((PKG))  WEST VIRGINIA BEEKEEPERS
((Banner:  New Careers))
((Reporter:  Julie Taboh))
((Camera:  Adam Greenbaum)) 
((Adapted by:  Martin Secrest))  
((Map:  Hinton, West Virginia))
((NATS))
One, two, three.  We probably have four boxes of honey, at least three boxes.  
Yeah.
You already went through all these?
Yeah.
((Pop-Up Banner:  Appalachian Beekeeping Collective was founded in 2017 to help locals learn a new trade))
((James Scyphers, Beekeeper))
They are the most fascinating animal IÕve ever fooled with, insect IÕve ever fooled with, and we learn something, or I do myself, every day.  And itÕs just so fascinating how perfectly they do it.  It's just absolutely amazing. 
((NATS))
((James Scyphers, Beekeeper))
I worked in the coal mines for 16 years.  I ÔbossedÕ for 10 years in the mines and I'm on Social Security and a small miner's pension.  And this has helped me a lot on extra things that I need to do for my family and it's helped me real real great, because I don't get a whole lot from Social Security.  So, it's really helped me.
((NATS))
((Mark Lilly, Appalachian Beekeeping Collective))
A lot of these communities have been hit really hard with unemployment.  For the past 30 years, I've watched them slowly die.  So, you see the people now have, like, hopelessness, and I think we're the starting point, maybe, to bringing some hope to some of these communities.
((NATS))
Take it.  Take you some of that, right there.  There's a little bucket. ThereÕs a little bucket over there.
((Terri Giles, Vice President, Appalachian Headwaters))
We train, equip, work with, mentor people in like, non-surrounding counties in southern West Virginia right now, how to be beekeepers.  And it's something that touches us deeply in our DNA here, because we have a history of beekeeping in Central Appalachia.  And so, it resonated with people that were very interested in becoming beekeepers.
((NATS))
((Cheryl Flanagan, Beekeeper))
Two months ago, I knew nothing about bees.  Today, I am learning hand-in-hand with the master beekeeper and I am amazed.  They are phenomenal.  The drones, the workers, the queen is unbelievable.
((NATS))
((Cheryl Flanagan, Beekeeper))
There she is.  You see the green dot?  That's the queen. That is my queen right there.
((NATS))
((Cheryl Flanagan, Beekeeper))
And I do want to say that the honey that these bees make, it tastes different than anywhere else.  It's got a smokier, richer, really deep flavor to it.
((NATS))
((Mark Lilly, Appalachian Beekeeping Collective))
This is the absolute best honey in the world.  It's from the Appalachian area.  We don't have any commercial farming in the area.  No pesticides.  Very little herbicide use.  
((NATS))
((Mark Lilly, Appalachian Beekeeping Collective))
Everyone says there's this great psychological benefit.  It's a step back in time.  What we do hasn't changed a lot over the past couple of hundred years.  It's something that many of the people in this part of the country used to see on their grandparentsÕ farm.  So now, they're able to reconnect with their past by doing this.
((NATS))
Go ahead and cover it back right now.