Business Monday: Veteran finds success with honey while learning to live sustainably
The former Petty Officer Second Class dental hygienist in the Navy did not begin as a natural beekeeper, making many mistakes in the beginning before discovering Hoʻola Farms and its programs for veterans.
But through the nonprofit’s classes and guidance, Booker became a quick study. Last year, he entered his bright, yellow honey in the annual Big Island Beekeeper Associationʻs Hawaiian Honey Challenge, and during his first year of producing honey, he earned first place in the Peopleʻs Choice for Light Liquid Honey.
Now, the 52-year-old is keeping two types of bees that produce two types of honey and has officially started his own agribusiness – Big Bʻz Hawaiian Honey.
It all started when he moved from Washington to Hawaiʻi during the COVID-19 pandemic. After Booker saw the high price of honey in stored, he began beekeeping on his property in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
But the tutorials he watched and read online did not bode well for the bees in his four hives that were living on the islands.
“I bought hives before I took a class and, unfortunately, I was doing everything wrong,” he said. “Hawaiʻi is one of the places you donʻt have to feed your bees, you donʻt have to winterize them and it rains enough here that water isnʻt necessary. When my instructor found out I was feeding them, it was too little too late.”
Booker ultimately lost one hive, but he learned from his mistakes through education and guidance at Ho’ola Farms, a place he said was a perfect match for him.
“A big part of me moving to Hawaiʻi was that I knew I wanted about an acre of land to grow edible plants that I could forage and use to live sustainably,” Booker said. “I started taking classes with Ho’ola Farms and really enjoyed the things I learned. They gave us the opportunity to get out there and see what other people were doing and how they were going about farming on the island.”
Hoʻola Farms provides educational training in agriculture and hands-on experiences for the community, with an emphasis on military veterans and first responders as well as their families and caregivers.
While growing food can be a great therapy for veterans and first responders, Hoʻola Farms also hopes to create a more sustainable future for the people of Hawaiʻi Island.
At Hoʻola Farms, Booker took the Intro to Grow workshop, Financial for Farmers and the Art of Beekeeping, which was helpful because he already had four hives on his property in Hawaiian Paradise Park.
Hoʻola Farms’ four-week course is taught by Susan Collins, a beekeeper, educator and founder of Bird and Bee Hawaiʻi, and includes virtual classes and field days at local, operational farms and businesses.
Within that time, Collins is able to teach students about the importance of pollinators and the honey bee for Hawaiʻi, hive inspection, bee intelligence, hive components, honey harvest, colony management, and bee pests and disease.
Since taking the class, Booker has nurtured his hives to a healthy place, and they are rewarding him with honey.
“It’s a lot of work extracting honey, but I really enjoy it and I thought the bright, yellow honey the bees were making was so good,” Booker said. “My four hives quickly turned into six hives and I’m now at eight hives and have two more to put together.”
While he has not sold much honey in Hawaiʻi, Booker found there is demand for it on the mainland.
“I have some things in the works and family members in Florida interested in selling the honey there which is great for me,” Booker said. “I have sent both types of honey to friends and family back home on the mainland and everyone loves it. There is definitely a demand for Hawaiian honey there, I just donʻt have the supply yet.”
While he is pursuing beekeeping and his honey business, Booker is also studying massage therapy and will be finishing school in December.
“Massage therapy is just the complete opposite of dentistry in that people actually want to go to their massage appointments and are sad when Iʻm booked,” Booker said. “Massage therapy is great for many reasons, one being that I can be my own boss. This will help open my time to taking care of the hives, making more honey, growing my own edible garden and working on my other goals.”
Many of Bookerʻs long-term goals are ideas that would increase the access to healthy foods that are produced sustainably for everyone on Hawaiʻi Island.
“Since being here and learning more about agriculture, one of the things I personally want to do is find a way to plant fruit trees every 50 to 100 yards in downtown Hilo, so people donʻt have to worry about starving,” Booker said. “Even here in [Hawaiian Paradise Park], imagine if every house had just one fruit tree outside their property that produced fruit for everyone to share. These kinds of things would help everyone.
Booker is excited to dedicate more time to working toward a future of living sustainably by growing food for himself and his community. He also hopes to encourage the people who move to Hawaiʻi about the importance of growing food, especially on an island.
“Food sovereignty is a big part of Hoʻola Farms and I really appreciated the education surrounding the idea of making Hawaiʻi Island sustainable for Hawaiʻi Island,” Booker said. “Especially if we have another pandemic, or something bad happens, we need to be able to stand by ourselves while also sharing with one another.”
For anyone interested in starting a business and learning the basics of sustainable agriculture in Hawaiʻi, Booker highly recommends the programs through Hoʻola Farms.
“When I was taking their classes, I got to go to so many different farms, meet several people doing what I wanted to do, use a commercial kitchen in Hilo and learn how to maintain a sustainable garden,” Booker said. “College classes donʻt aways give you that hands-on experience and this was what really helped me start my own agribusiness.”
When it comes to beekeeping in particular, he has only one piece of advice for anyone interested in pursuing it as a small business or hobby: “Take a beekeeping introduction class before getting hives. Trust me, it will save you money and time.”
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