Doroghy Dave - Show me the honey: adventures of an accidental apiarist

Copyright 2020 by Dave Doroghy

Foreword copyright 2020 by Rick Hansen

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. For more information, contact the publisher at: touchwoodeditions.com.

The information in this book is true and complete to the best of the authors knowledge. All recommendations are made without guarantee on the part of the author or the publisher.

In this memoir names and identifying details of certain places and individuals have been changed to maintain anonymity, and the chronology of some events has been compressed.

Edited by Claire Philipson

Copy edited by Meg Yamamoto

Cover design by Tree Abraham

Interior design by Sydney Barnes

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Title: Show me the honey : adventures of an accidental apiarist / Dave Doroghy ; foreword by Rick Hansen.

Names: Doroghy, Dave, author. | Hansen, Rick, 1957- writer of foreword.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20190193468 | Canadiana (ebook) 20190193492 | ISBN 9781771513227 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781771513234 (HTML)

Subjects: LCSH: Bee cultureAnecdotes. | LCSH: BeekeepersCanadaAnecdotes. | LCSH: Doroghy, Dave.

Classification: LCC SF523.3 .D67 2020 | DDC 638/.1dc23

TouchWood Editions gratefully acknowledges that the land on which we live and work is within the traditional territories of the Lkwungen (Esquimalt and Songhees), Malahat, Pacheedaht, Scianew, TSou-ke and W SNE (Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Tsawout, Tseycum) peoples.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund and the Canada Council for the Arts, and of the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.

To my mother, Susan, who always taught my sister and me that the more things in life you are interested in, the more interesting your life becomes.

Ive known Dave for over 30 years, and he often jokes that I introduce him as Dave, the honey guy. In recent years, Ive indeed enjoyed jars of honey from Daves hives, but you might be surprised to hear that our connection started with a global burger chain. Long before Dave became the honey guy he was my McDonalds guy.

A series of fortuitous events led Dave to join my Man In Motion World Tour team. I had been on the road and all around the world for over a year, but the Tour was far from a fundraising success. In fact, I was on the verge of losing hope. At this time, Dave was a junior ad man with Palmer Jarvis advertising agency, and for over a year had been on the McDonalds account doing advance promotion work of the Tour from Vancouver. This involved developing promotional materials, fundraising manuals, and even sewing McDonalds patches onto the track outfits that Nike had donated.

It was nothing short of providence that George Cohon, chairman of McDonalds Canada, happened to spot me on NBCs Today Show with Bryant Gumbel talking about my journey around the world in my wheelchair. What also caught his eye that day was the logo on my shirt, one of the ones Dave had diligently sewn on to garner exposure for the restaurant.

George was passionate about worthy causes, and I was lucky that my dream to find a cure for spinal cord injury and to raise awareness of the potential of people with disabilities was one he wanted to get behind. George contacted Ron Marcoux, McDonalds Western Canada vice president, to bolster McDonalds existing sponsorship of the Tour. Dave possessed an entrepreneurial spirit and energetic attitude, which made it a no-brainer for his boss, George Jarvis, to ask Dave to pack his bags for the year to join me on the last leg of the Tour from the East to West coast of Canada.

Not only was Dave tasked with being my advance man, he was also given the goal of helping McDonalds raise a quarter of a million dollars for the Tour on the homestretch. This was no simple feat, but Dave rose to the challenge. Over the course of nine months, Dave and I forged a friendship along the Trans-Canada Highway.

I marvelled at how organized each McDonalds restaurant was when I arrived in town. Each one welcomed me with a banner that said Were with you Rick. McDonalds, I thought, must have had to produce hundreds of those welcome banners. I was surprised to find out later that there had only been one banner! After I left the restaurant in each town, Dave and the local restaurant manager would set up a ladder and climb up on the roof to unravel the signage. The banner would be rolled up and shipped on a Greyhound bus into the next town, ready to go up on the next McDonalds roof before I arrived.

Dave was one of our most energetic scout bees, and this is just one of many stories that I could tell you about his relentless energy and professionalism. I will forever be grateful for Daves role in the success of the Tour, but even more so for his friendship and support in the years that followed. Dave has always possessed a natural curiosity and ambitious spirit that allows him to jump into sticky adventures with ease. It came as no surprise to me that Dave had begun chasing new dreams as an apiarist. As I read his memoir, I was struck by the parallels between building a thriving bee colony and the fine margins between lifes victories and failures.

It can be easy to look back on memories of the Tour and only remember its triumphs. I can recall thousands of people lining the streets for our homecoming and marvel at the millions of dollars raised. What Ill never forget is that the journey unfolded because of the amazing energy of thousands of individuals like Dave who played an important part in manifesting a positive outcome for us. Similarly, when we enjoy a dose of honey, be it drizzled in our tea or smoothed over a peanut butter sandwich, its easy to lose sight of where it came from.

Life is an intricate tapestry of events that connects us to the greater world around us. Dave approaches the challenges of becoming an accidental apiarist with humour and thoughtful observations. His story reveals the complex and vital roles that bees play in maintaining the delicate balance of a vibrant and healthy planet. Bees, while small, are mighty clever in the way they collaborate to make a difference to our environment. If we look closely, the world is made up of many difference-makers like Dave and his honeybees. Daves story of his bees is a reminder that we dont achieve anything on our own. Our success is dependent on actions, big and small, of many. Like bees, we all have an important role to play in making this life worth living.

Rick Hansen

Beekeeping is a sticky, time-consuming, and expensive hobby that often yields little to no honey after carrying out many laborious beekeeper tasks and getting stung so many times you end up feeling like a worn-out, frayed human pincushion. In practice, I have turned out to be a lousy beekeeper. As with so many things in life, I kind of accidentally stumbled into it. I suppose you could say it chose me.

My sister Miriam and brother-in-law Len have been serious beekeepers for years. As is typical with my sister, she took up the hobby with intense focus and vigour. At family dinners, the conversation often turned to drones, queens, nurses, guards, and female workers. Sometimes we would talk about bees too. Then I met my girlfriend, Jeannie, and coincidentally her sister kept bees. Shortly after we began dating, Jeannie started keeping bees herself, and before I knew it, everyone in my immediate circle was decked out in white costumes with wire mesh veils. A cliquey club of honeybee nerds surrounded me, and, all of a sudden, I was the clueless outsider asking dumb questions. I felt alone and excludedlike a bee unable to get into the hive.