Meet the Beekeepers

Sonoma County honey is sold at the Bees N Blooms farm stand and at our Honey Tasting events. We make our own honey here on the farm and also work with beekeepers from different parts of Sonoma County to provide our customers with super-local honeys. Honey changes over the season, as the bees forage on different flowers, bringing different flavors to these seasonal honeys. From the beautiful yellow mustard flowers and fruit tree blooms in the early spring, to the blackberries, lavender, and wildflowers of late spring and summer, to the coyote brush and goldenrod of fall, and eucalyptus blooms of December, the bees make their honey from a wide variety of resources in Sonoma County. Here are profiles of the beekeepers who provide honey to Bees N Blooms.

Susan Kegley, Bees N Blooms

Susan started beekeeping in 2010 as part of her work for Pesticide Research Institute on the effects of pesticides on bees. In order to better assess the validity of the research work done on bees, she needed to know more about the inner workings of a honey bee colony. Once inside the beehive, she was hooked! The complexity of the honey bee colony and all of the interacting castes of bees over the different seasons was  simply fascinating. In 2016, Susan and her husband Geoff founded Bees N Blooms, an 11-acre organic farm, to grow flowers for the bees (and the humans!), practice regenerative organic agriculture, and simply to enjoy nature and the outdoors. The farm has 8-12 beehives, 1.5 acres of lavender, half an acre of pollinator-friendly trees, and about an acre of cultivated annuals and perennials, plus spring cover crops. Contact Susan.

Clay Cook, Straightline Beeco

Clay started beekeeping about 10 years ago. His grandfather was a beekeeper and although he never got to assist him in his apiary, he was put to work cranking the extractor in the honey house! Clay keeps about 50 colonies in seven locations around Sonoma County. He regularly gets invitations from people asking to host his hives and always starts by asking “Are you ok with having up to 15 hives on your property? “This tends to sort out those who aren’t that serious! Clay grew up on a dairy farm in northern Wisconsin so he approaches beekeeping as a farmer. Clay considers himself a modern farmer. He studies constantly and is always trying to expand his knowledge and experience base. Whenever someone asks for help with bees, he’ll raise his hand. He has found that everyone has something to teach him. Contact Clayton.

Christine Kurtz, Secret Garden Apiary

Christine Kurtz is a seasoned and experienced beekeeper with over a decade long work with bees, using a sustainable, treatment free and natural management style. A long-time Sonoma County resident, she is familiar with the ebbs and flows of the seasons and the cycle of the local honeybee. Christine is a strong believer in supporting locally adapted stocks of bees. She spends most of her time as a mentor helping beekeepers become better beekeepers while encouraging beekeepers to restock and share their bees locally. A past Sonoma County Beekeepers Association President and long-standing board member of the organization, Christine is a social entrepreneur that helped create localized communities within the Sonoma County Beekeepers’ Association to facilitate education, connections between beekeepers, sharing of resources and involvement in local schools and events. Contact Christine.

John McGinnis, Buzz Off Honey

John retired in June 2014 and was in need of a new hobby to fill his days. Living on a large ranch on Sonoma Mountain, beekeeping seemed to be a perfect fit. Being an enthusiastic novice, he jumped in with both feet. He became more involved with SCBA and after some mentoring from Christine Kurtz, he quickly became an avid swarm collector. His apiary grew to a dozen colonies and he donates the rest of the rescued swarms to beekeepers in SCBA. In the last three years, he has captured over 100 swarms and has given away 75% of them. John attended Serge Labesque’s classes at SRJC and learned of the special designed hives that Serge created over the years. He started building Serge style hives for his apiary and for others who are akin with Serge’s beekeeping methods. He and his wife, Darlene, started their business in 2016, Buzz Off Honey at Goahway Ranch in 2016 providing quality hives at an affordable price. Contact John.

David and Linda Franzman,
Michelle’s Finest

Dave and Linda Franzman have had a lifelong interest in nature, gardening, and the great outdoors their entire lives. The Franzmans owned A Touch of the Tropics nursery for a decade, shipping plants around the world. Being of a certain age, they have watched as our environment has been degraded and the climate, slowly but noticeably changing, causing stress through all our eco-systems. None more so than the bees and all the other species. Several years ago, they dedicated themselves to living a more sustainable existence. What could they do? They thought of the bees. They’ve had a lifelong fascination watching and listening while the bees did their business, gathering pollen and nectar to create one of nature’s finest natural products: honey. There is a certain romance to digging in the soil and pruning the plants while the humming of hundreds of bees work along next to them. Dave and Linda thought: could they keep bees in a residential neighborhood here in Northwest Santa Rosa so they could help save the bees? After a little bit of research, it was clear this could be done. The next step was to learn how. Knowing almost nothing about beekeeping, they researched, watched videos and read books. They took the SRJC adult education classes on beekeeping. Most important of all they joined the Sonoma County Beekeepers Association. Beekeeping has been truly rewarding. Not without heartbreak for sure but just watching the bees as they go about their business and having the interaction with the hives has been something that they have cherished. It fit in perfectly with the rest of the efforts they have undertaken to live a better, more natural way of life. Beekeeping is something they will do for the rest of their lives.