Backyard Bees

Stuart Ratcliff, enjoying the benefits of working with his bees.

It was a pleasure to visit and learn a little more about bees from Stuart Ratcliff. Not only does he tend and care for his backyard bee hives, bottles delicious honey, but is also an artisan woodworker who designs and builds horizontal bee hives. Find them on display and for sale at The Bee Box, located at 4765 J Street in East Sacramento.

Stuart, an artist and woodworker, designs and builds horizontal hives in his woodshop.

Stuart’s bees are “chill” probably because they have a beautiful environment and are well cared for. At the beginning of my shoot, I was dressed up looking like an astronaut, but when I couldn’t focus properly through the netting, I pulled everything off and had no problem. Stuart said you can pretty much tell by the bee’s behavior if they’re agitated. At one point, he was pulling screens out and moving things around, and we noticed a little agitation, so we backed off. No worries, I wouldn’t want someone rearranging my home either. : )