This story was published in The Weekly, a supplement to The Daily Northwestern.

Charles Depondt works at Norris Bookstore, but you can’t find the sort of books he likes to read there. Instead of texts on globalization and business management, Depondt reads books and magazines about his unusual hobby: beekeeping.

“I’ve been interested in beekeeping since I was a child,” Depondt says. “I’ve always loved social insects.”

As a child, Depondt would spend long afternoons in his backyard observing the behavior of ants, awed by their ability to function as a group. Three years ago, he picked up beekeeping, adding it to a list of outdoor passions that includes biking and sailing.

Since other beekeeping aficionados were eager to share their experiences, getting started was easy, Depondt says. He took classes in Chicago, where there are plenty of bee supply outlets, he says.

Depondt used a friend’s orchard in Michigan to house his first two hives, hoping they would help with pollination there. But Depondt, who lives in Rogers Park, left the hives alone for the beekeeping season, which spans from early spring to early summer. When he returned, Depondt found them invaded by hornets and yellow jackets.

Many of his early attempts resulted in a hive full of dead bees in the spring, but as he gains experience, he says he is learning how to make sure they survive the winter. He is also learning how to tell the mood of his bees and says he can gauge their aggression before he enters the hive.

“I’ve actually managed it without gloves a few times,” he says.

Beehive maintenance requires entering the hive to remove excess honey cells, creating room for the bees to make more. Venturing into a hive of tens of thousands of bees might seem scary, but Depondt says it’s not as bad as you might think.

“When people think of bees, they think of killer bees, they think of wasps,” he says. Honeybees are different, he added. “If they don’t feel threatened, they won’t bother you.”

Bees are an endangered species, so Depondt finds that beekeeping has positive ecological effects.

“It feels like a good thing to do, for helping the environment, fighting global warming and everything,” he says. “It’s a green kind of hobby.”