Cohutta, GA |
In Cohutta, what started off as a hobby and an excuse to get up and moving, quickly turned into a passion for this beekeeper, Scott Bates, Owner of Northwest Georgia Busy Bees – a small, family apiary business that has grown from the ground up over the last few years.
Bates explained, “We started out as a hobby farm, two years ago. This is our third year. I had weight loss surgery, so I needed something to take up my time. My wife had gardens that weren’t doing very well. So, we just started with two beehives, and what becomes a hobby quickly becomes a passion,” says Bates. “And so, we started with the two, we grew to six, and now we’re up to twelve hives, and our hopes and desires will be to eventually have fifty to a hundred hives.”
For Bates, the entire process has been a learning experience to get his bee population to where it is today, as he says starting out as a hobbyist required him to do some self-education and get help from other beekeepers.
“We started to do a lot of research and watch YouTube videos. There’s a huge bee community. So you start asking questions and growing with that bee community. Every year you split your bees. So that they don’t swarm. So, it’s just a multiplication game,” says Bates. “As they start multiplying in early spring, you start splitting and you either sell those off if you don’t want to grow or you continue to grow. Our two has grown into 6, that’s grown into twelve. So next year we hope to have at least twenty-five hives.”
Over the last couple of years, Bates says his business has really taken off, as he now sells a variety of products that are made from the fresh honey produced by his bees. Things such as lip balm, butter, lotions, and of course, raw, unfiltered honey.
“We have a great online presence. What we did find out, though, is just like with your garden where you have foods that you can make into multiple items, you can do that with the bees. Not only do you have the honey, but you have the beeswax that you can turn into natural products for people,” says Bates. “There’s a huge market for all natural products. So, we’re trying to give those to the people that need them.”
Bates says that demand for his products has continued to grow, as more and more people continue to discover the benefits of raw, local honey for their health.
“Local wildflower honey, if it’s strained and unfiltered, has vitamins and minerals and the local pollen. So just as you would get shots for asthma and allergies, if you take local honey with that local pollen in it, then you’re going to get that same dose in that local honey that is not chemically induced,” explained Bates. “So therefore, you get those health benefits, from that local honey.”
By: John Holcomb