Our Story

We're a family-owned small business interested in caring for our bees and providing you honey.

The dream of this company actually began in the early 2000's when I, Ben, took a bee keeping class in middle school. It might sound silly, but big dreams start small. I'm not sure what it was that drew me. It could have been the prospect of partnering with tens of thousands of insects to produce a beautiful golden honey crop. Maybe it was the vastness of possible skills which can be developed and used in the trade. Or perhaps it is how well the imagination is stimulated by the idea of hosting a complex society of insects in my very own back yard.

Whatever the case may be, when I received a formidably thoughtful Christmas gift from my fiancé (now my wife), I knew it was time to stop merely dreaming and start making that dream into a reality. She gave me all the reading material I needed to get my head around the steps required to become an apiarist. This fledgling program was Christened on May 1st, 2014 when I poured 3 pounds of bees into their new home.

This page shall provide you the opportunity to learn more about beekeeping and why it is so important. We welcome your comments, questions and prayers as we continue our journey into the unknown. Follow along as we explore the vast intricacies of the honey bee.

11/13/2020 - Update, long read

About a year ago, I wrote an update like this one. I suppose it’s the natural rhythm of things. As the cold and the dark drives us inside, I become a little more introspective, pensive, and planning-minded. The idea of a rhythm of things is one to which I will hold dearly. Rhythmic is not a word that many would use to describe 2020. So when I see the natural ebbs and flows, I will recognize them as welcomed friends. You already know the crazy junk that happened this year, but you may not be fully aware of all the meanwhile that’s happened over here at Benny Bee Honey. Sometimes I wonder what Benny Bee Honey is. At its simplest, it’s a collection of jobs, equipment, and relationships that I leverage into making something sweet. Some of the more subtle aspects of it include the fact that it has become a branch of my life that I enjoy very much. YOU, my friends, family, customers and other readers (certainly there is overlap in those groupings) are another subtle part of this branch. When I got married, I made a tiny little speech that can be summed up in this way. In one’s life, it’s not the wealth that makes a man wealthy… but it’s his people. I am ever so grateful to be able to share my life (this branch or others) with YOU!

Now, nuts and bolts

This year was a bit of a scale-up for me in terms of honey production. I didn’t do much differently, but I dedicated one extra hive to honey production when I would normally use that hive to play around with different hive configurations or queen rearing or other curiosities. I very generously call it my R&D arm of the operations. However, this year was different. Sarah and I have been feeling the call to foster care since early in our marriage. In fact, we both came to the idea separately and we began taking classes in the winter of 2018/2019. We spent some time preparing… We built an extra bedroom, drew up some septic plans for expansion, moved around furniture, hunted the interwebs for good deals on bunk beds and we prayed. We had no idea what to expect! Was God going to place a teenager in our home? AN INFANT? MANY INFANTS?!? That stress was something… but we did eventually get licensed through the state of New Hampshire to care for children in need. This was in late April or early May when the paperwork etc was being completed and then we got our first placement of a 5-year-old brother and a 3-year-old sister in May 2020. Yes, there were uncertainties due to the pandemic. At that moment, though, many of those uncertainties crystallized out of focus as the more visceral and certain needs of our new family rose into focus.

It was in the midst of this or just before that when I got my bees in 2020. It was around April 14. I want to try not to focus on COVID… but it colors everything. Looking back, I had no idea how much impact COVID-19 would have around the world and for how long. I just thought… I’m going to still want to keep bees! I was even OUT-OF-THIS-WORLD-BLESSED to be gifted with some amazing new beekeeping equipment from my Aunt Liz and Uncle Jerry. Man, that was an act of generosity that just keeps on giving!!! Those bees that were installed in April continued growing and making honey up until now and I just logged my most productive year so far. Estimating, I hauled about 150 lbs of honey.

Now my previous update was full of stories of me moving and changing jobs and getting an education and all sorts of other things. This update is more focused. These children are going to be the main focus of our energy, time, and decision making for the foreseeable future. They are pre-adoptive and they are our responsibility. Sarah and I love them as we would love our own biological children. They add hardness to our home that strengthens when that hardness is faced with prayer, patience, and partnership. The amount of growth that we are doing will require routine and structure. So I don’t expect you’ll see any posts about us moving homes anytime soon (though of course, this is possible). We are like the trees taken root when before we were wanderers.

Cozy as bees

we cuddle up for winter

ready to watch the show

Busy we’re waiting

and contemplating

nestled amidst the snow

Shall we begin

the cycle again

rolling toward more sun?

Steady, look back

and keep a good track

of what, so far’s, been done

It’s tempting to wish this year would be gone! I understand this. But there has been good! There will be more good. Let it all wash over you once in a while. Then also, let’s keep working to build something good.

The north remembers.....

Below is a highlighted story from the Benny Bee history books. Enjoy!

2014 was certainly a great year for Benny Bee Honey… in fact, it was the very first year!

Many really great things happened including the birth of the company itself as well as Ben’s wedding to the lovely Sarah! As a tribute to the year 2014, I would like to fulfill my promise to tell the story of how Benny Bee Honey survived one of the most dreaded things that can happen to a beekeeper… a bear attack.

To be true, many hives survive bear attacks more easily than they survive disease. However, this is only true if the beekeeper is present to somehow shoo the bear away from his precious cargo. And so, the fear of losing the bees pales in comparison to the fear of having to face down a big scary bear. Here’s how it went down.

The hive had been going for a little over a month, so I think it occurred on either June 1st or 8th, I only know it was a Sunday. The car ride home from Sarah’s mom’s house was uneventful. We likely were listening to an audiobook. I parked the car at about 10:30pm, opened the door and got out. Then I heard it....

It was a loud crashing sound like wood falling on the floor. In my heart I knew exactly what it was… but I hoped to God that it wasn’t. I said “Did you hear that?” Sarah’s response spoke for itself, “Did I hear what?” Then I said something along the lines of “Oh nevermind! I heard a crashing sound. We need to get our stuff and quietly. Go inside the apartment, I need to check the bees.”

Noting the tone in my voice, Sarah did what I said. I proceeded to go into my downstairs storage closet and grab… my shovel. What I was going to do with my shovel against a bear???… I still have no idea. I suppose I just wanted something in my hands to put between me and any threat that might be out there. With Sarah safely upstairs in the apartment, I got the flashlight, turned on the backyard light, and slowly peered out through the back doorway. What I saw confirmed my dreaded suspicions. 50-60 yards away, my hive was toppled over on its side… and worse… two pairs of black furry legs could vaguely be made out in the darkness in front of the white-painted hive bodies. All of a sudden I was beyond furious. I stormed angrily (and foolishly) ten paces to the back yard picnic table and SLAMMED my shovel down onto it while snarling primitively in order to instill a fear as great as my anger into that bear. To my surprise… the bear did not seem to move… I hesitated… then went at it again even more loudly, wishing to God I had a gun if only to make more noise. I stomped my feet while moving a little in the bear’s direction acting as wild as possible. Then to my relief, the bear ran along the tree line in a direction that was both away from me and away from the hive.

I could not tell for sure that it was gone. But realizing the sheer lunacy of my actions at that point, and hearing my wife’s concerned conversation with her mother through the window, I simply shouted “A bear attacked my beehive” to her and started my way back to the apartment. I needed to first communicate with my wife (who was understandably confused and quite afraid) and then strategize about how to deal with my upturned beehive. It took me a little while to calm down before I could think straight. In fact, Sarah told me later that she had never seen me so mad before and that she was almost more worried for the bear than for me. Eventually I got my head back enough to think of an idea that would keep me safe from the bear and would also allow me to attend to my fallen hive. My solution was to simply drive my car back to the hive. This provided light as well as a place for me to quickly go if things went sour. So, Sarah helped me suit up by tying one of her scarfs around my waist so no bees would crawl up my bee suit. She also ensured that there were little to no places that the bees could get into the bug net covering my face (I’d read online that some people got stung about 40 times or so from uprighting a bear attack). Then I was off. I drove my car around and saw just how aggravated the bees were. They were flying all over the place, especially anywhere with light. But nonetheless, with help from my headlights I was able to put the bottom box (the one most likely containing the queen) back where it was supposed to be and put the cover back on. That took at least 20 minutes with the bees and my own anxiety slowing me down.

When it was done... the unthinkable happened... I heard a very nerve-wracking sound from beyond the tree line… First, there was a crack… and immediately I paused to listen more closely. Then I heard a puff of breath from a wild animal’s nostrils… I began slowly backing away from the hive and towards my car. I got in my car, closed the door and killed the engine. Sure enough, the curious-looking, dopey nose of a black bear poked itself through the brush. Following that, a full-grown ~200 lb black bear came out of the woods and began nosing through the boxes and frames of bees that I had not yet gotten to. I sat there resigned. The bear was actually kind of cute! So for better or for worse, I was no longer angry. I just wanted the bear to leave the hive alone. My response to the bear’s presence was a natural one in my opinion.

I started my engine, revved it loudly and drove right towards that stupid bear. The reaction of the bear was truly a gift. If it had pants, I imagine it would have wet them. Nearly tripping over itself, the bear tumbled clumsily back into the woods. I honked, revved and drove around the area flashing my lights in hopes that I could force the fear of this apiary into the bear’s long-term memory. In fact, I actually left the car out there just in case our intruder decided to make another visit. The bear was gone, the hive was saved, and I was very, very tired. I went to bed that night restless. Each and every sound I heard was a bear coming to torment me. Nonetheless, I have not had any problems with the bear since that day. I put the hive back together as best I could with only 1 frame damaged beyond repair. I also moved the hive further away from the tree line. A reliable source informed me that black bears don’t like to remove themselves from tree cover. We shall see in the future if we have any more problems with large, furry mammals. I hope to never encounter a bear under circumstances like those ever again.

And so ends the tale of the Benny Bee Black Bear Bonanza. I foresee t-shirts, signs, and other paraphernalia being made to commemorate this momentous event in the not-to-distant future. I hope you enjoyed the story.

Feel free, as always, to leave comments, create memes, ask questions. I hope to hear from you!

Blessings,

Ben

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