COMMUNITY
Bill Johnson removes a frame from a beehive on the Hart Farm along Ralston for inspection July 31.
Honey, I’m home! Maricopa couples are working to save the bees BY BRIAN PETERSHEIM JR.
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IPPING YOURSELF INTO A beekeeping suit for the first time can feel surprisingly nerve-wracking. You start by sliding one leg, then
the other, into the stiff white pants, pulling them up awkwardly. Then comes the heavy and unfamiliar jacket, zipped all the way up over your shoulders, sealing you in. Finally, you tug the hood over your head, the mesh veil dropping in front of your face, and zip it closed. In triple-digit heat, with the warm suit on, you walk toward the hive. The space no longer belongs to you — it belongs to the bees. And when you start messing with them, they don’t hesitate to turn it into a swarm. Perhaps they get inside your suit; hopefully, they don’t. That’s by no means to say these small, bumbling insects are bad creatures. In fact, they are among the most valuable in the world, according to some locals, but they will defend their queen with their lives. Rancho El Dorado residents Angela and Andrew Mattson, owners of Mattson’s Good Bees, maintain their own hives in Maricopa and Flagstaff and have seen firsthand what bees can do for the environment. The company’s name was chosen to teach their son, Antero, the difference between wasps and the good ones. The couple began beekeeping as a hobby in 2020, and soon after setting up their first apiary, they noticed a change in the surrounding environment. In Maricopa, they use Flow Hives — wooden beehives with plastic frames that allow you to harvest honey from a tap while still being able to see inside. When they placed their apiary, Andrew recalled, “Flowers started to come out more often on all the surrounding trees and bushes, but then lizards, roadrunners, birds and the whole ecosystem kind of changed — just because of putting out bees and an apiary.” He added, “Just putting small bees around in an area significantly changes it over a period of less than two or three years. It’s a huge change.”
From left: Andrew, Angela and Antero Mattson
InMaricopa.com | September 2025
September 2025 | InMaricopa.com
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