As a young girl, I never thought I’d become a beekeeper, especially considering my fear of bees. I’m still not going to lie about that.
When I first started, I didn’t really think about the physical labor and stress that would come with it; I just wanted to help my dad. I felt a bit sorry for him because he was the breadwinner in the house, and he had all these high-maintenance hobbies. So, if I could make him happy by helping out, I wanted to.
My first real experience in my bee suit was something I loved. It made me feel like I was accomplishing something, although I hadn’t quite yet. Hearing my dad’s stories about beekeeping and how he got started really intrigued me. It was a bit scary, but also cool. I don’t recall my first beekeeping experience very well, but I do remember being paranoid about a bee finding its way into my suit and stinging me. So, in the beginning, I mostly just watched.
Before I got into the more serious aspects of beekeeping, I used to assist my dad in removing bees from houses and public restrooms in parks. I was always quite shy when people recognized me. At the time, I didn’t fully appreciate how grateful they were for what I was doing.
My “first” memory involved not doing much—mostly just watching. Then, my dad handed me a queen clip with a queen bee inside and told me not to open it. I swear I didn’t, but somehow the queen and the other bees disappeared. Let’s just say I wasn’t much help at first. I realized that my dad was probably happy to have me assist him so he could share his hobby with someone.
As I became more involved and knowledgeable, my dad expanded my experiences in the world of beekeeping.
When we reached hundreds of hives, we started looking into ways to make a profit. Initially, we sold honey from home, mainly to family. But as we accumulated more hives, we began branching out. One day, we drove around and approached businesses, asking if they would be interested in selling our honey. We faced many rejections, but we managed to get a few businesses interested, including Werry’s meat shop and Delalos, which became our main stores.
Listening to customer demands, we started offering honeycomb as well. We even sold around 1,000 honeycombs to a significant producer in Ohio, although it was a tedious task. As the fall honey flow began, we rushed to treat the bees and add more boxes so they could produce plenty of honey.
Extracting honey was a labor-intensive process. When the fall honey flow came to an end, we mentally prepared for the harvest, a time-consuming task of separating honey frames from non-honey frames to fill honey boxes. Once we completed the harvest, we took out the honeycomb uncapper and extractor. This process usually took us between 2 to 4 days to complete.
Then, when winter arrived, it was time to make plans for the following year and book semis to transport our bees to Georgia, where they could survive the winter.
Afterward, we started the cycle all over again.
Despite the hard work involved, I’m truly glad I got into beekeeping. I plan to continue keeping it in the family, as it provided me with valuable experiences and an excellent way to bond with my dad.
