Wearing a beekeeper jacket, gloves and mask, Chip Kelly was in his element as he checked on his seven bee hives nestled in a pollinator garden off Scaley Bark Circle in Ooltewah.
Kelly operates Harrison Bay Honey Farm and has been beekeeping for nine years. This pollinator garden is just one of several other locations where he keeps his hives.
“I took a Master Gardener course,” he said while showing me his hands. “Look at these fingers. They’re thumbs and they’re black. So, I can’t grow anything. They’re not very good at gardening.”
Kelly said he attended a lecture that was all about bees. “I was just mesmerized,” he said. “The way and fashion and form which bees instinctively know what to do just really fascinated me.”…