Loren busy making a frame for one of his bee boxes. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Bzzz, "Mine dem bite you. You blocking their view. Dem nuh easy," shouted Loren Allen, a 25-year-old beekeeper from Longwood, St. Elizabeth. Bzzz. It's the only sound I could hear as I took cover under a nearby chicken coop.

We were at Loren's small apiary at the back of his home in Longwood. It's well off the road and if you don't know where you're going, you'll probably get lost in the middle of nowhere.

Loren is perhaps the most popular beekeeper in Longwood and has developed a reputation for selling the most potent honey in all of St. Elizabeth. In fact, he's known in many parts of Kingston for his honey and many people place orders to have the sweet treat delivered to them.

But Loren's entry into the beekeeping industry wasn't exactly a happy event.

Hard times

"I really got into it because I met up into some hard times. My father died in 2002 and I was on my own. I had to find a way to survive," he said. Loren's father was a beekeeper all his life and even though he didn't know it, Loren was silently watching him from the shadows, taking close note of what he was doing. "I was never really involved when my father was working, but I used to like to watch him work. That's why when he died, I had to do what I saw my father do," Loren said.

And it has paid off for him. Though Loren has been on his own since his father died, he has been able to pay his bills and keep his two-year-old daughter happy.

Searching

"I started out by searching a breadfruit tree and finding a bee hive. I cut it out and built a small box. Now I have about 13 boxes," he said.

He pulls honey from the boxes about four times per year and is able to get about 20 quarts from each box, each time. Each quart sells for about $500.

"It really is not an easy thing to get into because you're going to get stung a lot before the bees get used to you. And these days most young people aren't willing to put in the work. But my father showed me that with hard work you will succeed. So I'm working hard," Loren said.

"I'm not at all a rich man, but because of my father, thank God at least I can survive," he said.

- Robert Lalah