The Bear Foot Honey Farm store opened its doors January 2008, falling back on 60 years of our family’s beekeeping knowledge. In 1948 the world had just finished fighting World War II and the soldiers were coming home. During their absence many companies brought in migrant workers to fill the gaps in the labor force, often paying the laborers next to nothing for a day’s earnings.
Grandpa A.J was a smart man who only got as far as the 9th grade. He learned to be a jack of all trades and moved from place to place looking for work to support his family. Grandpa A.J. moved his family from Colorado to Southern California and was blessed to come upon two gentlemen: George Biggers and Gramps Brubaker. These two gentlemen were beekeepers and taught Grandpa A.J everything they knew about honeybees and the beekeeping business. Beekeeping 60 years ago was nothing like it is now. Back then a beekeeper could get the hive in progress and then not touch it for months except for some minor beekeeping such as placing another super on the hive.
Grandpa A.J was also a craftsman carpenter; he built his own beekeeping equipment and grafted fruit tree stock to seedlings. In the fall of 1953 Grandpa A.J. moved his young family to Northern California. There he reestablished the family bee operation in Shasta County, California. Grandpa A.J was seeking a name for his beekeeping business. After great thought he decided to call his business “SHE HASTA BEE” for it is the queen bee and her genetics that determines if a hive will be a good one. Therefore, “She Hasta Bee a Great Queen to Have a Great Hive”.
After the unfortunate and untimely death of Grandpa A.J. on December 25th, 1971, his eldest son, Frederick relocated the beekeeping business into Sonoma County, California. Frederick has five children who all helped in the honey house uncapping honey frames and turning the hand crank of the manual extractor, wiring frames and bottling the extra honey the bees produced. This was a lot of work and when each one of his children grew into their teenage years Frederick asked each child if they wanted to learn the beekeeping trade, which included working the hives. Unsurprisingly, none of his children were excited about continuing in the family beekeeping business. Each of his children drifted into professions of their own, as far away from the bees as possible. They became a nurse, a police officer, a bank manager, a Fed-Ex Ground route owner, & a mortgage underwriter.
In 2007 the mortgage industry crashed and Cheryl (Owner of BFHF) soon found herself without a job. After great thought and a lot of prayer she realized that there really was something behind the family bee business that was enjoyable. She rediscovered how the bee society is in many ways more advanced than human society. As a honey bee, it is imperative that you are an asset to the colony; if not, your life is sacrificed for the benefit of the hive.
As her parents are still beekeepers running the She Hasta Bee business out of the family homestead, and needing a name of her own, Cheryl settled upon “Bear Foot Honey Farm”, giving credit to Pooh Bear for this. It is actually a common misconception that bears like honey; they in fact dislike the stickiness of honey. Bears attack the beehives because they are after the brood the “baby bees,” as the brood is high in protein. Following in the family “footsteps,” Bear Foot Honey Farm was formed January 2008.
Starting Bear Foot Honey Farm has not been easy and Cheryl will often comment how this venture has brought her closer to God, our creator, counselor, and redeemer. He has shown her many wonders of his creation, and she has felt his never-ending love.
Bear Foot Honey Farm Honey can be found at Mike’s Truck Garden, Les Mars Hotel, Windsor Green Grocer, as well as being the producer of the estate honey for De Loach Vineyards. You can also find our honeys at our Bear Foot Honey Farm shop in Santa Rosa, CA.
