Tularosa beekeeper prepares for the season

Tularosa beekeeper prepares for the season

“When you’re working with bees you don’t cut corners,” Norm Bloom said as he tightened the cuffs of his full-body bee suit before sliding long gloves up his arms. Then he grabbed his smoker, which was already full of small sticks and dried grass and leaves and the smallest of fires. He pumped the bellows attached to the side of the can to make copious gray smoke plume from the pointed cap. He aimed the smoke at the entrance to the nearest hive b…