Our initial hobby of learning to coexist in mutual harmony with several thousands of God's little creatures and to increase their footprint in nature has grown beyond our initial goal of a hive, or two, and a couple jars of honey as our reward each year. 

A friend, who is also a beekeeper, started us on this journey, thank you Yankie Joe. Through him we were introduced to, and joined, the Heart of Georgia Beekeepers. We attended several of their hands on classes and took advantage of their mentorship program. When we ordered or first bee packages we were nervous and spent the next several months getting ready for our new arrivals the following spring.  The men and women at Heart of Georgia Beekeepers love sharing their knowledge, be it hobbyist like us or prison inmates on how to start and maintain their own apiary and in turn helping them to learn a future trade. 

Being a Beek (beekeeper), is give and take and a significant amount of adapting. It is a constant state of awe with a wee bit of frustration occasionally mixed in here and there. Having a bear feast on three of our hives was one of those frustrating moments but it was also a learning moment. Having worker bees gently take a queen cell (that I accidentally partially opened while working in another hive), out of my hand and down into a their queen-less hive was a moment of awe and proof of God's design. 

Naturally, my next step was to learn the art and chemistry of soap making. I took several classes and the Soapy Hive was born. As our hives grew I began to use honey, beeswax, and propolis as ingredients in our soaps and salves and to produce other products such as candles. 

Unlike mass production companies that heat their honey for clarity, to prevent crystallization, and to quickly strain through a fine screen, you can rest assured our honey is never heated above natural hive temperature preserving all the goodness they worked to hard to create. We use a large screen to remove large bits of wax and beebread. Super raw honey is honey that has not been strained and contains honey, crushed wax, beebread, propolis, and yes it may have an occasional leg. We only provided this type of honey by request during harvest to ensure we meet the needs of those who like this type of honey and those who don't. 

Thanks y'all for your support and friendship.