Hay fever and allergies affect a large percentage of our population. Natural remedies such as consuming locally grown honey made from local flowers and trees have become very popular.  The Garrard County ANR agent has been receiving numerous calls from local clientele about beekeeping.  The Agent purchased and set up 2 beehives at the office and held 2 programs on beginning beekeeping the first year. The Agent is learning first hand how difficult it can be maintain bee hives. This past spring's hive inspection revealed that one of the hives did not survive the winter.  The Agent took the opportunity to educate several local beekeepers on what went wrong and how to repopulate the hive. A new batch of bees was ordered and a class held on putting new bees in a hive. Three participants attended the hands on program and all 3 said they had bees coming and now felt comfortable about handling their new bees. The Agent plans to hold more programs as the bees add honey to the hives.  One hundred percent of the participants indicated they had gained knowledge and were more comfortable with handling their own bees.