Southwestern Oregon Regional Representative
Region: Douglas, Jackson, and Josephine Counties
Andrew Watson manages Applegate Apiaries LLC, a family bee outfit in the Applegate Valley in Southern Oregon. He was bitten by the beekeeping bug after getting two swarms in 2004. Caring for patients as a rural family practitioner, he met several commercial beekeeper families and learned about the life of professional beekeepers. In 2007, with expanding colony numbers and national healthcare changes phasing out solo rural clinics, he expanded the apiary operation to support his growing family. He and his wife, Amanda, found that running a family bee business provided a grounding framework of values for raising their children in a surrounding world of digital illusion. Working cooperatively beside other beekeeping families in almond pollination, honey harvest, and fall bee maintenance exposed their children to a “village” of people sharing similar values. With the kids raised, they have reduced their apiary to less than 500 colonies, but willing hands (and backs) of their adult children help during labor-intensive weeks of the beekeeping year. Andrew enjoys sharing beekeeping ideas with individuals having an appreciation of the value of community and has a keen interest in maintaining the genetic diversity of a locally adapted Southern Oregon bee.