Kim Gunter wanted to be a beekeeper and was fascinated by honey bees and their work to collect pollen and nectar and produce golden honey. 

Kim and her family own Mountain River Family Campground in Ingalls, NC, on the banks of the North Toe River, shaded by trees and made vibrant and welcoming by generations of families who camp there every summer and fall.

Last May, Kim took the plunge into beekeeping by purchasing two small hives of bees and an electric fence to protect them from bears. Dressed in her hot pink beekeeper suit, she babied those bees, fed them sugar syrup, and made sure they were healthy. They thrived.  Fearless and obsessed with bees, she joined the local bee club, Toe Cane Beekeepers, so she could learn more. The club assigned her a mentor, and they helped her harvest five gallons of honey in August, an amazing feat for a first-year beekeeper.

Then came Hurricane Helene.

The campground buildings, including her unsold jars of honey and her two hives, were washed away by Helene’s flooding. The big oaks, alders and willows along the river bank uprooted and tumbled downstream. Buildings floated off their foundations and crumbled into the muddy river. Cars, campers, storage buildings and a huge metal shipping container surged downstream, over the high-water bridge on the North Toe River leaving their remains on the bridge and miles down the river. To no avail, the family picked through the debris piles to see if the bees had miraculously survived. Kim says she thinks they did survive because she feels a lingering connection and love for them. 

Although the campground that was their home and livelihood was destroyed, Kim’s husband, Mike, her daughter and son-in-law, Suzanne and Jared Garland are safe. Over the past two months they have worked to help others recover from the flood, and they are determined to rebuild the campground with lots of help from all over. Kim hopes to keep bees again.

Some would say this is a very sad story, but it’s not entirely. As we all recover from the pain of losing friends, homes, possessions and a peaceful, beautiful river, we are reminded that healing will take time. That healing begins with clinging to small but cherished things – like the memory of sunny days watching the bees work. And that last jar of honey.

Kim’s last jar of honey survived because two days before the flood she entered it in the bee club’s Mayland Black Jar Honey Contest, which will be held on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at Homeplace Beer Co. in Burnsville.

After the best tasting honey is chosen from among the entries, Kim’s last jar of honey will be offered to bidders in the Silent Auction.  Proceeds will be used to help other beekeepers recover and rebuild. Many of her fellow beekeepers also will have honey in the contest and extra jars in the auction. The public is invited to come and taste all the different flavors of honey produced in Mitchell, Avery and Yancey counties.  It’s free to taste, and for a $10 donation, folks can be an official judge and vote for the honey they believe tastes the BEST.  

Will Kim’s honey be the winner?  Come to the contest 6 to 8 p.m. at Homeplace on Dec. 11, and find out. Vote for your favorite, and help beekeepers continue to help bees.  It will be a small, but meaningful step toward recovery and healing from the storm.

See more information on the contest or donate to help beekeepers rebuild after Helene.