MCCULLOUGH: Hey guys, how's it going?
Good day! How are you?
NARRATOR: Matt McCullough is originally from Australia, but now lives in Tucson,
where he works as a sales manager for a beer distributor.
His job takes him to multiple business in and around Tucson, where he discusses varieties,
brands, and prices by making one-on-one connections with owners and managers.
MCCULLOUGH: So we got three beers to try today.
This is one of my favorites.
Nice black lager.
MAN: It's beautiful.
PATTERSON: The first wine that we're going to taste today is going to be from Skouras winery.
NARRATOR: Noel Patterson is a Tucson native who has a similar job in Southern Arizona,
except his employer deals with wines.
Reds and whites, sweets or dries.
Patterson has been involved in this industry for many years,
and he eventually crossed paths with Matt McCullough.
MCCULLOUGH: It's keeping you busy, eh?
Here you go, mate.
NARRATOR: The men come from different backgrounds and experiences,
but when they started to talk and become friends,
they realized they shared some similar values and interests.
An affinity for tasty beverages and food, a respect for the environment,
and an admiration for a hard-working insect: honey bees.
MCCULLOUGH: I was chatting to him one day about my garden and he started telling me how he's got
into the bee business, and I was like, ah, I should get us some bees as well!
And he asked me if I was serious about it.
I told him I was and sure enough, a week later, I had a whole hive of bees
in the backyard, so it's been great.
[music plays] NARRATOR: In addition to his job with wines,
Noel Patterson also has a growing hobby raising honeybees.
It all began when he started telling others that he wanted to try out this tradition someday.
One of those people was paying attention and took the next step.
PATTERSON: A girlfriend of mine, long ago, completely unexpectedly bought me a hive
for my birthday and kind of threw me into it.
NARRATOR: And you could say he's totally immersed now,
either in his unmistakable full-body suit or a hand that's partly covered
from the sticky honey that's been created by his industrious insects in the Sonoran Desert.
PATTERSON: This is the whole reason why we're doing this.
This is basically just pure, virgin honeycombs.
So, freshly-drawn wax.
Yeah, this is actually - this is as good as it gets.
Oh, look at that honey dripping out.
NARRATOR: Patterson is managing more than two dozen apiaries now,
which he places on people's properties, including the home of Matthew McCullough.
His house is in close proximity to others, but the bees have been good neighbors so far,
even with McCullough's two young children.
PATTERSON: So what you want to do is you want to take a look - there you go!
MCCULLOUGH: It's a nice, secluded area so the kids don't mess with it because they know
that it's not a good idea to grab a stick and hit the bee's nest.
[laughs] It's not a wise thing to do, and - yeah, we don't have any problems at all.
PATTERSON: It's full of honey.
MCCULLOUGH: Wow, look at it.
PATTERSON: Wow.
NARRATOR: In fact, McCullough says the bees are serving as a valuable agricultural teaching tool
for his couple of kids and complimenting the family's backyard gardening efforts.
MCCULLOUGH: I call myself just, like, a little urban rancher, you know.
I've got a vegetable garden in the backyard.
-- Beautiful!
There we go!
-- After that I decided it'd be fun to have just a couple of chickens,
so I got myself a little chicken coup and half a dozen chickens for fresh eggs every day.
The bees pollinate all my vegetables and flowers in the garden, and then I also -
this is the first harvesting today of some fresh honey, so you get a little honey
out of it as well which is fantastic.
NARRATOR: Just like McCullough and his family,
the owners of this more spacious property decided to try out some beehives
after experimenting with chickens.
PATTERSON: Chickens seems to be kind of like the gateway livestock for a lot of people.
Once people really do have a garden, chickens, and really start to grow more of their own food,
a lot of people see these as kind of a logical next step.
I think it's a lot more intimidating for a lot of people,
so somebody has to be a little more dedicated to take it on.
WOMAN: I water the bees every morning.
I have five bee watering containers.
We started little, with I think just a hive or two, and Noel taught us
about them and kind of demystified them.
And my only job is to put water out and keep it full every day because they drink quite a bit.
I watch them in the water and I've actually seen bees assist other bees
in getting out of the water.
They're fascinating.
[music plays] DEGRANDI-HOFFMAN: What kind of things are you measuring?
WOMAN: You know, the difference in the protein from the original diet...
NARRATOR: Gloria DeGrandi-Hoffman works at the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center in Tucson,
which is part of the United States Department of Agriculture.
Scientists are trying to help honeybees by improving their nutrition
and reducing dangerous risks such as an external parasite called the varroa mite.
However, the bees encounter additional problems.
DEGRANDI-HOFFMAN: The actual colony collapse disorder where the bees leave the colony,
although it happens, doesn't happen as frequently as colonies that are lost
from malnutrition or starvation or varroa mites or pesticides or queen loss.
So all of these things can reduce the survival of colonies.
NARRATOR: But DeGrandi-Hoffman says the rising interest in honey bees
and their contributions are positive.
Along with native insects, imported honey bees are responsible for pollinating billions
of dollars worth of food crops every year.
She says there are more than two million colonies in the US.
DEGRANDI-HOFFMAN: Beekeepers really know honey bees.
They know their colonies, they know bee behavior,
they know how to move colonies, reestablish them.
You've got to know a lot about bees to stay in business as a beekeeper.
MAN: You put your hood on again, because...?
PATTERSON: Because it was time.
[laughs] They realized that we're in there taking their honey.
-- From a management standpoint, there are many things that could go wrong.
It's definitely something that you have to have a mentor.
It's not something you can learn online or out of books.
But for people who want to take it to the next level, I've seen a huge interest.
-- Look at that!
NARRATOR: For now, Matt McCullough is content
with the present arrangement he has with his friend.
Noel Patterson checks on the hive and its health,
and McCullough gets some of the honey harvest in return.
PATTERSON: So you're not quite ready on that honey yet.
MCCULLOUGH: I can go and do my job every day, which I love to do, then I can come home
and spend half an hour to an hour just relaxing and, you know, hanging out in my backyard
with my vegetables or chickens or bees.
I was thinking about a goat but I was afraid that if the goat gets
into the garden it'll eat all my vegetables,
so I'm just going to steer clear of that for a while.
PATTERSON: So just from an eating standpoint, from a local food standpoint,
this is about the only sweetener that you can produce yourself.
You know, Lord knows we can't grow sugarcane in the desert.
I also get to spend my time outside and in the place that I love.
It's a Saturday morning, we're outside playing around with the bees.
MCCULLOUGH: Hey mate, how's it going?
MAN: Matt, how are you?
MCCULLOUGH: Good to see you!
NARRATOR: And a new work week begins on Monday.
MCCULLOUGH: Here you go, mate.
NARRATOR: When the men can concentrate on beer and wine again,
while reminiscent about their bees.
MCCULLOUGH: Cheers, mate.
MAN: [laughs] [bees buzz]