of my identity is pretty anticapitalist, and so I was hesitant to take those steps to make it easier for myself. There has been a sort of imposter syndrome that prevented me from feeling legitimate enough to put out a job posting or even succumbing to the socialization of not believing in myself as a woman. But now I say take the risks and f*ck around and find out! [Laughs.]

What effect does a historic natural disaster like Helene have on native bee populations? How do the bees weather the storm, and is there anything we can learn from them?

The biggest thing I’m seeing in the environment is the loss of food sources for all of the pollinators, including bees. It’s the downed trees, the ruined fields and the wind damage. Like this whole field out here was full of goldenrods and asters and other beautiful fall wildflowers, and it’s all just been blown away. Fall is already a nectar-scarce time of year, and the storm was immediately followed by our first frost, so it really was a triple whammy.

But nature is resilient. The bees would have hunkered down inside the hives to stay dry and warm during the storm. Their social structure is altruistic to its core, and every bee in the hive exists to serve the greater good of the hive. I think we have everything to learn from that because our community, like theirs, cannot exist in an individualistic way. The way we are surviving now largely comes down to our interconnectedness, the way we are meeting our neighbors and caring for the people around us.

What has been your experience in the small-business community with folks picking up the pieces and finding their direction in the aftermath of the storm?

Everyone is at a different stage of processing what has happened and yet everyone I have spoken to who has a business here has in some way shifted their focus to be “What can I be doing, how can I be using the resources that I have or what my business has to offer to be helpful to others right now?” Seeing these shifts in everyone’s framework or business model has been really cool.

And lastly, what most brings you joy about running your business and working with both bees and people?

Hands down, the thing that brings me the most joy is being in the sunshine, opening a hive and connecting with the bees on a very intimate level to where it genuinely feels like a conversation between myself and the bees. In so many ways, they tell me what they need, and I’m able to respond and adapt. It’s a feeling of deep connection to the natural world that is hard to explain. And as an extrovert who needs a lot of connection for my overall well-being, working with people in an educational context and with something that brings them joy and makes them feel inspired just makes my cup overflow. I love the way people’s faces light up and this sort of inner child comes out when they’re getting excited and curious and starting to learn.