2 tons or roughly 4,000 pounds is the amount of finished honey that local beekeeper Donald Dees processed last year from his beehives here in the Moore County area.
Considering that it takes 12 honeybees their entire lifetime to produce one teaspoon of honey, you can imagine the tens of thousands of bees that it takes to create 4,000 pounds of finished natural honey.
I sat down this past Friday with Donald along with a few hundred thousand honey bees at a location in Aberdeen that contains a number of his hives to learn more about the path that got him where he is at today.
Donald's love for working with honeybees is something that began in his youth when as a teen he would take the Trailways Bus from Rockingham to Aberdeen to stay with his cousins in the summer to help with the family business, Shepard and Sons Bee Farm.
Here he learned from one of the best in the bee business, his uncle Bill Shepard. For those of us who grew up here many of you may remember that Bill was well known and respected in the bee community not just here locally, but all across the state of North Carolina. He was always willing to share his knowledge or help another.
Donald's move to become a beekeeper in his own right began in 2015 when he acquired his first 6 hives that year creating the beginning of what would become Dees Bees Apiary. Like everything in life, he had his trials and errors, and his ups and downs, but things grew and he currently has 85 hives. As a matter of fact after our meeting that day he was meeting his brother Scott Dees, who is also a beekeeper, to remove a hive from a tree limb in the area.
Donald is passionate about three things - bees, beekeeping, and producing quality honey. You can hear it in the tone of his voice when he talks as well as the words that he says.
Now he spends most of his time in the fall and winter making new boxes and planning for the upcoming season. During the spring and summer, he can usually be found caring for his bees, bottling honey or one of the hundred other things needing to be done to be a successful beekeeper.
Dees hives are located on land that he owns, land that he leases, and yet other locations he barters honey with the landowners.
Dees Bees honey is 100% natural honey straight from the bee! Unlike some store-bought brands, their honey has no fillers and no artificial ingredients. Dees honey is well known and raved about by its fans.
Dees Bees honey is typically packaged in 1 pound and 2 pound bottles. The honey is available at several local locations across the region listed at the bottom of this article.
It was a joy to sit with Donald and learn more about our friends the honey bee. Enjoy some delicious honey and show your support for a local small business by finding your own bottle of Dees Bees Honey today.
You can find Dees Bees honey at the following area locations:
Burney Hardware Aberdeen
Burney Hardware 7 Lakes
The Corner Store
Purple Thistle
PineScones (both locations)
Aberdeen Supply
Twigg & Co
High Octane
Wild Birds Unlimited
Sandhills Feed Supply
NutriShop
Southern Pines Visitor Center
Simply Coffee - Robbins
The Pinehurst Olive Oil Company
The Market 107 - Carthage
Nani's Soap Boutique
Sandhills Table To Farm
The Bakehouse
To see all of the products available with Dees Bees Apiary visit their website at:
04/14/24
Billy Marts
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