Help Us Rebuild Our Apiary After the Flood

My journey with bees started long before Beauty and the Bees Honey.

I began beekeeping in 2004 in Jerez, Zacatecas, Mexico, with my children’s father’s family. They are beekeepers, and that was my first real experience working with bees, learning about the hives, and having fresh honey straight from the hive. I absolutely loved it.

After my children’s father and I separated, beekeeping was no longer part of my everyday life. I missed the bees, and I especially missed having fresh, raw honey.

later, in 2015, I was a single mom and decided I wanted to get back to something I had loved so much. I purchased my first four beehives with the dream of starting my own honey business. Those four hives became the beginning of Beauty and the Bees Honey.

Beekeeping also ended up changing my life in a way I never expected.

My husband, Mursel, grew up in Turkey and has been a beekeeper for most of his life. We actually met through a Facebook beekeeping group. What started as two people on opposite sides of the world talking about bees turned into conversations every day, and eventually we fell in love.

When Mursel came to the United States, beekeeping became something we could share and build together. He brought with him a lifetime of knowledge and experience with bees, and together we continued growing our apiary and Beauty and the Bees Honey.

Bees are so much more than a business to us. They have been part of both of our lives for decades, and they are even part of the story of how we found each other.

Then a natural disaster flooded our apiary in Bellevue.

The field where our hives were located completely flooded, and the water became powerful enough to carry entire hives away. When we were finally able to get out there by kayak and see the damage, it was heartbreaking.

We lost 35 hives, along with a large amount of woodenware and beekeeping equipment that we had accumulated over the years. Some hives were completely swept away. Others were damaged or displaced, with surviving bees still clinging to what remained.

We are doing everything we can to recover what is salvageable and save the colonies that survived.

These aren’t simply boxes of bees or inventory to us. They represent years of work, care, knowledge, and a love for beekeeping that stretches from Mexico to Turkey to Nebraska.

Watching so much of that disappear in such a short amount of time has been devastating.

After the flood, I contacted our insurance company and was told that the bees themselves were not insurable. This came as a shock to me. I have been with this insurance company for seven years, and over the years I had discussed our beekeeping operation and believed our bees were covered under our policy. Finding out otherwise after such a devastating loss has made an already difficult situation even harder.

Where Your Support Will Go

Right now, our most urgent need is replacing the beehives, hive boxes, woodenware, and beekeeping equipment that were destroyed, damaged, or carried away by the flood.

Some of the surviving colonies still need safe, secure equipment. Getting them into new boxes and stabilizing those colonies as quickly as possible is incredibly important, especially with winter approaching.

Our focus right now is simple: save the bees we can, stabilize the surviving colonies, and begin rebuilding our apiary.

We have set a goal of $25,000 to help replace the 35 hives, bees, woodenware, and beekeeping equipment lost or damaged in the flood and to help care for the colonies that survived.

Every donation will help us purchase replacement equipment, care for the surviving colonies, and begin the long process of rebuilding what was lost.

If you’re able to donate, no amount is too small. And if you aren’t in a position to donate, simply sharing our story can help more than you know.

The support we’ve already received has been overwhelming. Friends, neighbors, customers, and members of our community have stepped forward to help us recover bees, reach the hives we could get to, and figure out what comes next.

I reached a point where I truly felt like giving up. But seeing people show up for us and for our bees has given me the strength to keep going.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for helping us save what we can, rebuild what was lost, and continue a love of beekeeping that has connected our family across countries, generations, and now our community.