by Robert Gerard
Les Crowder always had a great curiosity about insects when he was a kid growing up in Bernalillo, New Mexico. This interest was particularly pronounced when it came to social insects such as ants, wasps and bees. He was fascinated with the organization of ants as they adjusted their behavior to the food he would bring them. Crowder said it appeared that the ants showed intelligence, as they got to know he would feed them at a certain time and a certain place every day and had the ability to communicate this information with their “sister” ants. Later, he managed to catch a bee swarm, which he put into a box. From that point, he was captivated by bees and would eventually spend the greater part of his life studying and making a business out of them. He now owns an apiary at Sparrow Hawk Farm with his wife, Beth, and family.