The grounds surrounding Andrea Setsvold’s bee yard are what you would imagine to be a pollinator’s paradise.

Tire tracks lead through grass to a field of native plants like Dutch clover, sweet clover and birdsfoot trefoil, basswood trees, dandelions and goldenrod.

Between three apiaries, Setsvold has 12 hives of Russian honeybees.

Just a quarter mile from her house, five of those hives sit hoisted up on cement blocks to allow for airflow.

“The bees, they’re finicky little insects. I’ve noticed in previous bee yards where I didn’t do weed control, the weeds will rub up against the hives, and then they’re more aggressive,” Setsvold said as she surveyed the perimeter of her fenced-off bee yard. Gravel lines the ground under the hives as a barrier against any overgrowth from the surroundin

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