At the end of a cul-de-sac in Willoughby, Ohio, yellow specks flicker above a house, beyond the trees, then back towards a yard.
On the earth below the speckled highway, native plants bloom. A birdbath near the house’s front door has small cork platforms – not for birds, but for honeybees to sit on so they can safely drink water.
In 55-year-old Mark Fleischer’s yard, thousands of honeybees living in 10 hives travel for miles to gather pollen and nectar. Fleischer is a beekeeper and owner of Timber Ridge Honey Company.
He wants to help the planet while selling his honey and other merchandise. But he’ll bring more than just the fruits of his bees’ labors to farmers’ markets. He also sells Pride merchandise and wears something to show that he is a visible part of the LGBTQ+ community.
Owned by Fleischer and his husband, Scott Gainer, the house at the end of Timber Ridge Lane is a “little ecosystem,” Fleischer said.
“We created this space that’s constantly blooming with different things,” he said.
Beekeeping for Dummies
Fleischer was always connected to nature. He likes to camp, and his family fished together. Only for a brief period in his life did he not have an animal in his house.
But his path to beekeeping was winding. He attended Cleveland State University as a communications major, then went to work in publishing, selling millions of dollars in advertisements, he said. After publishing, he hopped from job to job – from carpentry to stocking blood with the American Red Cross to working at the Willoughby Senior Center.
Fleischer’s most consistent gig over the years has probably been playing Santa at Christmas time. “I started Santa Claus-ing at a young age with a fake beard to nursing homes, and to different programs within [my] church, and just used it to surprise family and friends or people with little kids,” he recalled. “I would drive by and the little kids would lose their minds, even though I had a fake beard that looked so horrible.”
After learning about what climate change was doing to the planet, Fleischer bought a bee house in 2017. It had small paper tubes, and a year later a couple of them were plugged – which meant that one of Ohio’s hundreds of native bees (most of which lack stingers) decided to lay their eggs there.
Fleischer was on his deck when the bees emerged. He took a video as bees flew around him looking for plants to pollinate. When he posted the video online, his friends and family thought he was crazy.
“People were losing their minds on my social media pages,” he said. “Somebody posted on my feed, ‘Why don’t you look at becoming a honey beekeeper?’”
The comment piqued Fleischer’s interest. He joined Facebook groups online, bought “The Beekeeper’s Bible” and “Beekeeping For Dummies.”
By the end of 2019, he was becoming well-educated on honeybees. He started answering other people’s questions about honeybees – even people who owned an apiary themselves.
“Unbeknownst to me, I became an expert,” he said. “That’s when the lightbulb went on.”
After he “[submerged] himself in honeybees,” he got a job putting together programs at the Willoughby Senior Center and learned that there “was a need here” for LGBTQ+ representation.
He told the director that he wanted to give seniors experiences, like taking them to a drag brunch. The director said, “‘RuPaul Drag Race’ is my favorite show, but can you wait a little while so that you can get in here and feel the vibe?’” he recalled. “I think on day two, people were lining up outside of my door saying, ‘When are we doing our first drag show?’”
At first glance, Fleischer’s portfolio is eclectic, but he said it “all is woven together” through planning, logistics and spreading awareness, he said.
“The more I can try to tell people what’s going on, whether it’s through donating blood, whether it’s through not mowing your lawn, not using chemicals, planting more native species, or just getting a little native bee house,” Fleischer said. “Everything helps, and it all makes me very happy.”
‘Living my best life’
While everyone was figuring out what to do at home as the COVID-19 pandemic began, Fleischer was waiting for his first beehive “like an expectant father.”
Several semi-trucks arrived in April 2020 during a snowstorm. One of those semi-trucks held the hive that would kickstart his passion.
“As the world was shutting down and everyone was hunkering in place and kids were being kept home from school, I was in my apiary here with my beehive, living my best life,” Fleischer said.
The neighborhood soon took notice. Friends and local families came over, news outlets stopped by, and he was even giving Zoom lessons on beekeeping to groups of kids.
His apiary has become his full-time job and now has over a million honeybees. As a Lake County apiary inspector, he checks other beekeepers’ hives for signs of disease.
He lives in Willoughby with his husband, Scott Gainer. They met online 11 years ago. Fleischer said Gainer emailed him on a Monday, and they were dating that Friday.
Gainer, who is soon to be retiring from his “numbers job,” supports Fleischer in his beekeeping, and lends a hand here and there.
“People are genuinely interested in the work that he does,” Gainer said. “It definitely makes Mark happy. It’s doing something great for the planet.”
Outside, Fleischer will watch plants and the little ecosystem powering his yard. We’re all connected and coexisting, and Fleischer loves to educate.
“At the farmer’s markets, maybe it’s a year, week or an hour later, they’re telling people walking by or they’re telling friends things that I taught them or that I talked to them about,” Fleischer said. “Every time people see a bee now, a lot of my friends think about me.”
Families have asked for his additional merchandise to help support Pride, which “fills [his] heart with love,” he said.
And if they don’t want a rainbow tote bag, having those products available and being visible with his husband is just as important, especially in “a red county in a red state,” Fleischer said.
“Happiness and acceptance is helpful to everybody,” he said. “We are all in this together.” 🔥
IGNITE ACTION
- To learn more about Timber Ridge Honey Company, click here.
- To learn more about LGBTQ+-owned businesses, Plexus LGBT & Allied Chamber of Commerce can be found here.
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