New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Beekeeper’s joy outweighs allergy risks
ORANGE — A beekeeper who found out after a nasty reaction to a sting reaction she’s allergic to bee venom had to make a tough decision — and the striped insects won.
Melissa Marguy chose to continue to work with the pollinators she adores, but keeps an EpiPen at the ready and wears extra layers for protection in the sweltering
heat.
When she arrived in the hospital emergency department with her eyes swollen shut, her face ballooned and suffering breathing issues, “Doctors said, ‘this an allergy response. it's probably best you don't do this (beekeeping). This would be your normal or it could be 10 times worse going forward,”' Marguy said.
She had the talk with her husband, Ralph Marguy, with whom she owns the small Sugaree Acre Farm that produces honey and eggs, and decided to continue, although she operates more cautiously now. They have six beehives.
“I enjoy it. At the end of the day it's super rewarding,” and they've invested so much time and research, Melissa Marguy said. “I just love watching them and seeing what they do. They continually fascinate me.”
For the Marguys it's a side job — they both have careers — and is less about the money (and honey) and more about educating people, including children, on the value of bees as pollinators essential to the world.
As for Ralph Marguy, he was ready to support any decision his “amazing” wife made, he said, noting, “Initially, there was definitely some fear.”
“Melissa is Melissa. If she wants to do it she'll figure out a way to do it. I'm
happy if she's happy,” he said. “I don't think she'd ever stop unless someone made her stop.”
Melissa Marguy had been stung previously during her six years in the hobby/ part-time business and it was all routine. She would remove the stinger, wash the area and all was good.
But when she got stung twice on her forehead in June 2020, it was a much different scenario.
Marguy described her reaction as “horrific” and “painful.”
Her eyes swelled shut, her face puffed out to the extreme and she had difficulty breathing. Ralph Marguy took her to the hospital emergency department and learned she suddenly was allergic to “bee venom.” A doctor told her people sometimes suddenly develop an allergy — and can suddenly lose an allergy, too.
Doctors gave her an EpiPen to use in case it happens again and treated her with an anti-inflammatory drug. She took about a week to recover, she said.
“It was so painful, like your whole face was stretching, itching,” said Marguy, a social worker. “I'm not mad – they were bees being bees.”
The Marguys' Sugaree Acre Farm is a small business venture on their home 1.5-acre property, where they keep the bees and chickens, selling honey and eggs. Their honey is popular at farmers markets.
While Melissa Marguy continues to tend the bees, she does things differently, more cautiously now.
Instead of shorts and a tank top under her beekeeping suit in summer, she now wears jeans and long sleeves, and over her beekeeping suit she has added a beekeeping jacket with a hood and face covering or veil.
Ralph Marguy said his wife's attitude is: “Who cares if its 95 degrees and I'm melting out there? I'm going to do it.”
It used to be when the bees were angry and aggressive, Melissa Marguy would just push through.
“These days if they're angry I'll take a break, I'll take a walk,” and she tells them, “‘You guys calm down and I'll come back.' … I try not to linger around the hive.”
Since the allergy was revealed the couple also has cut down on posting videos of the bees on their Facebook page, as that requires more lingering near them.
“We are still committed to education on bees and beekeeping and would really like to make more videos this year, even if they look different than they did in the past,” Melissa Marguy posted on Facebook.
The couple refers to the bees as “the girls” — 90 percent of them are female and the 10 percent who are males are used for reproduction then kicked out of the hive at the end of the season, Melissa Marguy said.
Last year their bees produced 60 onepound jars of honey and they sold out.
“We've met a lot of great people through selling honey,” Melissa Marguy said.
The honey harvested in summer is darker, more like molasses, while honey in spring is more floral, she said. “It tastes different depending on what the bees are getting into,” she said.