Blount County Beekeeper Means Business

easy to capture. “Before they leave the hive, they gorge,” he said. “This makes them lethargic, like us after Thanksgiving dinner. They don’t care to bother you, and they have nothing to protect since they have not rebuilt yet.” When the swarm finds a new location, it immediately begins building comb so the queen can repopulate the hive. This is also where the bees rebuild stores of honey. Hive location determines the need and difficulty of removal. While most beekeepers can easily remove hives from a tree or outdoor area, structural removals require an experienced hand.

“You have to get inside the wall, remove the bees and look for the queen,” he said. “If you can catch her, the other bees will follow.”

Hendrix warned against spraying the bees with an insect suppressant, which causes more damage in the long run.

“You then have to remove all the wax, brood and honey,” he said. “If you leave those without the bees, it will rot,

T e B u h zz Arou By Josie Chance nd Bee R e moval run out and attract insects and rats. It can be detrimental to the building.” After a hive is located, removing the bees starts with filling a hive smoker, in case it’s needed to calm the bees. The beekeeper puts on a full-coverage bee suit and removes the bees with a special vacuum hose attached to a carpetpadded box. This keeps the bees safe during transport to their new home. After the external layer of bees is removed, the wall or other barrier is taken down. During the removal at Homestead Hollow, Hendrix removed wooden boards to access a colony. Next, the bees are contained, and the comb is separated. Honeycomb goes into a container for processing, and the brood comb is banded onto frames. Finally, repairs return the structure to its normal state. While this appears simple, it can prove expensive, Hendrix said. While delicious honey is a sweet nectar of Alabama agriculture, “If you are dealing with Sheetrock or finding a beehive in a wall at home is far from fun.

But Blount County beekeeper Hal Hendrix finds these moments provide a golden opportunity to teach others the importance of pollinators.

“They are responsible for what we eat,” said Hendrix, an Alabama Farmers Federation State Bee & Honey Committee member. “You hear that bees are responsible for pollinating 80% of what we eat, although it honestly ends up being more than that.”

Hendrix often answers this question from curious homeowners: Why did a swarm just show up one day?

A group of bees on the move commonly begins when the colony becomes overpopulated. The bees will decrease food provided to the current queen and prepare a queen brood cell brick, it can cost thousands of dollars to take her place. Eventually, the older very quickly,” he said. queen takes flight. Hendrix is quick to offer resources

“Some of the other bees follow the for homeowners seeking a helping hand queen to the next spot, typically a bush, removing hives. for a while,” said Hendrix, as he laid “Most Alabama Extension offices out tools for a removal at Homestead keep a list of contacts for swarms or Hollow, a venue in Springville. “All the structural removals,” he said. “Local scout bees will go out and look for a bee organizations and associations new home, such as a hole in a wall or also have beekeepers to reach out to. tree.” If you contact someone in one of those

The Alabama Master Beekeeper said groups, they can get you in touch with these swarms are docile — and fairly someone who can help.”

Beekeeper Hal Hendrix is a master at removing beehives from walls, structures and trees. He then transports the bees to his hives, where they’ll continue to make sweet, delicious honey.

A Life-Changing Policy

Charles Morrison’s father, C.L., died just days before the younger Morrison’s high school graduation. His father’s years-earlier decision to invest in life insurance changed the course of his son’s life, allowing him to graduate college debt-free.

By Brooke Foster

Eighteen.

That’s how old Alfa Insurance® District Manager Charles Morrison was when he learned the value of life insurance.

“It’s made such an impact on my life and is the reason I am in the insurance business today,” said Morrison, who lives in Athens.

Shortly after Morrison signed a two-year baseball scholarship with Wallace State Community College (WSCC) in 1996, his father, C.L. Morrison Jr., was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He died just six days before Morrison’s high school graduation.

“After that, I had to grow up quite a bit,” Morrison said. “I remember thinking, ‘What happens next?’”

Fortunately, his father had a life insurance policy that allowed Morrison to hang up his cleats at WSCC and graduate from the University of Alabama at Huntsville debt-free.

That experience proved life insurance is the most important coverage customers can purchase, Morrison said. Policies can be life-changing and offer peace of mind, financial security and protection for the future, he added.

“To me, the most important thing to know about life insurance is what it provides,” Morrison said. “I credit my parents’ good foresight in planning to make sure they had a life insurance policy in place that would take care of the family if something happened to them. It afforded me the opportunity to complete college without worrying about expenses and allowed my mother to maintain a lifestyle she was used to.”

Morrison graduated college in August 2000 and began his career with Alfa the next month, working as an agent before becoming a district manager in 2009.

Since his first day on the job, Morrison has prioritized helping customers like Becky Schrimsher understand the value of life insurance.

Schrimsher said she looked at life insurance as an unnecessary investment when she first became an Alfa customer nearly 20 years ago. In 2008, her perspective changed when her husband, Phillip Ashburn, passed away at the age of 30. Schrimsher was left with two sons, 6-year-old Payton and 3-year-old Eli — and a life insurance policy, thanks to Morrison’s guidance.

“I was scared of how we were going to make anything work financially,” Schrimsher said. “I wasn’t working at the time, and we had two small children. After Phillip’s passing, I received a phone call from Charles, who told me Phillip still had a policy in force that was going to pay out and help take care of us.”

She said the policy was a blessing and helped ground the family during tumultuous times.

“I didn’t have to rely on other people or worry about scrambling to figure out how we were going to make ends meet,” she said.

Schrimsher’s story, and others like it, fuel Morrison’s work.

“It’s my ‘why,’” he said. “I know how much life insurance impacted my life, and I’m passionate about helping make a difference in the lives of others by finding an Alfa life insurance policy that works for their family.”

It’s never too early to talk about life insurance. Get the conversation started with a local Alfa Insurance agent today. Learn more at AlfaInsurance.com.

Throughout his career, Alfa Insurance District Manager Charles Morrison has helped customers like Becky Schrimsher understand the impact of investing in life insurance.

Dorman Grace and his family use high-tech equipment to efficiently grow row crops, cattle and poultry in Walker County.

Above center: Montgomery County farmer Jeremy Brown and his daughter, Ansley, examine monitors in their poultry farm’s control room. Above right: Farmers across commodities — from sod to soybeans — use high-tech equipment, like this automated sod harvester.

Down To Earth: Data, Technology Drive Alabama Farmers

By Marlee Moore

Smartphone apps, spreadsheets and scads of automated systems help drive progress across Alabama farms.

“That’s the thing about farmers,” said Dorman Grace, a Walker County farmer and Alabama Farmers Federation state board member. “One farmer might learn something and pass it on to someone else. We’re always growing and getting better at what we do.”

Tech-savvy farmers channel Apple’s “There’s an app for that.” mentality to remotely manage aspects of their business, whether turning on irrigation or calculating yields.

In the Information Age, mechanization and modernization are critical — ensuring farmers efficiently care for land, livestock and crops.

Take diversified operations. Poultry house data can feed directly to smartphones, letting farmers put boots on the ground elsewhere.

Computers ensure optimal temperature and ventilation inside poultry houses, too, keeping chickens safe and comfortable while saving fuel, electricity and water.

Meanwhile, row crop farms conserve inputs with precision agriculture, which helps farmers make decisions based on high-tech sensors and tools. Tractors with auto-steer use GPS to lock in on a row, ensuring precise planting, fertilizer application and harvest.

“We use auto-steer on every machine in every row crop pass, and it reduces operator fatigue and eliminates overlap,” said Autauga County farmer Drew Wendland. “It does a good job of making sure we don’t do the same work on the same area twice.”

Technology gives cattle farmers an edge, too. Computers manage health and breeding information, record sales and track performance data. Electronic ID tags track cattle, while artificial insemination improves conception rates.

Improvements are thanks to research, Grace said. Businesses, farmers and land-grant universities invest in research to advance systems, genetics and technology, like unmanned aerial vehicles, which capture photos, videos and maps to help detect issues.

“So many people help us,” Grace said. “They help make our operations more efficient and help us do what we love — farm.”

Visit DownToEarthAL.com to learn more.

PHOTO BY KATIE NICHOLS Drones give farmers an eye in the sky for mapping and observing crops.

Down To Earth Definitions

Diversification: Growing multiple commodities on one farm. These often benefit from one another, such as row crop farms that use chicken litter as a natural fertilizer. Auto-steer: A GPS guidance system that steers agricultural equipment with centimeter accuracy. Land-grant: An institution of higher education initially established to focus on agricultural and mechanical arts. Alabama is home to three — Auburn University, Alabama A&M University and Tuskegee University.

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