How Beekeeping Began For Us...

Jesse grew up on a dairy farm in central PA. As a young child, his older brother, Jay, kept several hives of honey bees. He recalls being "forced" on occasion to go along to "assist" his brother with no suit or protective gear and getting stung and hating it!

He would now say that he was “bit by the bug” both figuratively & literally, and has since then spent many years thinking about getting back into beekeeping. However, it just never seemed to be the “right time”. With being an engineer in the construction field, it kept him frequently traveling all while juggling the demands of starting and raising his family.

Finally, in 2009, despite very little enthusiasm from the rest of his family, he made the decision to give it a try.  After signing himself and his son, Kyle, up to attend a “Nu-bee” class given by Jeremy Barnes and others one Saturday at Nixon County Park, Beams Bees began with the one nuc Jeremy Barnes had given to them after this class.
He struggled to establish and over-winter his one hive and maintain a viable queen.  (Attempting to keep just one hive is a big mistake as he now knows….) Slightly demoralized from the experience, but definitely not out of the fight,    he was hooked by these amazing insects. 

​Everything that he observed, researched and read about, and talked to other beekeepers about, just made him more determined that he was going to figure out a way to succeed at this new hobby.  Besides, if nothing else, there was nothing more relaxing than coming home from a stressful day at work, popping the cover on the hive, and watching tens of thousands of God’s creatures all work together in harmony to accomplish amazing things.

As a bonus, his oldest son, Kyle, had taken some interest in it as well and began to join him in tending to his bees.  So, keeping one fledgling hive quickly expanded into three, then fifteen, and the rest is Beam's Bees history….