For those of us who don’t spend a lot of time thinking about bees, it may come as surprise that a diverse and interesting life can come to revolve around the little insects. For Rick Intres and his wife, Nancy, however, bees are often the first thing to come to mind.

A number of years ago, while living in Pittsfield, the Intres’s noticed a problem developing. They enjoy making hard cider and, says Rick, “the only way to get good cider is to make it out of the worst roadside wild apples around.” Every year he and his wife drove around harvesting these apples, which, though not great for eating, have enough complex and concentrated flavor to make excellent cider. As time passed, however, they noticed the apple supply was dwindling; the trees just weren’t very productive anymore. They gave it some thought and, in the interest of their cider-making habit, they came up with a solution… bees! Knowing that honey bees pollinate fruit trees, the pollination that is required in order for fruit to develop from flowers, Rick and his wife decided they’d get a few hives and see if it helped. Not long after, they were pleased to discover that nearby trees had in fact grown more productive. By doing little more than providing a home to some bees, Rick and Nancy were able to increase the apple harvest and ensure a good supply of hard cider to get them through the long, dark winters.

A few years later, Rick says, they “decided to trade in a bigger house with less land for a smaller house with more land,” and they moved to a 69 acre property, part of an old dairy farm, in Ashfield. Suddenly having that much more space to play with led to an explosion in Rick’s sometimes experimental agricultural endeavors.  The few hives he maintained in Pittsfield expanded to 25, kept in colorful boxes on five locations, where their labors benefit farmers with pollination and Rick with beeswax that he turns into candles, lip balms, and other products; bee pollen, which he freeze dries and sells for dietary supplements and an intensely flavored food condiment; and, of course, delicious honey, all of which the Intres’s sell at their farm stand and in local shops and farmers’ markets. Rick, a molecular geneticist by profession, has also been experimenting with a selection and breeding program among his hives, trying to select for traits that will make his bees best suited for the local environment.  “Bees are so much fun to keep,” says Rick, “everyone should have a hive or two.”

And you can see the passion Rick has for beekeeping in the other projects he’s chosen for the property, in his involvement with the Franklin County Beekeepers’ Association, and with the honey bee Christmas lights that adorn his and Nancy’s fireplace.  Fifteen acres of the Intres property is open field, which Rick replanted with dozens of species of flowering grasses, insurance that his bees will have plenty to eat, and insurance that his fields are stunning throughout the growing season. He also has the 45 wooded acres of the property under a forest stewardship plan, with his management goals being to improve the quality of the woods, enhance wildlife habitat, and develop understory crops (mushrooms, ginseng, witch hazel in particular). "I'm trying to be somewhat socially responsible with my forest management," explains Rick, "and hopefully project a healthy forest into future generations."

One of Rick’s projects for his woodland is to encourage the growth of native, flowering trees, also for his bees. He has been planting trees such as catalpa, locusts, and more, which provide wonderful flowers for hungry honey bees. Rick is trying to guarantee that his bees have to go no further than their front yard to get everything they need. And, of course, Rick has planted apple trees so that he can keep up his cider hobby, also ensuring he has to go no further than his backyard to get what he needs.

Clearly a couple that likes to keep busy, the Intres property is a patchwork of projects. From Nancy’s flock of laying hens, to the grain varieties Rick is growing to feed themselves and the chickens, to the experimental patch of wheat Rick grows for the Little Red Hen project (see http://www.hungryghostbread.com/pages/the-little-red-hen-restoring-wheat-in-the-pioneer-valley.php), to the boarding kennel Nancy will run from their nearly finished timber-framed barn, there is never a dull moment for the couple. Rick and Nancy are committed to keeping their property a working landscape and have enrolled it in the Chapter 61 program for agricultural production in order to be able to keep their land open. And productive land it is. Rick and Nancy have taken inspiration from their hives of busy bees, and created for themselves a bustling Ashfield homestead.