For Santa Rosa boy, saving the bees was a lesson in love

[Bees, from A1]

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ZACHARY BARD, left, son Nicholas Bard and wife Sara Bard check on the 10-year-old's backyard beehive at their home in Santa Rosa.

(KENT PORTER Press Democrat)

they're feeling because the tone of their wings, the vibrating changes ... so you could hear that they were sad.”

But rather than surrender the issue, the Bards created a new swarm of their own to fight City Hall.

Nicholas’ love of bees began as a toddler in Sonoma County, where the community’s agricultural roots run deep.

Like many kids in the region, he was a part of the local 4-H Club, which teaches children the fundamentals of farming, science, civic engagement and the necessity of a healthy, balanced ecosystem, including the important role of pollinators such as bees.

When he was 7, Nicholas met Ettamarie Peterson, a retired schoolteacher, at a local science fair. Peterson runs a modest farm with her husband in Petaluma and gave a presentation on beekeeping. Nicholas was instantly enamored with the craft, so much so that Peterson later gave him his own swarm.

"He’s such a precocious young man," Peterson, 86, said. "Sometimes I think of him as a man in a little boy’s body. He’s just so extremely bright.”