Ira Poston begins his day on his farm at 8 a.m. He turns on his green John Deere truck and drives from his house to his farm property. In the back of his vehicle is a paint bucket filled to the brim with wood scraps and wilted leaves. Next to it is a battered and soot-stained bee smoker.
He has three horses and 20 chickens.
But what keeps him outside for so long are the over 70 bee colonies on his property, which includes Smith Farms in Gibsonville…