Keeping bees since 2005.
Bee yards for Central Texas land.
I build hives in my shop, set them on your place, and keep the bees for years. Tell me what you'd like bees to do for you, and I'll help you find the arrangement that fits.
Or call or text (512) 298-1526. Text is fastest.
How it starts
Whichever you choose, the first steps are the same.
- Tell me about your place. Call, text or send a request with where the land is, about how many acres, and what you'd like bees to do for you.
- I come out and look. The site visit is free. We'll walk the ground together and look at water, forage and access. Everyone I visit gets a native plant guide written for their address.
- You get it in writing. A written plan and an itemized quote, with every line explained. No numbers scribbled on a tailgate.
- I get to work. Hives come out of my shop over the winter and go in with the bees in spring. A habitat plan comes to you written, mapped and ready to file.
Schools, campuses and businesses: I also work by formal bid. See how a program comes together.
Who you'll be working with
In 2005, the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association gave a twelve-year-old his first hive and a mentor. I've kept bees ever since. I studied rangeland ecology and management at Texas A&M, and I build every hive I set out.
It's just me, so the person who visits your place, opens your hives and answers your texts is the same person every time. I'd be honored to be your beekeeper.
From the bee yard
I film a lot of my work. Here's the newest video from my channel.
New to beekeeping? My Beekeeping 101 videos are free.
What the bluebonnet needs
The bluebonnet rarely sets its own seed. It may be obvious, but pollination is pretty important to our state flower.
A Texas bluebonnet rarely self-pollinates. Without an insect to carry pollen from flower to flower, it sets very little seed, and because it's an annual, seed is the only way it comes back in March. Bees go for the flowers whose spot is still white and pass over the older ones, where it has turned red-purple (Wildflower Center).
Bluebonnets aren't the only flowering plants that pollinators help. In fact, about 87 percent of flowering plants depend on pollinators to set the next generation of flora (Ollerton and others, 2011). Pollinators are a keystone: if you take them out of the equation, seeds don't form, the next generation of plants doesn't start, and the quail, songbirds and other wildlife that eat both lose that feed.
Once upon a time, Texas was prime honey country. In 1900, Uvalde County produced 161,800 pounds of huajilla honey, and Uvalde honey took first place at the Paris World's Fair that year (Texas Apiary Inspection Service). It's still a highly prized and decadent honey, but the brush that produces it is much less prevalent.
Between 1997 and 2022, Texas lost nearly 3.7 million acres of working land, and more than 1.8 million of it in the last five of those years (Texas Land Trends).
Land that's managed with pollinators in mind can carry far more of them than most land does today. That's what I'm about, and honey bees are my vehicle for keeping the broader vision alive.
From the Field Notes
Let's look at your place together.
Tell me what you have in mind, and we'll work out what fits.
The visit is free. If your place isn't a fit, I'll tell you why and what might work instead, and you'll still get a native plant guide written for your address.