We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Keith & Brooke Roberts a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Keith & Brooke, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What do you think matters most in terms of achieving success?
For us, success is measured in projects and growth. As we continue to build our business, we are always learning new skills, ways to become more efficient, honing our craft and just finding what works best for us. Each new skill, improvement and project completed is a success on its own and these all add up to help us continue to progress and grow the business. Our hope is that the business will continue to grow and become sustainable so the next generation can pick up where we leave off (if they want to).
Keith & Brooke, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
When we bought our farmhouse, we knew we wanted to find ways to live more sustainably but we didn’t know how beekeeping would be at the center of our journey. Our story began several years ago when we discovered a wild colony of honeybees living in one of our old barn. The barn was in poor condition and beyond repair, but we didn’t want the bees to be without a home. So, after a little research on how to move the colony, we suited up and moved the wild colony of bees to a new home. It was slightly terrifying and exciting at the same time! Not only did we have our first beehive, we had a new passion! Since then, we have grown our single beehive into our own apiary, “beeyard,” where we now take care of multiple beehives in NC and VA. We harvest the gifts of the hive, including honey, beeswax, propolis, and pollen and use them to make our handmade natural products, including honey, beeswax candles, soap, beard oil, and more! We also love talking about bees and teaching others about beekeeping. Through sustainable and responsible management practices we ensure the health and well-being of our hives. Additionally, the support from our customers and community is helping to save our bees and keep our ecosystem natural and strong for generations to come!
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
Well to be honest, beekeeping in general requires a lot of resilience! It’s a constant journey of twists and turns and highs and lows. One of the more standout examples of resilience was when our apiary was nearly destroyed by a bear who decided it wanted some of the honey the bees were storing inside the hives. There was a lot of damage to the equipment and unfortunately a lot bees lost. The amazing part was once we got everything cleaned up and ‘bear-proofed’, all but one of the queen bees had survived the mishap. This allowed the colonies to rebuild to the point that we were able to harvest honey and wax from those same hives that year. We’re always amazed at how well the bees are able to overcome obstacles, and in learning how to best care for them, we have become pretty good at overcoming obstacles as well.
What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?
Believe it or not, before getting into beekeeping, I (Brooke) wouldn’t have been able to tell you the difference between a honeybee and a yellow jacket. I was also pretty scared of nearly every stinging or biting insect, so I tended to steer clear. But the more I learned about these amazing creatures, how they worked, how they lived, what they are capable of doing, the fear turned to awe. Not only did my knowledge of bees and beekeeping grow but so did my appreciation towards bees, other pollinators and nature as a whole. It has definitely proven to be a lesson in overcoming a fear and finding a huge reward on the other side.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.beegroomed.com
- Instagram: @bee_groomed
- Facebook: @beegroomedshop