Bee Thankful Apiaries

12/21/2014

NDI's New Partnership with Meridzo

Hello and Merry Christmas everybody! What an amazing time of year to celebrate everything that God has done over the past year in our lives as we anticipate the celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!!!

As many of you likely realize, it is a very slow time of year in the bee world as our little ladies are huddled up for the winter just waiting for the first warm breath of Spring to once again fill the air. However, as we also anticipate Spring ourselves, we don't get to wait until warm weather returns to get started again. We have to continue on our daily walk with God, serving Him and each other as we go. With that said, I would like to share some updates and information with everyone.

Thanks to all of our customers and God's blessings this past year, we were once again able to harvest and sale a great crop of honey. And, like we have promised from the beginning, a significant portion of our profits will be used in supporting some sort of ministry work. This year we have made the decision to support a brother in Christ as he, his wife and their 3 children have made the decision to move to Zambia to serve the people there with his gift of veterinary medicine! This is no small decision or undertaking that requires much faith and trust in God. Additionally, this is not just someone that we randomly chose to support. His name is Dr. Paul Evans. Nakeita and I had the awesome opportunity to serve with Dr. Evans and many other AMAZING people in Lynch, KY last March at The Stables at Creekside Glen while working through Christian Veterinary Mission (CVM). Even though we only spent what was an entirely too short length of time with Dr. Evans and the others in Lynch, KY, it was very evident that Dr. Evans is a true man of God and is diligently serving God with his talent. I humbly ask that you keep Dr. Evans and his family in your prayers as they follow the path that God has laid before them. I also ask that you prayerfully consider making a donation yourself to support Dr. Evans in God's work in Zambia. Funds can be sent directly to his funding account through CVM. Please keep in mind that missionary work is not funded by any large organizations. In fact, most, if not all, funding for such work is usually funded by the people going to do the work, so please consider donating, no matter how much you can afford. Dr. Evans' most recent newsletter has the following information on ways that you can donate. We will be mailing a check to the address below.

ONLINE: cvmusa.org under Support, Short Term Missions, individual, designation other and then enter our name (Paul and Alicia Evans) and account number (UCVSTM1768) in the drop down box. CVM will make sure it gets designated to our trip. Monthly recurring donations can be set up by calling CVM (206)289-7812.

MAIL: Make check out to CVM with our name and number (UCVSTM1768) on the memo line and mail to:
Christian Veterinary Mission
19303 Fremont Ave North
Seattle, WA 98133

All donations are tax deductible.

Please keep in mind that as Christians we are to uplift and support each other in our own personal ministries, and Dr. Evans' ministry has called him and his family to Zambia to serve the people there. I ask that you remember this and realize that God has us each and every one on a uniquely journey in this life. So at the bare minimum please keep Dr. Evans and his family in your prayers. Bee Thankful apiaries is PROUD to support Dr. Evans, and we pray that God will use him and his family in amazing ways to show the most awesome gift that anyone can, or ever will, receive; JESUS CHRIST!!

As a quick note I encourage you to follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KHci-1e9qRQ to check out Meridzo Ministries (MM). The Stables at Creekside Glen, where our CVM mission team served on a short-term mission project, is a branch of MM. This CVM team is where we met up with Dr. Evans. Meridzo Ministries is an AMAZING organization that continues to bring hope to the families of Lynch, KY. Lynch is only one of the very rural and poor areas of our country that has suffered greatly from economic losses. However, through MM hope is being rekindled through the love of Jesus Christ. I would encourage you prayerfully consider supporting MM as well if you feel lead to do so. We have worked with the staff there and you will not find a better group of dedicated people.

PLEASE share this post with as many people as you possibly can, and NOT to promote us in any way. We truly want to support Dr. Evans in his journey, and we hope to see his ministry fully funded so that they only thing that he and his family have to worry about is serving God and the people in Zambia! To God be the Glory!!!

New Directions International has begun its first domestic partnership in Lynch, Kentucky with Lonnie and Belinda Riley and Meridzo Center Ministries. Watch t...

07/09/2014

March 31st, 2014 Swarm

07/09/2014

Making the Hive and Parts

07/09/2014

Hi all. Wow its been a long time since I've had a chance to post anything here. I just wanted to let everyone know that HONEY IS FOR SALE AGAIN. We were blessed with a great spring harvest (exactly 16 gallons) and it is going really quick. Currently we have 13 quarts, 11 pints, and 37 1# jars left. Sales are on a first come first served basis so let us know quickly what you want and how many. Prices are the same as last year with quarts at $11.00, pints at $6.00, and the 1# jars at $12.00.
Just as a note to consider; if you would like to give honey (especially our 1# jars) as a Christmas gift this year you might want to go ahead and purchase now. Last year was an exceptional year which provided for the fall harvest that we had. However, with conditions looking dry going into summer and fall we may not have a fall harvest this year. If that is the case, then now is the time to purchase those gifts. Thanks everyone. Remember Bee Thankful and as always Bee Blessed!

12/19/2013

Hey everyone. We just wanted to give a quick update to some of the things that Bee Thankful Apiaries has been up to lately. We are currently building some new hives to prepare for the upcoming season. Our plan is to expand by at least 8 new hives. This may not sound like much, but we completely build our hives from scratch, from the bottom up to the outer cover, including all of the frames inside. So that means a lot of work goes into them. We almost have all of the pieces cut out for the frames. When finished we will have around 500 new frames. There are 4 pieces to each frame making this a large 2000 piece puzzle.

Also we came to a final decision on our missions project for 2013. Your purchases of Bee Thankful honey helped financial support WHCB 91.5FM "The Blessing." This is an awesome local Christian radio station near Bristol, TN that has great programming for both adults and children. We felt like our gift could help touch more lives in this way.

Thanks once again to all of our customers in 2013 and everybody who has liked our page here! Have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year.

As always be blessed and Bee Thankful!

11/05/2013

We are now sold out of our 2013 Fall Harvest! Thank you for your support and please check back to see when we will have our 2014 harvest available. As always- Bee Blessed and Bee Thankful!

11/05/2013

These are the available sizes that we are currently selling at Bee Thankful Apiaries. Please contact us if you are interested in making a purchase or if you have any questions about our commodity.

11/05/2013

Bee Intrigued :)

11/05/2013

Working the Bees

11/05/2013

Harvest Time - Summer 2013

10/31/2013

Just reached 50 Likes! We want you to know we appreciate your support!!! THANK YOU :-D

10/29/2013

Leave a comment if you have some useful up-cycling ideas for our Muth or Mason jars!

10/28/2013

Fall Harvest 2013

10/28/2013

God is awesome! Bee Thankful Apriaries has been blessed with an amazing (and rare I might add) fall honey harvest. Due to the large amounts of rain throughout the summer and into fall we had a great nectar flow in September and October. This was due to the abundant goldenrod (Solidago spp.) and wingstem (Verbesina spp.), not to mention the countless other species that bloomed during that time. This means that our little ladies have made great preparations for the coming winter, as well as made plenty of extra honey for us to harvest too. All of our hives look great at this point, and if it’s God’s will then we should have some strong colonies to start the season all over in the spring. For right now this means that we have a good supply, at least while it lasts, of honey for sale. Although, we just got it all bottled up, it is going quickly, so if you are interested in purchasing our 100% pure honey you will need to contact us soon. Since we had a great interest in our 1 pound Muth jars with our first harvest, we have 34 of these for sale currently. These bottles of honey make the ultimate Christmas gift also. By giving 1 pound of pure honey as a gift you are providing someone with a healthy, useful, and locally produced product that never goes bad. You read that right, 100% pure honey never goes bad. Even though the honey may crystallize with time, as all pure honey will, you can simply give the jar a nice warm bath and it returns to pure liquid honey. What other gift can be attributed with the same benefits? We also have 3 quarts without comb, 3 quarts with comb, and 2 pints with comb left for sale as well. Remember we can ship honey also. If this is the case let us know and we can give you a price with shipping included.

We also want to reemphasize the point that our honey packaging is all recyclable. We are passionate about protecting our valuable natural resources and by reusing or recycling our packaging you can make a difference. We will be adding some pictures soon with a few examples of ways that you can reuse our bottles with the intent of sparking that creativity within our customers. Who knows, this may lead to a photo contest down the road to see who can most uniquely reuse our bottles, of course with the possibility of winning some sweet treats for the best idea!

We will soon be using the proceeds from our honey sales towards mission work just like we promised! We have some really great ideas at this point and are currently praying about exactly where our donations can make the most difference in peoples’ lives for the name of Christ. The ideas so far involve making a donation to a local Christian radio station (91.5 FM) or taking the money to build and donate a complete beehive to a Christian beekeeping mission. These missions promote beekeeping as a source of income for poverty stricken areas of the world. If you have any ideas or would like to vote on our ideas, please feel free to let us know. We thank you each and every one for your purchases and support of Bee Thankful Apiaries.

Keep in mind the honey will go quickly, so place your orders now and remember be blessed and as always Bee Thankful!

08/31/2013

Only 1 Quart w/comb left from early 2013 Harvest :-) First contact gets the opportunity for purchasing! Please don't forget we can ship if your not local;-)

08/29/2013

Just wanted to say how much we appreciate everyone for your honey purchases. We still have a few quarts and a few pints with comb for sale. However, we are officially out of the 1 pound jars. I hope everyone enjoys their honey! It is really great on a nice hot biscuit just so you know ;-)

We also wanted to let everyone know a little about our bees and our honey business. We got started with our first hive a little over 3 years ago as a hobby. Since we are really particular about the use of chemicals around the farm and on our crops, we decided to manage our hives without the use of any chemicals whatsoever. Our bees right now are from strong feral colonies that we have stumbled across, making these bees more resistant to the many problems currently facing bees in the United States. We have only lost 1 hive so far, and that was due to human error instead of pests or diseases. So in a 3 year period we have been very blessed in overwintering our hives without losses, and without chemicals, at a time when the rest of the nation lost 1/3 of all honey bee colonies just this past winter. We hope to continue this trend, but we never know what unknown factors lay ahead.

With that being said, if anyone knows the location of any wild honeybee colonies and would like to let us know of their location we are looking to add some strong genetic stock to our line. Keep in mind that we are located in East Tennessee, so we would likely not be able to travel long distances to come and get bees. We would prefer bees that have been in the same location for at least 2 winters. There are both destructive and non-destructive methods to capture honeybees, so trees don't have to be cut down to get the bees if the landowner doesn't want the tree to be cut. Honeybees are not picky about hive location for the most part, so if you do know of a colony that is in some place other than a tree we will still gladly attempt to get them as well. Also, if you know the location of a feral colony and you just enjoy knowing that they are there, let us know that too. You don't even have to tell us the location. We just enjoy everything bee, and we would like to just get an idea of how many feral colonies are out there that no one else knows about but you.

Now a little about our business. From our first hive we have slowly grown, kept good records to learn from our mistakes, and now have a plan for the future. Nakeita and I are both very passionate about helping other people. So doing mission work in the name of Jesus is how we strive to help those in need. Our plan is to use a major portion of our proceeds from honey purchases to go to missions work. The rest of the proceeds will go right back into the business to purchase new materials and tools to expand our apiaries. We pray that you will support these plans and our business in the years to come. All we ask is that everyone willing, please pray for us and our endeavors so that God will open the doors that will allow us to reach people in His name. Once again enjoy your honey and remember to always Bee Thankful!

08/26/2013

Hey everybody. We just wanted to let everyone know that Bee Thankful Apiaries page is utilized by both Nakeita Fowler and Wade GeFellers, so posts and comments made on the page or in pm's may be either one of us. We just wanted to let everybody know this in case you are wanting to let one of us know something personally. We are looking forward to providing a quality product and forming great relationships with everyone. We are so blessed and we want to thank everybody for your interest. Be blessed and always Bee Thankful!

08/24/2013

Just finished checking the hives to make sure our little ladies are healthy and happy. Everything looks great in most of the hives except for one that is queenless. No need to worry though, we put some fresh eggs in from another hive and in 16 days we'll have another queen to lead the hive into fall and winter. We also have one hive that is in an area currently leading into a major giant goldenrod (Solidago gigantea) bloom. The bees are starting to store up pollen from these plants and the comb is beginning to turn the most beautiful shade of gold you have ever seen. It's the little things like this that keep reminding us of how beautiful God is and the blessings that he gives! Remember be blessed and always Bee Thankful!

08/24/2013

Add a little bit of sweetness to your life! Check out our commodity photo album. Now available for purchase!

08/24/2013

These are the available sizes that we are currently selling at Bee Thankful Apiaries. Please contact us if you are interested in making a purchase or if you have any questions about our commodity.

08/24/2013

Our Working Lady's Homes

08/18/2013

Nectar Sources

08/18/2013

Thank you Ladies:)

08/18/2013

Working the Bees

08/18/2013

Some of our hives