Kim Geddes ~ Beekeeper & Conservationist

If you would have told this former nuclear engineer that one day I’d be raising bees, I might have laughed. But today, I am the owner and AIRBNB super host of a 17-acre farm called Diamond Creek in rural North Carolina and beekeeper to a half million bees, at last count. It started three years ago when I read news articles about the overall decline of bees. In the article, they explained the devastating impact to the environment and their rather bleak future given deadly pesticides, disease and climate issues. I also happened to see an announcement for a course in beekeeping at North Carolina State University, so I decided to enroll. I learned so many fascinating aspects about bees and their great importance, it spurred me on to start an apiary.

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What I wasn’t really prepared for was such love and respect for bees. There are so many types, individual tasks and actual personalities that you see from raising and studying them. And I definitely saw the direct impact of them in our gardens from the increased pollination.

I retired from my career in nuclear engineering and physics in early 2022. I’m lucky to be able to say that the shift from such a rigorous career in engineering and teaching has been pretty easy. No regrets, probably because the timing was right. I wasn’t as challenged in recent years as in years past and knew I was searching for other passions.

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Now I have more time to devote to our farm and conservation in general. Recently, we decided to turn our guest house into an AIRBNB. We built it when we first moved here, waiting for our house to be completed and intended it as a guest house for family and friends. But we realized it was a lovely space that was underused, so we opened it up as an AIRBNB. It’s been very rewarding to provide people a comfortable, relaxing atmosphere and offer them a unique farm experience just minutes from town. I’m very proud to have earned AIRBNB Superhost status with a solid 5.0 rating from 100 percent of our guests to date.

The best advice I can give to those looking for post-career experiences is to choose something that gives you pride and continuous reward. You worked at those same goals for years in your career, no reason to stop now.

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moorecountync.gov

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