Churubusco, Ind. (WANE) — Bee Great Marketplace has been open for three years, but its services go far beyond the storefront.
David Mullins, owner of Bee Great, has been keeping bees as a hobby for 10 years. Five years ago, he decided to turn his hobby into a living job.
“My wife and I decided we wanted to start a business and decided this was the right fit for us,” Mullins said. “I started selling honey at farmers markets and things like that.”
Last year, Mullins took the business in a new direction. In addition to producing local honey, Bee Great also offers a way for people to learn how to keep bees and produce honey.
“I was a professor and my wife was a principal,” Mullins said. “So teaching is in our blood.”
All of the honey produced by Bee Great comes from approximately 70 hives located in various homes in Northeast Indiana. For those who aren't ready to learn how to care for bees on their own, Bee Great offers a service that does all the beekeeping work while leaving the hives on your property.
“I have no expertise in beekeeping and don't have the time to take up another hobby,” said Andy Katz, a Bee Great customer. “But it was important to us. So we found someone with expertise in that area, and that's David.”
Katz doesn't actually keep bees, but he does learn things along the way.
“We had to take the lid off the hive,” Katz said. “You have to put them in the extractor, and then you filter it and bottle it, and you get a lot of honey that you made yourself, so it’s a lot of fun.”
Bee Great currently offers beekeeping classes for beginner and intermediate levels. Jason Ford and Carla Alexander returned to take an intermediate class on Saturday.
“There are a lot of videos on YouTube,” Ford said. “But learning face-to-face is always a good experience. Plus, our climate is different, so I think you need to learn from someone who lives in your state. It won’t work out that way.”
Alexander says it's interesting to learn about bee flight patterns and behavior.
“If you have someone who is willing to come in and not only keep the bees for you, but also dress you and learn about bees as you work with them, and then offer classes on top of that. You can really start “understanding what's involved,'' Alexander said. “I don't know of any other place that does that.”
In July 2023, the Fort Wayne City Council passed an ordinance allowing beekeepers to add hives in the city, recognizing the importance of bees and the impact they have on the environment.
“The National Honey Board's slogan this year is 'Honey saves hives,'” Mullins said. “And they're absolutely right. There's no way we can do this if people don't buy local honey.”
Purchasing local honey not only allows Bee Great to stay in business, Mullins said. Consuming honey produced where you live will reduce allergy symptoms, he said.
“You want particles,” Mullins said. “You want beeswax. You want pollen. You want propolis. And it needs to contain enzymes that are destroyed by the heating process.”
Mullins is excited about the future of Bee Great and is looking forward to building on its ongoing operations.
“We're not trying to be a big packer,” Mullins said. “We don't have that facility. We don't want to do that. We don't want to leave forever. This is a family business.”
