HATTON, N.D. — When thinking about typical hobbies for an 11-year-old boy, beekeeping probably isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. But for Rhett Phelps, it’s one of his favorite ways to spend his time.
Rhett first got involved in beekeeping when he was 3 years old. He and his dad visited the almond orchards in California, and Rhett has been hooked ever since. Rhett tends to 40 bee hives on his family's property, each hive housing anywhere from 60,000 to 80,000 bees. While Rhett enjoys many things about being a beekeeper, seeing the bees hard work in producing honey is one of his favorites.
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“Going out to the yard, seeing how well they’re doing, extracting the honey… I like that part,” Rhett said.
After Rhett extracts the honey, he bottles it himself. He offers the homegrown honey at a bakery by his home as well as at farmers markets. He sells the bakery honey to use in their baked goods and also has bottles of his honey shelved there to be purchased. Rhett also has a Facebook page where customers can order his honey and see some of the behind scenes happenings of being a beekeeper.
Beekeeping can be a taxing, laboring intensive job. Rhett doesn't enjoy the summer heat when he is in his bee suit working out at the hives, and in the springtime, he misses his shut eye.
“If it's the middle of the summer, getting up and doing it on the 100-degree day and lifting heavy supers on to hives, and then during the spring it’s usually just getting up for me at least,” Rhett said.
Rhett has had many help him along the way and is thankful for everyone who has helped him become the beekeeper he is today. His dad’s beekeeper friends have lent a helping hand with helping keep his bees and hives along with helping extract the honey. He says his teachers have also been very supportive in his honey venture, buying his honey and letting others know about his product.
“Yeah, I'm pretty thankful for it,” Rhett said.
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