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Kerry Robinson is a member of a new breed of farmer: the small-scale, part-time urban farmer. Robinson raises bees in the quarter-acre backyard of the home he shares in South Norwalk with his wife Ellen and their daughters Anna and Drew. He harvests 50 pounds of honey every year from each of his two hives.
Ive been keeping bees for 14 years now, says Robinson whose day job is in health care publishing with HCPlexus, publishers of The Little Blue Book. Two years ago his bees all died. The bee population has been reduced worldwide by disease. It is thought that they are also affected by the pesticides sprayed on crops. This is bad news for farmers who depend on bees to pollinate crops. The good news is that small-time beekeepers, like Kerry Robinson, are raising bees which forage in unsprayed areas and so the bees tend to be healthier.
Robinson has just launched a website called Life and Cancer to help cancer patients navigate the often confusing information on the web. The vast majority of sites for patients and caregivers fall into three categories, he says. Branded biotech and pharmaceutical sites, societal sites and treatment center sites. My idea was to create a site that covered the various types of cancer in one place, Robinson says. Life and Cancer provides basic information about different cancers and helps patients navigate options. There are also sections on non-medical challenges that cancer patients face: financial problems, nutritional questions and spiritual and psychological issues.
Sadly, Robinson was able to fine-tune the new site through his own personal experiences. I had just started the business plan when my mother was diagnosed with medical ascites, he says. She passed away three months after diagnosis. Robinson himself has just had an incident with a melanoma (skin cancer) on his shoulder. Im pretty committed to getting the site up and running, he says.
Theres an old wives tale that bee stings can help prevent cancer. I dont know if its true, Robinson says, but he thinks its worth exploring. Right now his main concern is preventing his hive from swarming. I have a robust group of bees and they are crowded, he says. The end of May is typically when a hive will split up with half the bees flying off in a tight clump. They stay close to the hive for a few days before disappearing. Robinson is going to try to direct them into his second hive. This may be a good time to see if theres anything to that old wives tale.
Do you know anyone who keeps bees in your neighborhood? Do the bees bother you? Id love to hear. Please email me at fpearson@mainstreetconnect.us.
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