A 10-year-old's fight for his bees

After city complaint, campaign saves a backyard colony

- By Nathan Solis

NICHOLAS Bard's family received a complaint over their backyard bees.

(KENT PORTER Press Democrat)

Sometimes it takes a village to raise a child. Or for one 10-year-old in Northern California, a colony of bees.

When the city of Santa Rosa received an anonymous complaint this year about some problem insects in the area, city officials looked into the matter and zeroed in on the Bard family home and, in particular, its colony of thousands of European bees.

As it turned out, keeping the bees was considered an “occupation,” even for a child, and Nicholas Bard and his parents were in violation. The bees, the city said, had to go.

At first, the family appealed and thought they found a sympathetic ear after speaking with a city worker, who told the family they'd run the issue up the chain to their boss.

“We thought we'll get all of this rectified,” said Nicholas’ mother, Sara Bard.

Instead, the city’s response stung. The supervisor informed the Bards that they were not only in violation of having a home business, but also possibly looking at a second ding for having nuisance insects on their property.

“I was pretty sad and they were sad too,” Nicholas said, referring to his parents but also his bees. “When I told them, you can hear how 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.