California city tried to stamp out 10-year-old’s beehive project. Saving the bees was a lesson in love

Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child. Or for one 10-year-old in Northern California, a colony of bees.

When the city of Santa Rosa received an anonymous complaint this year about some problem insects in the area, city officials looked into the matter and zeroed in on the Bard family home and, in particular, its colony of thousands of European bees.

As it turned out, keeping the bees was considered an “occupation,” even for a child, and Nicholas Bard and his parents were in violation. The bees, the city said, had to go.

At first, the family appealed and thought they found a sympathetic ear after speaking with a city worker, who told the family they’d run the issue up the chain to their boss.

“We thought we’ll get all of this rectified,” said Nicholas’ mother, Sara Bard.

Instead, the city’s response stung. The supervisor informed the Bards that not only were they in violation of having a home business, but they also were possibly looking at a second ding for having nuisance insects on their property.

“I was pretty sad and they were sad too,” Nicholas said, referring to his parents but also his bees. “When I told them, you can hear how they’re feeling because the tone of their wings, the vibrating changes ... so you could hear that they were sad.”

But rather than surrender the issue, the Bards created a new swarm of their own to fight City Hall.

Zachary Bard and his son nine year-old Nicholas check Nicholas’s back yard bee hive. The bees are part of a 4-H program Nicholas is involved with.

(Kent Porter / Press Democrat)

Nicholas’ love of bees began as a toddler in Sonoma County, where the community’s agricultural roots run deep.

Like many kids in the region, he was a part of the local 4-H Club, which teaches children the fundamentals of farming, science, civic engagement and the necessity of a healthy, balanced ecosystem, including the important role of pollinators such as bees.

When he was 7, Nicholas met Ettamarie Peterson, a retired schoolteacher, at a local science fair. Peterson runs a modest farm with her husband in Petaluma and gave a presentation on beekeeping. Nicholas was instantly enamored with the craft, so much so that Peterson later gave him his own swarm.

“He’s such a precocious young man,” Peterson, 86, said. “Sometimes I think of him as a man in a little boy’s body. He’s just so extremely bright.”

Nicholas, friend of the bees, grew that swarm into a colony. He cares for them, listens to them and even reads to them, his parents say. Before he goes out for lacrosse games, it’s tradition that he has a spoonful of honey. Also, perhaps not coincidentally given what happened later, he gets a kick out of seeing tiny insects work together to get big things done.

“I just find it very interesting to see how they work together as one organism,” he said.

The city of Santa Rosa says it will research an update to allow Nicholas and other beekeepers to continue their hobby and research.

(Kent Porter / Press Democrat)

The family’s response to Santa Rosa officials telling them to get rid of their hive started with a suggestion.

Peterson said there are plenty of other backyard hives in Santa Rosa, so it did not make sense for the Bards’ bees to get extra scrutiny. Why not, she told the family, reach out to the Sonoma County Beekeepers Assn. for some help.

That really started a buzz around town. As it turned out, the beehive ban was not common knowledge, even to the beekeepers association, said its president, Cheryl Koeller, in an email.

“There is no way to know how many hives are in Santa Rosa,” she said, noting that the number fluctuates during the year with the seasons.

But a threat to one can be a threat to all, and so the Bards and the beekeepers did as bees do and acted as one.

City Hall was inundated with letters and emails. Newspapers and local TV news stations reached out to the family for interviews. The family even got a postcard from Wales. At one point, Nicholas had to give his bees a pep talk to for another on-camera appearance.

The Bard family, dad Zachary, nine year-old Nicholas and mom Sara, check Nicholas’s back yard bee hive.

(Kent Porter / Press Democrat)

“Because all the bees are girls, worker bees are girls, I say, ‘Girls, you’re going to be on the news tonight,’” Nicholas said. “Or I’ll say, ‘Girls, how are you doing this morning?’ I just want to give them a heads-up.”

In the end, Nicholas and his bees won their fight.

Koeller said the association provided information challenging what she felt was an ambiguous zoning code to the city, arguing that beekeeping was not in violation and exceptions should be made. The group did not want a whole new law on the books, but new language that would cover unique circumstances — such as a 9-year-old’s agriculture project.

Over the summer, the city attorney’s office agreed that the code could be amended. The process will take six to eight months for the city to research the issue, and the beekeepers association is involved in the process.

Santa Rosa Mayor Mark Stapp said city staffers were working to revise the zoning ordinance so students like Nicholas are not prevented from working with bees on their property.

“The city of Santa Rosa does not want to do anything to discourage people who want to support our pollinator community,” Stapp told The Times. “We were thankful to Nicholas and his family for raising this issue, because we didn’t even know that we were preventing this.”

Although the full City Council will still need to vote on the matter sometime next year, Nicholas and his parents finally feel like they can exhale because their bees are safe.

“It’s been five months, almost half a year since all of this started,” Nicholas said, a bit deflated at the pace of human bureaucracy. “I’ve learned just how much I care for my bees in the process of this ordeal.”