Everything Small/Small is Everything: Bee Haven Honey
Step foot into Bee Haven at 1815 Elm Street in the Findlay Market district and a warming, welcoming wave will greet you- both in the form of the friendly proprietors, and the amber tones of honey and beeswax that fill the shop.
Sam Gordon, the owner of Bee Haven, was inspired to start her business after reading “The Secret Life of Bees” by Sue Monk Kidd. The description of beekeeping and hives in the book made the practice sound mystical and enchanting. 18 years into her beekeeping journey, Sam says that the magic of interacting with bees still takes hold every time she’s working with one of their 13 local hives.
Sam invited us to service one of their hives with her. This particular hive, steps away from their Elm street shop, belongs to the founding owners of the Artichoke kitchenware store, Brad and Karen. While the hive is decidedly urban, it’s one of the most productive hives in the Bee Haven fleet, producing 150 pounds of honey per year. Brad credits the success of their hive to the TED talks that he gives the bees as he enjoys his coffee with them every morning. Watching the bees come and go is a relaxing way to start the day.
Sam's advice to us as we entered the hive area is a great metaphor for life in general- Bees pick up on a beekeeper’s energy. The person who is swatting at a bee is going to get stung. If you do happen to get stung, you want to remain calm. If your adrenaline rises, the bees will pick up on that and be drawn to the sting site. When the beekeeper's energy remains positive and steady, the bees will not react.
As a small business owner who produces the bulk of the product that is sold in Bee Haven, Sam’s to-do list is never ending, but she finds that her time with the bees centers her as her focus shifts from the noise of her daily tasks to the singular attention needed to care for the bees. The hives need the most attention in the spring and summer, with spring maintenance happening every couple of weeks.
We visited the hives with Sam in the fall, which was one of her final check-ins with the bees before they overwinter with the honey reserves left in the hive.
As Sam has built her connection to bees and beekeeping over the years, her shop has become a starting place for community, where visitors return year after year and locals come to pick up honey for their tables. Some customers simply want to pick up their favorite Bee Haven product- others are excited to get a conversation going about beekeeping, the health of the bee population, or honey's journey from the nectar of the flower to the honey in the hive. Sam is here for all of it, and her life and the lives of her customers have become so much sweeter as a result.
