Faced with his first swarm call, Charles DeBarber writes the following in a letter entitled “A Veteran’s Journey”: “The excitement of loading up my truck with a plastic tub and half-cocked set up was akin to a kid at Christmas. I’ll remember giving them my first swarm shake until the day I die.” He then contemplates the swarm while having dinner observing its behavior. “They were my first bees and my most industrious. They rewarded me with an entire medium of surplus honey that 4th of July…”
With the above statement, the tone of the letter shifted significantly from one of listing setbacks as a veteran released from the service in 2014. “My first year out…getting proper care for my three special needs children, working to mend a broken marriage, and trying to find myself professionally…resulted in calls to the VA’s crisis line a couple of time a month.” He could “personally attest to the despair many disabled veterans feel post service,” who leave with limited options, often resulting in loss of sense of identity.
Mr. DeBarber continues: “I can’t put my finger on it, but no matter how bad I’m feeling or how frustrated life can be, sitting down and simply watching the girls come and go gives me peace.” Beekeeping also resulted in a greater penchant for patience in general, concluding, “Two years into my journey, I’m in the best place in my life. Apiculture renewed the confidence I had lost in myself. They (the bees) might have saved my life.” Here’s another example of the same phenomenon.
West Virginian Tim Polling never imagined his life would take him around the world and back again. Serving as a chaplain in the Air Force he worked in the Middle East (Desert Storm) and also during hurricane Katrina, as well as the Iraq and Afghanistan campaigns. In 2007, he was again deployed to Iraq and in 2009, assigned to the 436th Airlift Wing, Dover Air Force Base
This same sense of creating a new “self” seems to be omnipresent in many taking up beekeeping. Two places where it is most apparent along with the veteran’s experience, are prisons and the developing world. A quick search on the World Wide Web of “prisoners and beekeeping” yields a raft of links on this subject. Recently, on a trip to Latin America visiting the Nicaragua Bee Project discussion with the project’s guru, Dr. Mike Baur, revealed something he discovered while teaching beekeeping to campesinos. Yes, they were enthusiastic because the craft offered them some additional income, but most importantly the activity provided something intangible, yet possibly far more valuable, a profession they could call their own.
The challenges faced by veterans upon release from service are legion. A fact sheet from the Veteran’s Administration lists two pages of major adjustments. The statistics are not encouraging:
“A new RallyPoint/Rasmussen Reports national survey of active and retired military personnel finds that 38% consider the transition back to civilian life to be the most significant challenge facing veterans today. Twenty-four percent (24%) think finding civilian employment is the greatest challenge, while 13% say that of health care. Nine percent (9%) each rate post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and personal finances as the biggest challenge facing veterans today. When it comes to civilian employment, just 34% of military personnel believe most private companies view military experience as a professional asset. Slightly more (38%) disagree. Twenty-eight percent (28%) are undecided.”
Enter Colonel Gary LaGrange, a seventy-four-year-old retired Army officer. He believes that two currently distressed populations in the United States working together can produce a renaissance or sorts. Statistics reveal that a gap exists between the current population of farmers and a large number of folks specifically adapted to become the next generation of agriculturalists, veterans and transitioning service members. The average age of farmers in the U.S. is approaching 60 with 40% over 65. Sixty-three percent of farms may be in their last generation. Succession planning is critical to the country’s farming future. At the same time 2.3 million veterans and transitioning service members are looking for a meaningful way of life. A high percentage of them indicate an interest in farming, many coming from rural, agricultural families.
A pathway to farming is needed, therefore, and can be provided by the right kind of education. The Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education, or S.A.V.E farm, he believes can be a “home-like” center, where those being trained can begin to heal as part of their agricultural education.
Gary has enlisted a number of personnel and organizations that have an interest in the project, including The College of Agriculture at Kansas State University, which offers 16 undergraduate majors, 14 minors, and 10 graduate programs, focusing on agribusiness, bioscience, communications, economics, and natural resources. Eight professors of the college are in fact on S.A.V.E.’s board of directors.
As part of a land-grant university, the Kansas State College of Agriculture works closely with research and extension to deliver research findings, educational programs and technical information through extension offices located throughout the state of Kansas and the rest of the nation. An innovative part of the S.A.V.E. program will be active mentoring by extent farmers.Another major player in the project is expected to be nearby Ft. Riley, Kansas with its unique First Wounded Warrior Battalion. The project’s vision, therefore, is “more than simply a farm,” but a teaching and healing center for residents. sorts. His statistics reveal that a gap exists between the current population of farmers and a large number of folks specifically adapted to become the next generation of agriculturalists, veterans and transitioning service members. The average age of farmers in the U.S. is approaching 60 with 40% over 65. Sixty-three percent of farms may be in their last generation. Succession planning is critical to the country’s farming future. At the same time, 2.3 million veterans and transitioning service members are looking for a meaningful way of life. A high percentage of them indicate an interest in farming, many coming from rural, agricultural families.
A pathway to farming is needed, therefore, and can be provided by the right kind of education and training. The Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education, or S.A.V.E farm, Colonel LaGrange is currently developing can be a “home-like” center, where those being trained can begin to heal as part of their agricultural education. In a recent interview, credit is given to Gary’s daughter, Shari LaGrange-Aulich, a clinical psychologist, specializing in PTSD, traumatic brain injury and suicide, who will oversee the health and wellness programs at the farm. She approached her father with the idea for the farm several years ago, and they decided to pilot the program through teaching veterans how to keep bees.
S.A.V.E has indeed already been effective. A high percentage of current students have openly shared that the focus on agriculture has kept them from attempting suicide. Since the program brgan, it is estimated that over 38,000 service members and veterans have taken their own lives. If the Department of Labor statistics are correct and about 40% of veterans wish to farm, this could potentially save thousands lives.
Gary has enlisted a number of personnel and organizations that have an interest in the project, including The College of Agriculture at Kansas State University, which offers 16 undergraduate majors, 14 minors, and 10 graduate programs, focusing on agribusiness, bioscience, communications, economics, and natural resources. Eight professors of the college are in fact on S.A.V.E.’s board of directors.
As part of a land-grant university, the Kansas State College of Agriculture is deeply engaged in curriculum development, even directly designing the farm, while the departments of horticulture and entomology are fully supporting the beekeeping program assisted by the business college teaching both strategic and business planning.
An innovative part of the S.A.V.E. program will be active mentoring by extant farmers and beekeepers. Another major player in the project is expected to be nearby Ft. Riley, Kansas with its First Wounded Warrior Battalion.
The project’s vision, therefore, is “more than simply a farm,” but a teaching and healing center for residents. This will be backed up by major resources found at Kansas State University, which by default is linked to all other land grant universities around the country.
Phase three of the farm is due to become operational in May 2017 on 320 acres purchased adjacent to Fort Riley. Residents will be improving the site, installing new fencing, planting soy beans, managing forage crops (hay and alfalfa), and managing bee hives among other farming endeavors. Presently the farm consists of 90 acres of soy beans, 25 head of angus on pasture, 120 acres of prairie hay, and three acres of alfalfa. An additional 1600 acres includes the largest blackberry farm in three states. At the moment 228 students have been enrolled in the program.
Beekeeping is expected to be the first key activity at the S.A.V.E. farm. Other agricultural pursuits are expected to be added as time goes on. Classroom and hands-on training will guide students through basic beekeeping, culminating in harvesting and bottling honey. Currently 70 hives are being actively managed, this number expected to grow to 500 in ensuing years, based on a current USDA grant, which has so far enabled 250 students to take an introduction to beekeeping course. The grant is also expected pay the tuition for all students to take the University of Montana online beekeeping certificate program.
In the recent past, beekeeping was a relatively stress-free form of agriculture, and did not require much attention to detail. This is no longer the case. The activity is now fraught with a host of issues from introduced pests, to pesticide use, infection from viruses, and deterioration of the environment, resulting in among other things diminishing nutritional resources for honey bees.
The movement of honey bees for commercial pollination on a scale not experienced before is also something that beekeepers and their bees now have to contend with. It is becoming clearer that the total honey bee population is in fact one community being infected by a panopoly of issues that taken together are currently referred to as “colony collapse disorder,” or CCD.
The kind of rigorous education offered by the online course, therefore, is a must for anyone going into the world of modern beekeeping management. As concluded by the program’s developer, Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk, “While no beekeeping program can guarantee your success with honey bees, our program will give you the strongest possible foundation and therefore the best chance at keeping healthy, prosperous hives.”
Again, as noted above, an essential part of this effort is pairing up students with qualified, experienced mentors. Finally, the curriculum will encompass a robust research component, not only in modern honey bee management, but also to better understand the foundational relationship between farming/beekeeping and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Finally, the S.A.V.E. program features training in making and selling a wide variety of beekeeping equipment. At the moment, it has acquired Golden Prairie Honey Farms, which seeks to help fund the overall program through sales of beekeeping supplies, mostly woodenware, basic kits, tools, and plastic honey containers. Bottled honey is also currently being sold through it’s catalog.
The Kansas S.A.V.E. program is not unique. Mr. Polling mentioned above is associated with the West Virginia Department of Agriculture’s Veterans and Warriors to Agriculture effort. The director, James McCormick concludes: “Bees have one job in life, a purpose. It’s all about the greater good of the hive. The veterans see this. They come to understand that life goes on. It redirects their anger and anxiety into something productive.” Rather than producing a business of its own in beekeeping as done in Kansas, the West Virginia initiative has partnered with a going beekeeping concern, Geezer Ridge Farm.
Michigan State University’s “Heros to Hives” initiative uses beekeeping to address the financial and personal wellness of veterans through professional training and community development. Veterans work in teams to manage hives, so they leave our program with personal and professional relationships that open opportunities and ensure long-term support along with the skills to successfully manage a small beekeeping operation.
” ‘Heroes to Hives’ supports the financial and personal health of Michigan’s military veteran community via generous funding from the AT&T Foundation and private donations. As the program grows through 2017, additional funding will be pursued through private donations, and collaborative grants with MSU faculty and Michigan based non-profit organizations.”
The Agricultural Research Service Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics and Physiology Lab and the Louisiana Armed Forces Foundation are teaching beekeeping to veterans: “We want to give back to the veteran community. Veterans with a wide variety of bee experience are participating in the program. One of the more experienced is U.S. Army veteran C.J. Oliver, whose family produces about 60 gallons of honey annually in Arnaudville, Louisiana.”
The programs described above are ripe with hope to build a new life for numerous people who have served their country, but have been swept up in the unintended consequences of post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other emotional experiences. Many will see these efforts and be encouraged to set up like-minded programs. Indeed a World Wide Web search for veterans and beekeeping reveals a good many programs with the same goals.
Several independent films have studied the challenges veterans face in not only agriculture/beekeeping, but their personal lives. Colonel LaGrange reported the following about a recent release:
“Two weeks ago I was invited to the first release of the film in Kansas City. Afterward I was a panelist with the film’s director to respond to questions from the audience regarding veterans and farming. The film was an unfortunate characterization of a veteran struggling to farm and to recover from the effects of war. We all agreed that what was lacking was mentorship. Had he gone through a training program that incorporated therapy into the training and had he been assigned a post training mentor, he would have had a greater probability of succeeding. As it turns out he is not doing well and continues his struggle with PTSD and drugs.
“What concerned me also is that the film facilitates a stereotypical and wrong picture of those with PTSD. I have found that with mentorship and care, these young men and women can do very well when they are taught and coached through purposeful training.”
The Kansas program appears to have covered most of the important bases in vetern training, including mentorship, professional beekeeping and personal emotional training. The first is linking up with the University of Montana’s online beekeeping training program. Its three-stage curriculum (apprentice, journeyman and master) has produced a significant number of potential beekeeping mentors (citizen scientists), trained not only in honey bee manipulation and management, but also experimental technique. Colonel LaGrange is in fact a graduate of that program.
As noted elsewhere, the emotional aspects of the S.A.V.E program are expected to be handled by Gary’s daughter, Shari LaGrange-Aulich. She is a licensed professional psychologist, specializing in PTSD, brain trauma and suicide, whose papers on Post Traumatic Growth have been selected for presentation at past American Psychologists Association conventions.
This melding of both farmer/beekeeper training and professional emotional healing would seem to be the best mix for a successful veteran training effort. The S.A.V.E. program, therefore, would appear to be an ideal model that others should study, develop communication with, and hopefully emulate, ensuring the best possible outcome for veterans in their search for a purposeful new life.
Can Beekeeping Save A life? Part 2
This is a followup article, which concentrated on the genesis of the Kansas Servicemember Agricultural Vocation Education, or S.A.V.E Farm initiative, being developed by retired Colonel Gary LaGrange. The concept seeks to provide a “home-like” place, where combat veterans are actively being trained to heal as part of a general agricultural education, coupled with a large beekeeping component. The previous article looked at this project as part of a wider movement around the U.S. to assist combat veterans in coming to grips with an environment that is often not amenable to their needs.
The inspiration behind the idea is Colonel LaGrange’s daughter, Shari LaGrange-Aulich, a clinical psychologist, specializing in PTSD, traumatic brain injury and suicide, who oversees the health and wellness programs at the facility. She initially approached her father with the idea, and they decided to pilot the program together. In conjunction with this, several organizations have been enlisted to help the effort, including Kansas State College of Agriculture, The First Wounded Warrior Program, Ft. Riley, Kansas, and the University of Montana’s Online Beekeeping Certificate Program.
The first article concluded that melding both farmer/beekeeper training and professional emotional healing would seem to be the best mix for a model that others might emulate, ensuring the best possible outcome for veterans in their search for a purposeful new life. The most difficult part of the above goals is treated here. How to deal with the emotional healing necessary for veterans suffering from trauma to become, for lack of a better word, “whole” again. Unique to the effort is the role that working with one of nature’s most fascinating social insects can play. Within this context it is worth examining one of beekeeping’s most influential figures, L.L. Langstroth.
Canadian blogger, Ron Miksha, has called the Reverend Langstroth, a “great christmas gift,” given that he was born on December 25, 1810, concluding: “He invented the modern beehive, making it easier, more productive, and less stressful for bees. However, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth earned nothing from his invention and suffered severely from self-doubt, melancholy, and clinical depression. Yet, he changed beekeeping to its core and on his birthday anniversary (Christmas Day!) we give homage to the most important beekeeper America ever produced.”
From the above description and the following epitaph on his gravestone, we can conclude that beekeeping in fact did save Rev. Langstroth’s life, perhaps several times during his existence on this earth:
“Inscribed to the memory of Rev. L.L Langstroth, ‘Father of American beekeeping,’ by his affectionate beneficiaries who, in the remembrance of the service rendered by his persistent and painstaking observations and experiments with the honey bee, his improvements in the hive, and the literary ability shown in the first scientific and popular book on the subject of beekeeping in the United States, gratefully erect this monument.”
It is now understood that many of Langstroth’s mental issues were probably the result of what is now called “bipolar disorder.” However, the symptoms of this disease are often similar to those suffering PTSD and related psychotic maladies. Thus, it is reasonable to suggest that whatever might have worked for Langstroth would be suitable for others. Undeniably a good part of his “therapy” was his interest in and long association with the honey bee and beekeeping.
We now know much more about the human mind than in Langstroth’s time, but many of details of its workings continue to be out of reach. Fortunately, Shari LaGrange-Aulich is trained in something called “posttraumatic growth (PTG),” According to Ms. LaGrange-Aulich, “It is positive change experienced as a result of the struggle with a major life crisis or a traumatic event. Although we coined the term posttraumatic growth, the idea that human beings can be changed by their encounters with life challenges, sometimes in radically positive ways, is not new. The theme is present in ancient spiritual and religious traditions, literature, and philosophy. What is reasonably new is the systematic study of this phenomenon by psychologists, social workers, counselors, and scholars in other traditions of clinical practice and scientific investigation.”
According to a wikipedia post, “…as many as 90 percent of PTG survivors report at least one aspect of posttraumatic growth, such as a renewed appreciation for life. Traditional psychology’s equivalent to thriving is resilience, which is reaching the previous level of functioning before a trauma, stressor, or challenge. The difference between resilience and thriving is the recovery point – thriving goes above and beyond resilience, and involves finding benefits within challenges.” Fortunately for practioners, a handbook on PTG exists authored by L.C. Calhoun and R. G. Tedeschi, published in 2014 by Psychology Press.
This brings us to the role of beekeeping in addressing psychological wounds, many due to combat. The top ten factors in this process, according to Ms. LaGrange-Aulich are:
- Behavioral Activation- It gets one up and out and doing! Bees can be kind of flexible with one’s schedule. It is also not boring, duties change with the seasons.
- Engaging with Nature- One is outside in the sunlight and participating in nature.
- Purpose- there is really something about saving the bees! It is a reason to help and is altruistic in serving something greater than yourself.
- Brotherhood and social connection- One is associated with likeminded people who understand what you have been through in your service.
- Exposure to unpleasantries- Beekeeping makes one face fears. It takes a special kind of courage to harvest honey!
- Societal model of cooperation- Bees set a pretty high standard for how to cooperate for the collective success of the colony. They are models for hard work and appear to have infinite patience when confronting weather, diseases, and other stresses.
- Community involvement- There is a lot of opportunity to interact with a like-minded community (beekeepers).
- Emotional regulation- Controlling ones emotions in the beeyard can be generalized to personal relationships. Yelling and arguing around a beehive (or kicking a hive) can be a memorable learning experience.
- Mindfulness- it takes a great deal of slow methodical “in the moment” movement and concentration to work with bees. Finding a queen among thousands of honey bees takes patience and teaches that sometimes things don’t work out and are out of one’s control.
- Sweet reward! Honey is pretty delicious and it is a nice pay off for all the hard work and taking good care of your bees.
Of the above, perhaps the most enigmatic has to do with “mindfulness.” According to a wikipedia post, “Large population-based research studies have indicated that the practice of mindfulness is strongly correlated with greater well-being and perceived health. Studies have also shown that rumination and worry contribute to mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, and that mindfulness-based interventions are effective in the reduction of both rumination and worry.” It is indeed fortunate, that a book has been written about this subject by Mark Magill, The Way to Bee: Meditation and the Art of Beekeeping, Lyons Press, 2011. Mixed in with a good amount of beekeeping history, biology and lore, we find the following topics/discussions, which also are reflected in Ms. LaGrange-Aulich’s list.
The challenge of I (hubris), As Robert Burns was quoted, “…mice only have to live and experience the moment’s tumult. We – blessed with foresight and hindsight — face a more complicated challenge.” Honey bees too we believe “live in the moment.” The human beekeeper is faced with so many variables that managing honey bees is considered more “art” than “science.”
Mindfulness consists of gathering information (what is happening now), putting it to analysis (understanding the facts), and then taking action. Beekeeping training is characterized via the same process. Rigid dogma and closed mindedness is antithetical to the process of PTG therapy as it is to the successful beekeeper.
Beekeeping may not be a cure for depression, but motivation, observation and action may relieve the human suffering it causes. Was L.L. Langstroth saved by his use of observation, analysis and results in developing his beekeeping ideas? This quote taken from Mr. Miksha’s post referenced above provides some insight:
“The young minister felt that he wasn’t an effective parson because of his recurring dark days, so he quit preaching and became principal of a women’s school instead. By all accounts, he was a empathetic minister and a dedicated teacher, but bouts of depression forced him to cancel sermons and classes. He needed a change. Bees were the only thing he knew that could give him peace, comfort, and meaningful work while fitting into a life disrupted by debilitating illness.
“He built an apiary and hoped to make his living from bees. But that summer, severe depression returned and lasted for weeks. He sold all his colonies in the fall. Then he started with the bees again. His life would turn over again and again with periods of manic enthusiasm and productivity followed by gloomy months of despondency. During his depressed phases, Langstroth took shelter in a bed in a dark room. He would remain there, immobile, for days. ‘I asked that my books be hidden from my sight. Even the letter ‘B’ would remind me of my bees and instill a deep sadness that wouldn’t leave.’
“When he was able to return to his bees, Langstroth made great strives at increasing efficiency in his apiary. He made his tasks more effective. He would never know when depression would return, so he worked day and night during highly productive manic periods.”
Meditation, according to Mr. Magill, requires the proper place, which adequately supplies specific needs, and is not dangerous (healthy and quiet). Perhaps most importantly, the practice may encourage human collegiality (community). It is known that veterans getting together, sharing similar experiences, often encourages the PTSD healing experience.
At the same time, the process is aided by closely looking at one’s “wants verses needs;” the fewer of the former the better (lessening thoughts and desires), retreating from society’s demands (the cacophony of the “information age” can be overwhelming), protecting vows and commitments (so-called “pure ethics”), and finally balancing the mind between “sinking” and “wandering” (active, but not checking out, nor overly worked up).
The bottom line for Mr. Magill is accommodating to change (the basis for adapting to circumstances). Honey bees appear to do this “instinctively,” whereas for humans the opposite is often the case. However, it can be enhanced and encouraged through meditation. All these concepts are appropriately associated with honey bee behavior and biology in the book, which contribute to developing a successful beekeeper, and by extension, a productive member of the larger human society.
According to Ms. La Grange-Aulich, beekeeping provides posttraumatic growth to the wounded warrior, as it presumably did to Rev. Langstroth. And it also promotes the larger goal of saving the honey bee, incorporating an altruistic sense of serving something greater than oneself. These attributes can also seen in honey bees themselves, some of which in the final desperate act of defending the colony (stinging) sacrifice their own life.
Originally brought to you courtesy of American Bee Journal, the beekeeper’s companion since 1861. (December 2017; March 2018) “Bringing you the latest in practical bee management and bee research.”