By Kendall Hogan
Published: Mar. 17, 2019 at 9:30 PM CDT
Property taxes on small acreages can now be lowered by keeping bees on your property.
The exemption is similar to qualifying based on livestock or raising hay.
According to Michael Kelling, the President of the Central Texas Beekeeper society, it all depends on how much land you own and how many bees you keep in order to qualify for the exemption.
“If you have 5 acres you need to have 6 hives of bees if you have higher up to 20 acres you need 12 hives of bees,” says Kelling.
Not only does keeping bee’s help lower your property taxes in Texas, but it also helps sustain the balance of life. Bees transfer pollen, allowing plants to grow and spread seeds.
But is beekeeping for you? Kelling says local clubs located in Brenham, La Grange, and College Station can teach you the basics of keeping bees.
"How to install your bees where to buy your bees what equipment to buy how to raise queens,” says Kelling
For many people, it’s just about taking the first step in learning how to keep your own bees.
"We provide beekeeping suits and we will have 12 live hives there and you can suit up to go out while a beekeeper opens up a hive and stand there 2 feet from the hive,” Kelling says.
Two feet, from what Kelling says is nature’s lifeline.
“Albert Einstein once said, If the bees go extinct, four years later mankind will go extinct because there is not enough food left to feed the people in the world,” says Kelling.
The Central Texas Beekeeper society is holding classes at Brenham High School next Saturday. For more information on how to attend, click the link in the related links section below.
