Many 4-H members raise livestock, build rockets or perfect blue-ribbon recipes, but for 18-year-old Isla Seward, summer means donning a bee suit, lighting a smoker and checking the family hives. Inspired by her grandfather, she has spent her entire 10-year 4-H career mastering the art of beekeeping — all while making memories as sweet as the honey itself.
“Beekeeping has always been in my family. I feel like I’ve grown up with it,” Seward said. “It’s definitely out of the ordinary.”
Seward’s passion for beekeeping began when she was seven years old, tending to her grandfather’s hives.
“He started doing beekeeping as a hobby after he retired, and then he taught my dad, and now both of them have taught me,” she said. “It was scary at first, not wanting to get stung and everything, but I got a bee suit, so I wear it every time I work with the bees. I’ve spent a lot of time with my family up there at the hives.”
Now, she has hives at her house, where she finds peace in nurturing and collecting honey from her own colony. Her routine involves making sure the hive has access to sugar water, checking on the queen, and lighting pine needles inside a smoker, which is used to help calm the bees for honeycomb collection.
“That’s actually one of my favorite parts as well, because I like calm bees, not aggressive ones,” she said.
Once the bees are calm, she can go through each layer of comb, scanning for honey and pests. She then places the combs into an extractor, which uses centrifugal force to collect the honey into a drum.
Apart from the memories and quality time with her bees, Seward’s favorite part about beekeeping is getting to taste the honey her colony has produced.
“[I like] hot summer days up at the hives, sweating in our bee suits and getting the honey off. … And once every project is completed, just the honey, being able to taste it and use it in everyday life.”
An unconventional project in Montgomery County, beekeeping — and her talent for it — have shown Seward uncommon success. At this year’s county fair, she received the 4-H Beekeeping Award, sponsored by Hidden Hollow Honey, presented annually to the outstanding beekeeping exhibit. Her two bottles of extracted honey won grand champion at the county level and will head to the state fair in August.
Her proudest accomplishment?
“Going to the state fair every year and placing well in the state fair, and being able to grow every year and learn new things from it,” she said.
Winters, she said, can be the most challenging — and sometimes saddening — part of beekeeping, as not every colony survives. There is also the occasional sting. But if 10 years of beekeeping have taught her anything, it’s the advice she tells younger beekeepers in 4-H:
“Don’t let all the hard times during winter and all the downfalls upset you. Definitely don’t be scared of the bees, because yes, they sting, but they’re not a bad thing if you treat them well,” she said. “Don’t be afraid, and don’t give up in those hard times, because the end product is definitely worth it.”
Like her grandfather and father taught her, Seward hopes to someday pass down the generational passion to her own family.
“Later in my life, I definitely hope to bring it back to my family and just keep producing honey and using it,” she said.
Fittingly, Seward is a member of the Clever Clovers 4-H club. She graduated from Crawfordsville High School in May, and will attend Purdue University at the Honors College in the fall to double-major in finance and marketing.
