Alpharetta Bee Co. specializes in sweet deals
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ALPHARETTA, Ga. Deborah Eves and Michael Buchanan bonded over a shared love of nature, but their passion for beekeeping and business started when they founded the Alpharetta Bee Company in 2021.
Buchanan and Eves started their backyard venture after a year of learning the ropes of beekeeping, and it first launched as The Sunny Honey Company.
We started Sunny Honey Company, and we got into the Alpharetta Farmers Market, and we're like wow, it was amazing how much people love honey, Eves said. Then the next year, which was last year before the farmers market started, we said, Well, gosh, nobody realizes that we're actually local Alpharetta beekeepers, so we changed our name to Alpharetta Bee Company.
Michael Buchanan and Deborah Eves farm, package and sell honey out of their homes on Pebble Trail in Alpharetta March 15. The couple started Alpharetta Bee Company in 2021 as The Sunny Honey Company.
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Eves and Buchanan feed, house and care for their Italian and Carniolan bees in their backyards on Pebble Trail. They also have hives at Buchanans cabin in Cleveland, where they produce their sourwood and mountain wildflower honey.
Buchanan said they learned best practices from a friend in Milton and from a neighbor in Cleveland with 35 years of beekeeping experience. The pair studied YouTube videos and purchased equipment in 2020, and the following year, they were ready to launch.
It's not something you can kind of stick your toe in the water about, Buchanan said. You're either in it or you're not.
The process
Buchanan said much of the process is common sense, but it is also hard work. He said it is important to feed the bees and keep them healthy for the period that they have no nectar, which is 60-70 percent of the year.
The two expect to have 12 or 13 hives in 2023, and Buchanan said one good hive can produce up to 70 pounds of honey.
Colorfully painted hives house a portion of the Alpharetta Bee Companys bees in Michael Buchanans backyard March 15. Buchanan and co-owner Deborah Evesraise and farm honey from Italian and Carniolan bees.
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They've been around since the time of the dinosaurs, so they know what to do, Buchanan said.
When the honey is ready to be harvested, Eves and Buchanan filter it from their extractor into containers. The honey is raw and never heated or pasteurized, they said, and nothing is added.
Eves also uses the beeswax from their hives in candles and lotion, which is made with coconut oil and shea butter.
Working as a duo, Eves said, allows them to bounce ideas off one another to find the best ways to run their business, and the bees are like their coworkers, rather than their employees.
A business with a mission
Alpharetta Bee Company served the couple as more than a business venture. Buchanan is a retired teacher, and Eves works as a substitute teacher at the Fulton County Schools Innovation Academy in Alpharetta.
Eves said two of her students want to learn about beekeeping and entrepreneurship, and this summer, they will help the couple at their Alpharetta Farmers Market booth.
We're going to train them to work at the market with us so that when one of us is gone, the other one thats there will have somebody to help, Eves said. Were super excited about it. They're so cute.
The company is also passionate about bees, trees and seas, and they said they hope to educate others and create awareness about saving the environment.
We have information at the booth, and we have tasters so they can taste it, Buchanan said. They're not just buying it blindly, and we let them try some of the sourwood, wildflower, whatever. We try to teach people about beekeeping and how mosquito spraying in the yard is not really good for the bees."
Besides beekeeping, Buchanan is an artist, writer and filmmaker, and he searches the West and Southeast for fossils and shark teeth. He said he enjoys sharing his findings with children at the farmers market.
We just like to talk to people, Eves said. We have pictures of us in our beekeeping suits at the market, and we found that a lot of people love to talk about bees. And if people want to bring their kids over and visit the beehives, we encourage that as well."
Looking back and ahead
Before the success of Alpharetta Bee Company, Eves and Buchanan had to face the challenges of obtaining a license, paying sales taxes and covering expenses as new business owners.
To me, the bumpiest thing is the fact that you're totally dependent upon the bees to help you do this, Buchanan said. If we lose a couple of hives, whatever, then it cuts back on product and things like that. We do the best we can, but still the bees have the final vote on how everything's going to work, and we cannot control that.
While the pair are still expanding their online presence and navigating the farmers market off-season, Eves said the business allows her to do the things she loves, and she is satisfied with the size and the market of the company.
Alpharetta Bee Company sells wildflower, sourwood and clover honey, as well as creamed and infused varieties March 15. Owner Deborah Eves also makes lotion and candles with beeswax, and co-owner Michael Buchanan painted bees that the couple sell on handcrafted note cards.
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We don't want it to get to where it's just a job, Buchanan said. We still want it to be a business that makes us happy, not one that takes over our lives.
Buchanan and Eves hope to expand their honey varieties in the future, and they plan to sell childrens books related to beekeeping and nature soon.
Alpharetta Bee Company is at the Alpharetta Farmers Market Saturdays 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. April 1-Oct. 31 and Saturdays 9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. in November. The company will also set up at the Alpharetta Christmas Market in December,
The companys online shop is at alpharettabeeco.com/.
Reach Shelby Israel at 770-847-8079. Follow her on Twitter
Tuesday, March 21, 2023 at 10:00 am