Beekeeper Samantha Jones prepares a bee smoker near hives kept near Iola, Wisconsin. | Iola, Wisconsin: They wrote it right into their business plan -- an expectation that, each year, at least half the stock on which their livelihood depends would die. Building a business around bees is not for the faint-hearted. "You have to be a little crazy," says James Cook, who, with wife Samantha Jones, started beekeeping eight years ago. They knew well the challenges their bees face -- parasites and the impact of pesticides among them.
AP