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If you don’t believe in God, it’s time to study a beehive,
according to Father Kevin J. Larsen, pastor of St. John the Apostle Church in
Leesburg.
The intricacies of the beehive and how everything works together
makes Father Larsen think about God putting all this attention into one little
insect.
“We have stewardship over creation, and it makes me think of the
interconnectedness of how important they are for food and at the same time how
it’s important to see God’s hand in all these things. It’s wonderful,” he said.
For the past six years, Father Larsen has been a beekeeper, first
at St. Bernadette Church in Springfield when he served as pastor (2003-16) and now in Leesburg. Caring for bees is as
much for his peace as it is for the honey and wax they provide.
“I find it wonderful to be so close to this intricate community
of insects that is so beneficial to the community,” he said. “The time I spend
with the bees connects me to nature. I find I will spend hours watching the
bees. I will pray my office out there and I find it helps to calm me.”
That calm seems counter to the nature of bees. “Even though they are very active, I get very calm and centered when I am with them,” he said. “I find it is a helpful thing for spiritual life.”
Father Larsen has been stung only twice in the past six years.
He’s learned several lessons, including facing his fears. “Beekeeping has taught
me tremendous patience because it does take time for them to do their work,” he
said. “It (also has taught) me about resilience. Bees can rebound from so many
things and recover, repair and restore their hive.”
Although he doesn’t sell his honey, he shares much of it and
auctioned off jars to raise money for the parish.
Father Larsen also stays busy gardening at the parish. A
greenhouse on the property currently is being used as a staging area to suit up
before gathering the honey. Father Larsen is “anxious to fully utilize the
greenhouse to work on revitalizing and adding to the gardens and landscape all
around the parish grounds.”
There are flower beds on both sides of the box hedges that make
up the ornamental gardens behind the rectory and in the cemetery. “It is my
hope, along with volunteers, to begin to revive these old beds with new
plantings, hopefully many grown from seeds planted and raised in the greenhouse
during the fall and winter months,” he said. “We also hope to do some container
plantings around the church, rectory and parish center, as well as plantings
around the rest of the property.”
Father Larsen maintains 18 fruit trees planted last year and he hopes
to plant blueberry, raspberry and strawberry plants next spring. “I have
created a fenced-in raised garden area in which I will raise a variety of
vegetables,” he said. “I love to cook, including tomatoes for my homemade
tomato sauce, basil for my homemade pesto sauce, onions, asparagus, zucchini
and squash.”
He will transfer many of the plants from the garden to containers
to be kept in the greenhouse over the winter.
Next spring, hopefully, the plants will take their place in the
garden, providing the bees the pollen to fill up the hives once again.
