How We Started
The Beginning of our Passion
Our First Hive of Honey Bees
When I told Tim I wanted to have a hive of bees, he gave me a scrunched face and said “We are not buying bugs.” Now a few short years later, spring to fall, I can barely get his attention; He’s only got eyes for his “bee girls.”
It wasn’t just a fanciful dream for me. My father was a beekeeper and fresh, raw honey felt like the most normal and essential thing a person should have. Once you’ve gotten used to spoonfuls of golden indulgence, you can’t live without it for long.
As a child, my job during harvest was to work the extractor. I stood on a stool cranking a creaky old vat that splattered globules of honey all over my face and hair. Then I got to open and close the valve to release the honey through the sieve. Of course my hands were covered as I sampled the product for quality. By the end of harvest days, I was one tangled, sticky, happy child. And like the sweet syrup that clung to every inch of my little self, the sweet memory of these autumn days was equally stuck in my heart and mind.
Our First Year
We Had a Honey Harvest
We Were Hooked!
As soon as we bought our first home, I announced my desire for bees and thankfully, my dad wanted to get back into the hobby. Somehow, Tim agreed. Our first few years were rough as we adjusted to the challenges of modern apiary life. We lost several colonies and it wasn’t until Tim found a reliable mentor, now our good friend, that things started to improve. As Tim grew more savvy with the bees, I grew more and more things in our yard. First it was a mini meadow to feed the bees, then a few food beds, and before we knew it, almost every space around our small house lot had something growing in it.
From Humble Beginnings
We’ve Learned to Sprout and Grow
Almost immediately, we began to see the impact our non-chemical gardens had on the bees and vice versa. It wasn’t just our yard that flourished; the birds and butterflies and other wildlife thronged to feast in the safety of our little space. Nature was thriving around us and our own health and internal well-beings were drastically altered for the better and that was it, we were hooked.
Our Growing Garden
Full of Activity and Life
We’ve only just begun to pursue our dream and we are already outgrowing our space. Tim has hives all over central and southern Jersey, and I’ve started to expand my garden empire to new plots on borrowed, local land. In time, we hope to purchases organic farm land and include livestock and seed saving to our business.
We hope you’ll join our journey and grow and learn with us as we create one beautiful, eco-friendly, haven of peace at a time.
