Dean's World

I just returned home from spending several days in a very rural part of the country - upstate Pennsylvania, Wellsboro to be precise. I haven't written much about my experiences there, mainly due to the fact that I'm still mulling them over to see what they mean to me. Being a suburbanite who has spent a lot of time in big cities and abroad, I've never really thought much about rural America. However the older I become, the more likely I imagine myself living there. There's a lot to be said for clean air, rolling hills without McMansions covering them, and people who work hard without complaint. I feel like I experienced something deep and wonderful that is currently not ready to be formed into words and coralled by grammar and syntax. But here is a try.

Last Friday the Family visited Draper's Super Bee Apiary. Since we came late in the day, we were given a personal tour of the apiary by Bill Draper, the founder's son and current head of the operation. In a small warehouse we saw boxes of beeswax, gallon jugs and 50 gallon drums of honey. On shelves were observation hives - safety glass mounted in frames of oak, maple and cherry. By connecting a wooden tunnel between the outside and the hive, you can watch bee activity from the safety and comfort of the indoors. Bill had two of these set up, one with a bee cam where people from all over the world can see what Bill's bees are up to.

Bill showed us around the operation, and took time answering all of our questions. He explained the workings of the hives, and spoke lovingly about the bees. He also mentioned how his business had boomed from the Internet, how his small company in upstate PA fills orders from Korea, China and Japan for honey, beeswax and propolis - a resin that the bees excrete which some believe has medicinal properties. His son, Royal, setup and maintains the website. When we met him he had just finished edging around some of the hundreds of outside hives the family owns. He was attended to by his dog, a beagle that he had nursed back to health after it had been hit by a car. As the dog bounced around excited at his master's presence, Bill talked about bees while using his bare hands to protect the Kid's ears and eyes from a few annoyed and inquisitive bees.

On a door in the warehouse hung several photographs and letters from the White House and George W. Bush. Surrounding these, and tacked on walls all around the operation were thank you cards from children and adults that had visited or purchased products from the Draper's from around the world. It was clear to the Wife and me that this was a family-run operation that was growing thanks to a combination of factors: the ubiquity of the Internet, fast and inexpensive shipping, and the traditional values of family, patriotism and solid, no-nonsense customer service. While we were there the phone didn't stop ringing for more than a minute or two. Bill Draper apologized for each interruption, but we were happy to see him busy as he took orders from Texas and California.

Driving by the outfit one would think that the Draper's Super Bee Apiary was a thing of the past. However, stop by and you will see the a truly innovative and high-technology operation. The Drapers produce and distribute high quality products. They provide the kind of customer service that makes one feel good about giving them business, and they do so from an area of the country people may not know much about (at least, I didn't).

I plan to keep bees someday soon, and you can bet that Draper's Super Bee Apiary will be my first stop when I set up my hives. In the meantime I am happy knowing that in upstate PA there is a bright spark of innovation.

Well, there are several sparks - a growing firestorm actually. In fact that's the big issue I'm struggling to write about. What I saw was a part of the country was not what I was expecting. I didn't see an area mired in the poverty of its past, but one that was coming alive after the boom and bust of heavy industry, mining and logging. I felt that the region was undergoing a new revival, getting a second chance at success and prosperity.

I'm a big believer in second chances, or what the Kid calls "do-overs". Northern PA/Southern New York is at the beginning of a massive do-over, and the Draper Family is leading the way. I'll probably join them eventually in Rural America someday, but until then all I can do is tell you that something is happening out there in Rural America - and it's something worth writing about.