Podcasts about two hives honey

In this episode of the Upscaling from Hobbyist to Sideliner series, we explore the business side of beekeeping with two beekeepers who successfully made the leap. Hosts Jeff Ott and Becky Masterman are joined by Tara Dawn Chapman of Two Hives Honey in Austin, Texas, and Jay Williams of Williams Honey Farm in Tennessee. Tara and Jay share their personal journeys—both of which began outside of agriculture—detailing their challenges, missteps, and the pivotal moments that shaped their businesses. From scaling their apiaries to diversifying their revenue streams, they offer practical advice for beekeepers looking to turn their passion into a sustainable business. One of the biggest lessons they emphasize is that beekeeping businesses don't have to rely solely on honey sales. Both guests discuss the role of agribusiness opportunities, including hive tours, honey tastings, VIP yard management, and B2B partnerships. They highlight the importance of branding, marketing, and pricing honey appropriately, noting that storytelling and quality presentation can dramatically increase a product's perceived value. Throughout the conversation, they reflect on the pitfalls of trying to do everything at once and why finding a niche is key. They explain how agritourism can supplement income, even in regions with inconsistent honey flows, and share insights on hiring employees in a beekeeping business. The discussion also covers state and federal grants that beekeepers can apply for to expand operations, and why pricing honey at premium rates is often more sustainable than undercutting the market. If you're thinking about expanding your beekeeping beyond the hobbyist level, this episode is packed with insights, strategies, and real-world advice from beekeepers who have successfully made the transition. If you're looking to make honey harvesting more manageable and efficient, this episode provides the guidance you need to take the next step. Websites we recommend: Williams Honey Farm: https://williamshoneyfarm.com Two Hives Honey: https://www.twohiveshoney.com Tara's Book, "For The Bees": https://www.amazon.com/Bees-Handbook-Happy-Beekeeping/dp/147732951X Honey Bee Health Coalition: https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org The National Honey Board: https://honey.com Honey Bee Obscura Podcast: https://honeybeeobscura.com 2 Million Blossoms - The Podcast: https://2millionblossoms.com Copyright © 2025 by Growing Planet Media, LLC     ______________ Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!  Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper. Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about their line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. _______________ We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com Thank you for listening!  Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott. Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC Copyright © 2025 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

Hear all about the buzz from apiary operations at two different ends of the country: urban bee keepers Timothy Paule and Nicole Lindsey of Detroit Hives in Michigan, and from Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey in Austin, Texas. They share how pollinators fit into and enhance the fabric of an urban landscape, how they navigate consumer expectations on honey, and how food safety and security are tied to our small but mighty pollinators. Bees Please!Detroit HivesTwo Hives Honey

Just your typical CIA to honey farmer story on this podcast! Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey talks with host Katie Kulla  about starting and scaling a honey business, with education and agritourism as important parts of the plan. After a decade of working for The Agency, Tara quit her government job to work for a beekeeper in East Texas, and was inspired to start her own unique honey business.Two Hives Honey sells raw honey direct to consumers through its online store and a monthly subscription program. They also offer multiple education opportunities through on-site honey tasting, tours, and beekeeper classes. In addition to an interesting story, we learn a lot along the way about pitching an ag business in a tech world, operating a lean business and scaling up only as needed, and incorporating education and agritourism into a farm business model.Tara also has a lot of insight to share with our listeners on how she built a business out of honey and beekeeping through an innovative combination of farming and marketing. Two Hives Honey has quickly evolved and has grown into a socially conscious business and team that aims to educate their community, provide unique honey and bee experiences, and share why real, raw honey is the best honey! In Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we chat about new tools, old tools, how they can benefit your farm and tips to use them successfully with Conor Crickmore of Neversink Tools, which manufactures tools for farmers.In this episode of Shop Talk with Neversink Farm, we discuss how to get the right spacing for different crops with paperpot transplanters is the subject of this episode of Shop Talk. We talk about what spacings are possible with paper chain pots and learn when it is appropriate to use techniques like skipping cells for spacings outside of what is sold off the shelf, to get the right spacing for any crop.Thanks to our collaborator on this podcast Neversink Farm. They make this podcast free to everyone with their generous support. For tools designed and made by farmers, check out www.NeversinkTools.com Connect With Guest:Website: twohiveshoney.comInstagram: @twohives Download A FREE Magazine Issue:Go To Growing For Market Magazine: www.GrowingForMarket.com 

Today John is joined once again by Miss Tara Chapman from Two Hives Honey.  Tara teaches us about honey crystallization, what it means, and the four main factors that contribute to this process.  This is key knowledge to help you better understand the process, how you can use it to your advantage, and how to better educate the end consumer about your honey.  The pair also catch up on current life events and share some successes and challenges from this beekeeping season.  Tune in now for one exceptional interview!

At long last, here's the second installment of our bee-stravaganza! Leah interviews beekeeper Tara Chapman, owner of Two Hives Honey, about the intricate connection between bees, plants, and weather. Then, your hosts discuss how to be a good steward to honeybees--and native bees and other pollinators as well. Even if you're not a beekeeper, there are many things you can do (or not do) to be a friend to the bees!  Mentioned in this episode:  Instagram's @mr.mrs.beeRescue and @theinnocentgardener (beekeeper Sam Dula); Honey and Venom by NYC beekeeper Andrew Coté. 

At long last, here's the second installment of our bee-stravaganza. Leah interviews beekeeper Tara Chapman, owner of Two Hives Honey, about the intricate connection between bees, plants, and weather. Then, your hosts discuss how to be a good steward to honeybees--and native bees and other pollinators as well. Even if you're not a beekeeper, there are many things you can do (or not do) to be a friend to the bees!  Mentioned in this episode:  Instagram's @mr.mrs.beeRescue and @theinnocentgardener (beekeeper Sam Dula); Honey and Venom by NYC beekeeper Andrew Coté.  Find us on Patreon!

Tara Chapman is a beekeeper and beekeeping consultant from central Texas. After 10 years working in the Middle East for the C.I.A and other U.S. counter intelligence agencies, she left her day job to create Two Hives Honey near Austin, TX.We discussed basic bee biology and behavior, their pollination role, their importance to the global food system, and the threats facing our bee populations, as well as some of Tara's experience overseas in her former career.Head to Two Hives Honey to buy high quality local honey or to start you own hive!

Enter the hive with us for another classic critter topic: BEES! We recorded so much on bees that we have to split this bee-nanza into a two-parter! In part one, Leah suits up for a tour at Two Hives Honey in Manor, Texas, and investigates honeybee ecology. In part two, we'll focus on how, as a gardener, you can support our honey-making friends (along with native bees and other pollinators).  What are honeybees? Why do they live in boxes? And how did Apis mellifera, just one of tens of thousands of bee species in the world, become so ubiquitous in our gardens? We'll answer these questions and more with the help of professional beekeeper Samantha Dula.  Mentioned in this episode:  The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard A. Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch; and Bee City (1951), a short film about honeybees narrated by sportswriter and amateur naturalist John Kieran. 

Enter the hive with us for another classic critter topic: BEES! We recorded so much on bees that we have to split this bee-nanza into a two-parter! In part one, Leah suits up for a tour at Two Hives Honey in Manor, Texas, and investigates honeybee ecology. In part two, we'll focus on how, as a gardener, you can support our honey-making friends (along with native bees and other pollinators).  What are honeybees? Why do they live in boxes? And how did Apis mellifera, just one of tens of thousands of bee species in the world, become so ubiquitous in our gardens? We'll answer these questions and more with the help of professional beekeeper Samantha Dula.  Mentioned in this episode:  The Beekeeper's Bible by Richard A. Jones and Sharon Sweeney-Lynch; and Bee City (1951), a short film about honeybees narrated by sportswriter and amateur naturalist John Kieran. 

This week the guys are joined by Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey to discuss the uses of propolis.  Most beekeepers have a love-hate relationship with this dark sticky substance as it gets on everything and it does not ever seem to come back off.  Despite being a sticky pain for some beekeepers, hopefully we all realize the great importance that it plays in the lives of the bees and how it helps to create and maintain a healthy hive.  However, what can we as beekeepers do with this substance once we scrape a ball out of the hive during a routine inspection?  Well tune in now as Tara walks us through some of the wonderous possibilities that propolis can hold for an industrious beekeeper.

Welcome to Season 4, Ep. 29! In this episode, Bren and Madelena at Liberty Hill Junior High School, speak with Tara Chapman, beekeeper and founder of Two Hives Honey in Austin, Texas. Tara and the girls talk about working in Afghanistan and Pakistan, our daily impact in the world, and the importance of the queen bee.

Today’s guest is Tara Chapman, founder of Two Hives Honey in Austin, Texas. We sit down at the Geekdom Audio Lab and chat about her upbringing in West Texas and attending college at Duke, moving to Austin and discovering beekeeping through Groupon, honing her craft at an apiary in East Texas, winning an $8,000 grant that helped launch the company, and how Tara took her newfound beekeeping passion and quit her salaried government job on a lark to start Two Hives Honey - one of the premier artisanal honey company in Texas. Enjoy. Two Hives Honey: https://www.twohiveshoney.com/Buzzsprout Affiliate Link: https://www.buzzsprout.com/?referrer_id=290018

RISK can be a good thing, and that's our focus this week. Fantastic interview with entrepreneur Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey who took the risk of quitting her job with the CIA and starting her own business arouns bees; Go Aff Yourself with Jill Faulkner of stickwithit.co and our weekly aff is "I Am Open To New Possibilities"; and our practical tips and strategies for habit building with Amy and certified branding consultant Bijou Finney of Velvet Cartel. Find this week's resources and sign up for Amy's newsletter HERE.

Tara Chapman is a beekeeper in Austin. She started Two Hives Honey just over four years ago (which now has over 200 hives!). She has had an unusual career path, as her first job after graduating from Duke University was with the Central Intelligence Agency working in operations in Pakistan. She spends a couple of her workdays outside with the beehives, and most of her weekends are spent teaching beekeeping classes to interested community members.

The guys sit down with Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey to discuss her ever evolving company and her relationship with bees. Don't miss this exciting interview with a remarkable lady who is helping to shape the lives of other female entrepreneurs and helping them find their voice.

Join us for a Special National Honey Bee Day Bonus episode of The Hive Jive with a special guest appearance from Tara Chapman of Two Hives Honey. Ken gets a chance to tell everyone about his first ever swarm capture! Happy National Bee Day everyone!

Tara Dawn Chapman went from being a CIA agent to cold-emailing a bee farm. The email included her squat and deadlift numbers (beekeeping is hard work!). The rest, as they say, is history. Tara launched Two Hives Honey by putting hives in people's backyards. She then partnered with the hosts by harvesting the honey while teaching them beekeeping. Always wanted to know about bees? Are you interested in a badass female entrepreneur making her vision happen? Tune in!

In this program we continue our exploration of herbs with Robyn Clark, especially those plants that are used in therapeutic ways. We also re-visit Tara Chapman, chief beekeeper at Two Hives Honey to talk about how to start your own beehive.

Did you know that honey bees visit two million flowers to make one pound of honey? That’s a lot of work for that sweet treat that you spread on your toast! In this program, we visit Tara Chapman, chief beekeeper at Two Hives Honey to find out what else bees do for us, and what we can do for them.