EXCELSIOR SPRINGS, Mo. – Military veterans like beekeeper Kit Smith find comfort and knowledge through the Heroes to Hives program offered by University of Missouri Extension.

The U.S. Navy veteran, who is legally blind, began attending Heroes to Hives field days and online training sessions when MU Extension started offering the program in 2021.

MU Extension agronomist Travis Harper leads Missouri’s Heroes to Hives (H2) group, which has trained more than 1,200 veterans since 2021. H2H began at Michigan State University in 2015 and is the nation’s largest agricultural training program for U.S. military service members.

Smith joined H2H to learn more about beekeeping, but he found that the program was about much more than that. He found comfort in camaraderie with other veterans who shared stories of post-traumatic stress disorder after serving their country. He learned he was not alone in experiencing mental illness after leaving the military.

“Being with others showed me that I was not alone. Before, I felt like I was in the middle of the ocean and in a rowboat by myself,” he says. Even for someone who was part of the nuclear weapons security alert team on a Navy destroyer, that’s a lonely place.

H2H and therapy from the Veterans Administration helped him overcome some of those feelings. “With PTSD, idle time is bad time. That’s when stinkin’ thinkin’ creeps in. That’s when suicidal ideas creep in,” he says.

Harper says 77% of surveyed program participants say that beekeeping benefits their mental health.

H2H helps veterans several ways, including hands-on instruction at teaching apiaries in Warrensburg, Poplar Bluff, St. Louis and Mount Vernon and monthly Zoom meetings. Participants also can participate in an MU Extension tai chi program, which teaches stress-relief and strength practices.

In addition to mental well-being, H2H helps disabled veterans with their physical well-being. At least 50% of participants have a service-connected disability that can make beekeeping with traditional equipment difficult, says Harper.

H2H exposes beekeepers to alternative equipment and methods to ease their pain. Missouri H2H teaches how to use the AZ, also called Slovenian hives, and Layens methods. These use horizontal hives that provide easier access to the bees and honey, require less lifting and result in less bee mortality.

Smith is receiving some of these AZ hives and honey straw machines from Missouri Rehabilitation Services for the Blind through referrals from the Missouri AgrAbility Project, which is headed by MU Extension health and safety specialist Karen Funkenbusch.

“The amount of pain saved by using the Slovenian hives is astronomical,” says Smith, who suffers from hand spasms. He also hopes to receive a lifting machine like one that Harper demonstrated in a H2H meeting. These lighten the load in lifting hives that can weigh from 60 to 300 pounds.

Now 65, Smith spent years as an amateur bodybuilder, flooring installer and mechanic before becoming a successful consultant for litigation cases involving construction defects.

He now lacks the physical strength he had being injured in a vehicle accident. Following that, he suffered lung damage caused by improperly installed insulation. His vision started to fade when he was in his 30s due to a genetic disorder, Stargardt disease, that caused him to become legally blind in 2022.

He says Rehabilitation Services for the Blind referred him to a center where he received adaptive devices such as special magnified and lit glasses and tools to help with everyday tasks. Most recently, he received a DaVinci Pro, a reader that magnifies print and offers text-to-speech capability.

When his physical health and eyesight began to weaken, he found himself with time on his hands for the first time in his life. In addition to the physical pain, he struggled with concerns about how to keep busy and productive. “I’ve been busy my entire life,” he says.

In addition to taking up beekeeping, he converted more than 14 of his 40 acres of his land near Excelsior Springs to pollinator habitat with the help of the Bee and Butterfly Habitat Fund. He also hopes to expand his elderberry operation to support his belief in the many health benefits of elderberries.

Smith credits Funkenbusch with helping him to find purpose through programs such as Missouri AgrAbility, Heroes to Hives and Armed to Farm. He serves as a Missouri AgrAbility ambassador and attended the 2023 AgrAbility national convention.

Learn more about Heroes to Hives at https://mizzou.us/heroestohives and AgrAbility at https://agrability.missouri.edu.

Learn more about Kit Smith’s beekeeping at www.lakeviewacres.farm. Follow him on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/lakeviewacres64024.