beekeeping with the berkinshaws

Beekeeping had such an impact on my childhood that it was the topic of my college essay. At the age of 10, I remember extracting honey with my grandfather (my mom’s dad), who had 20 beehives in his backyard in the suburbs of Philadelphia. He kept each hive on a scale and kept meticulous records of their weight and the weather that day for over two decades. I remember he would tell us that he didn’t have arthritis because of the number of bee stings that he had gotten over the years, and that his goal was to get a “ton” of honey in a year, but “only” ended up getting 1800 pounds.

My dad, who learned from my grandfather, took on the hobby and has been an active, amateur beekeeper for at least 30 years. 2 years ago, I passed the hobby on to my daughter, and now we help our neighbors build their hives and raise their own bees. Last year, she designed her own label and with my background in CPG, I helped her bring the product to market.

Here is a video we created showing how to harvest honey from bee to bottle.