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From raising bees and making honey to teaching the next generation how to become beekeepers, Frank Bowman and his family are making strides for the industry at their farm, Double B Apiary, in Wake Forest. What started as a hobby farm and learning opportunity for his kids quickly became a full-time adventure for Frank, his wife and their two daughters, Parker and Kennedy. From then until now, they have worked hard every year to provide high-quality products to their customers and educate people on the importance of bees across our state.
Even as young children, Parker and Kennedy Bowman had a passion for growing their own food. “We own a farm here in Warren County, but my wife and I are not farmers,” Frank said. “When Parker was around nine years old and Kennedy was seven, they came to me asking to start a vegetable garden. Not only did they grow vegetables for our family, but other families in the community through their CSA box program.” The very next year, Frank bought his first beehive to help the girls get a bigger return out of their investment in the vegetable garden. “Having pollinators is proven to increase yields on farms and in gardens, so we decided to give it a try,” Frank said. “That’s when the girls truly fell in love with raising honeybees and decided to transition the farm into an apiary.” Today, Double B Apiary has over 400 bee hives and produces five varieties of honey across our state!
Double B Apiary has hives in various locations across our state, from Wake Forest through Warren County. “We are only allowed to house forty beehives in one yard or area, so we spread our hives out,” Frank said. “We also move them all year long from one end of the state to the other to produce five honey varieties that truly represent honey across North Carolina.” Did you know that bees grow more attached to location than they do to a specific hive? According to Frank, bee hives must be moved at night and have to move at least two miles away from the previous location or the bees will go back. “If I have a hive at one location and move that hive one mile down the road, even though the hive is in a new place, the bees will fly back to the hives original location because they grow accustomed to a certain place not a specific hive,” he said. “That’s why, when we move our bees, we move them at night and distance them apart. It’s a win-win for both us and the farmers that we partner with because the bees are pollinating their crops while also collecting various flavors of honey for our products.” Frank and his daughter, Kennedy, currently produce Local Wildflower Honey from Wake Forest, Sourwood Honey from the Appalachians, Clary Sage Honey from Eastern NC, Cotton Honey from Tarboro, and their brand-new Bourbon Barrel Honey in partnership with Buffalo Trace, which was released last winter.
When it’s time to harvest honey from the beehives, Frank and Kennedy use an escape board to remove bees from the honey supers without agitating them. “At the bottom of each hive is where the baby bees, aka broods, are housed and cared for,” Frank said, “so the escape board allows us to get between that section of the hive to the upper area, where we can remove the honey supers.” Once the supers are removed from the hive, any bees on the supers themselves are blown off with a leaf blower and sent back to the hive. The supers are then loaded up and taken to the barn on-site at the apiary. “Something many people don’t know is that honey must have a moisture content below 18% or it will ferment,” Frank said. “Most of the time, the bees will take care of this inside the hive by fluttering their wings until it reaches below 18% and then capping the super. If, however, we get any in the barn that have a moisture content above 18%, we put them in a room for two to three days with a dehumidifier to get the moisture content down before processing the honey.” When ready, the surface of the honeycomb is removed, and the honey is poured inside an extractor where it is spun and drained into a bin. The honey remains in those bins until it is ready to bottle. “We try to be a one-stop-shop here, so we do all of our bottling and labeling on-site,” Frank said. Products from Double B Apiary can be purchased online through their website, on-site at the apiary in Wake Forest, and wholesale at various locations.
In addition to raising bees and producing honey, Double B Apiary also offers Honeybee Classes through their Teaching Apiary in Wake Forest, as well as through the NC State University Bee Lab. “When Parker was fourteen and Kennedy was twelve, they were given the chance to start an Apiary Class at N.C. State University that was selective, or taught between semesters,” Frank said. “They continue to offer this class, now on a semester class level, for vet students to learn how to raise bees and produce honey.” In addition to the class at N.C. State, Kennedy and Frank offer beekeeping classes at their Teaching Apiary on-site in Wake Forest where they teach new beekeepers how to start their own apiary. “The first year for beginning beekeepers is always the hardest, so our goal with the Teaching Apiary is to help them be successful and persevere through that initial year,” Frank said. “Interested individuals purchase the bees from us, learn how to care for them through the classes, and some even keep their bees on-site here at the apiary if they live in a place with an HOA or are worried about neighbors. Overall, it’s a great way to help them navigate the steep learning curve that comes with beekeeping and learn to be successful in this business.” If you are interested in learning more about the Teaching Apiary, classes at the N.C. State Bee Lab, or classes through their local county bee clubs, contact Frank through the email on their website!
For anyone interested in learning how to become a beekeeper, Frank advises you to start small, have patience through the first year, always keep an EpiPen handy and stay up to date on pest management techniques. “When our daughter Kennedy was fifteen years old, we learned a valuable lesson about bee stings,” Frank said. “Even though she had been stung many times before, she went into anaphylactic shock one day out of nowhere after a bee stung her on the wrist. By the time we got to the barn, which is on-site at our property in Wake Forest, she could hardly breathe. If we wouldn’t have had an EpiPen handy in the barn, she would have gotten a lot worse before the ambulance got to us.” According to doctors, it doesn’t matter how many times you have been stung, a reaction to a bee sting can occur anytime anywhere, which is why Frank and his family always stress having an EpiPen handy when handling bees. Even though it can be challenging, and sometimes dangerous, Frank and his daughters wouldn’t trade anything in the world for the joy that they have found in beekeeping. “It can be frustrating to start out in beekeeping but start small with a few hives and allow yourself to master the basics before growing,” Frank said. “Stick with it because it’s worth it by year four!”
Honeybees, and other pollinators, are extremely important to our state’s agriculture industry. In fact, without them, we wouldn’t have many of the products that we enjoy and use every single day. “Bees pollinate nearly any crop you can think of,” Frank said. “Studies show that farmers yield more where bees, and other pollinators, work. In fact, 80% of bees in the country move to pollinate almonds in California each year. Without them, we would be in a bad place as a nation.” We are so proud of all that Kennedy, Frank and their family are doing through Double B Apiary to not only raise bees and produce local honey but educate the next generation on how to further the industry in the years to come. Be sure to check out their website and social media pages to learn more and get involved!
