I’ve always had an interest in beekeeping. Growing up in Argentina, I devoured every beekeeping book I could find. I had plenty of ideas on how to enhance pollinating services, improve hive designs by following the bee space, and even drafted different experiments to find the best designs.
However, it all remained in the realm of theory, and beekeeping never made it onto my “active projects” list.
While living in the US, honeybees started making headlines due to the widespread loss of colonies. That’s when I decided it was time to get hands-on with beekeeping—a skill I also wanted to pass on to my kids, who were 9 and 10 years old at the time.
We attended classes and earned certifications, volunteering in various bee events and classes to train the next generation of beekeepers.
Beekeeping requires a significant time and financial commitment. We discovered that while most people were okay with the initial costs, many didn’t realize the amount of time required for reading and studying to become proficient beekeepers.
Moreover, much of the available knowledge at the time was geared towards commercial beekeeping, which is quite different from hobby or backyard beekeeping.
When my kids entered high school and chose the business path, we decided to formalize our beekeeping venture. BeeManiacs LLC was established as a family business, and we began selling honey, beeswax, and other products at farmer’s markets to offset some beekeeping costs.
In 2014, we opened a store on our farm to cater to local beekeepers. The store is still operational as I write this and can be found at beemaniacs.com.
We continued our support for local associations, and when some of them faced challenges in maintaining their non-profit status, we took a class on non-profits from the IRS and WA State. After assisting a couple of struggling non-profits, we also played a role in forming several, with at least one still active in the area: Backyard Beekeepers Association (backyard-beekeepers.org).
Over the years, we participated in various events, from small gatherings to State, National, and even international conferences.
The hobby of beekeeping was thriving until the popularity of the Flow Hive. This shift brought in a younger demographic, with more disposable income (given the higher cost of the Flow Hive). However, many of these newcomers showed little interest in investing the time and effort needed to truly understand and care for the bees. This era ushered in the “honey on tap” generation, who would purchase the Flow Hive, acquire bees, and then ask us, “How long until we can open the tap and start getting honey?” Beekeeping non-profits had to step in with significant involvement and education to address this situation.
Below you can see some pictures we took along the way. (coming soon)
