Patrick Pynes and his partner, Sharon Lee Harris, live in a mountain oasis surrounded by natural beauty. Their 2.5-acre property northeast of Flagstaff offers a spectacular view of the San Francisco Peaks, sometimes shimmering with snow or a purple alpenglow. A riot of wildflowers fills the meadows in summer, and songbirds serenade the sunrise.

But what draws Pynes’ attention most days are the honeybees. He likes to sit in a lawn chair next to the hives he keeps on the property and observe them for hours. Like a detective on a stakeout, he watches the bees come and go, keeping his eyes peeled for any changes in their flight patterns or feeding habits. His objective is simple. “I want to learn to think like a bee,” he says. “They have their own way of thinking, and they adjust to their environment based on that intelligence.”

Pynes has tended honeybees in the Southwest for more than 30 years and led the Northern Arizona Organic Beekeepers Association for nearly a decade. In addition to maintaining his own hives, he mentors nascent beekeepers through classes he...