Photos courtesy of Jerry Harris
Bees on a honeycomb frame at Harris Honey Apiary.
Jerry and Jennifer Harris sell 100 percent organic honey.
These bees are only resting while in search of a new hive. If you see a swarm, contact Jerry Harris or another professional beekeeper to remove the bees without harming them.
Photos courtesy of Harris Honey Apiary
MAY’S LICK — Not only do honey bees provide us with a delicious natural sweetener, but they also benefit agriculture by pollinating crops like strawberries, blueberries, broccoli, cotton—and the list goes on and on. Around 1/3 of our food supply comes from fruits, vegetables and nuts which require pollination. Another 1/2 of the world’s oils and fibers are a product of pollination. Bees are heroes and we can’t survive without them.
Studies show that the old saying about two spoons of honey is good for you has merit. Honey can offer medicinal benefits such as antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial agents. Mild coughs or burns can be treated with honey and it’s been discovered to promote wound healing.
An apiary is a collection of beehives that are managed by a beekeeper and you can find them on farms in the country, in suburban backyards or even on city rooftops.
Jerry and Jennifer Harris operate an apiary in May’s Lick where the couple started with 1 bee box around 7 years ago and are currently up to 50 and still growing.
“I love doing it. Jennifer was more apprehensive at first, but then she dove right in. Now, she enjoys every aspect of beekeeping,” Jerry Harris said.
Harris admits he hadn’t thought a lot about bees until a pesky colony on a friend’s house prompted him into action. “The bees had to be removed, so I helped out and that colony became my first.”
Harris described he uses a bee vac which sucks the bees into a bee box so they can be relocated without harming the bees. Over the years, Harris became the go-to bee guy in the area for such missions and through his dedication to collecting bees, was able to start his own apiary.
The Harris family’s beehives produce 300 to 400 pounds of honey a year and business has increased substantially over the past few years.
“If you have a good product, it sells itself,” Harris said.
The honey is harvested twice a year, usually in June and September. Honey isn’t the only thing you’ll find at Harris Honey Apiary. “We melt and render the wax down to make all-natural lip balm and hand lotion,” Harris explained.
There’s more to beekeeping than simply collecting honey from the combs. As the colony grows, Harris has to occasionally split hives and the procedure requires knowledge and visual recognition of the different types of bees—queen, worker, drone—and removing a frame from the bee box with queen cells to start a new hive. The queens and workers are all females, but where the queen may live up to 5 years, the worker bees are lucky to make it 6 weeks. The drones don’t have stingers and are the male honey bees. Their only role is to mate with the queen and usually die afterward. The drones that survive the mating flight are quickly ejected from their nests as they served their sole purpose.
Harris said his honey bees travel 2 to 3 miles to find blooms to gather nectar from. During the collection process, the bee pollinates the plant, which guarantees the plant’s survival. The bee returns to the hive where it delivers the nectar which is passed around between bees until the moisture is reduced to around 17 percent. This action changes the nectar into honey.
The type of nectar collected by the bees affects the taste of the final product and the Harrises’ honey is 100 percent organic.
The Harris family began by showcasing their honey at farmer’s markets but now does most of their business through Facebook and word of mouth. “The response has been overwhelming. We sell out our products every year.”
For the Harrises, beekeeping has become a family affair. “My kids help with some of the selling at the stand we set up at the end of our driveway. They also gather honey and find the queens with me. They have fun doing it.”
Harris also started selling bees recently and plans to expand that part of the business, citing how both he and his wife have full-time jobs and honey-making is a time-consuming endeavor. “Selling bees allows us to grow the business without necessarily taking up a lot more time. We can provide the bees, frames and resources for someone to get started.”
Not only is the Harris family delivering top-notch local honey and byproducts to the community by farming bees, but they’re also protecting the environment.
Harris pointed out that bees are a vital part of our ecosystem. “Without bees, people would be in trouble—we need them for a lot more than just honey.”
To start your beekeeping journey or to buy honey, lip balm or lotion, contact Jerry Harris at 606-209-2279 or Jennifer Harris at 606-301-1485. You can also keep an eye on the Harris Honey Apiary Facebook page for sale days and updates on their yearly harvests.
