Selling Honey & Supporting A Cause with Dr. Christine Bertz

The Forrager Podcast for Cottage Food Businesses

When Dr. Christine Bertz started beekeeping, she didn’t care if she made any money from it. In fact, her main motivation was to support pollinator conservation efforts. But now, only three years in, her honey business is blossoming and she is having trouble keeping up with customer demand!

Christine lives in Memphis, TN and sells honey and jams with her cottage food business, B & Bees Provisions. In addition to selling, she gives her products away to benefit charities through her participation in triathlons and marathons.

Christine talks about the importance of beekeeping, how to start a beehive in your backyard, and how her fear of bees has transformed into an utter fascination and love of them.

What You’ll Learn

• Why honey is much more profitable than jam
• Why beekeeping is important and why it has become more popular in the past decade
• How Christine keeps two beehives in her suburban backyard
• The steps you should take to start beekeeping and how much space you need
• Why Christine is no longer afraid of bees
• How to use a charity fundraiser to quickly test a product idea
• The tax implications of donating a portion of sales to charity
• How long it takes to build a beehive and maintain it
• How much money you could make with only two hives
• How Christine prices her honey
• A whole bunch of interesting facts about bees and honey production
• The potential benefits of buying local honey
• The requirements for starting a honey business in Tennessee

Resources

B & Bees Provisions Facebook Page

The B(ee)log – thebeeblog.net

Food In Jars by Marisa McClellan (Marisa’s books)

Memphis Area Beekeepers Association

Michael Pollan’s books

Tennessee Cottage Food Law

Get full show notes and transcript here: https://forrager.com/podcast/11