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Jim Mason, beekeeper, holds some of his locally produced honey from his bees Oct. 5 in Sorgho.
Jim and Janie Mason look over some of their beehives Oct. 5 in their backyard in Sorgho.
Jim Mason, beekeeper, holds some of his locally produced honey from his bees Oct. 5 in Sorgho.
Jim and Janie Mason look over some of their beehives Oct. 5 in their backyard in Sorgho.
When he was growing up in Owen County, Jim Mason would go with his father each winter to find a bee tree — a hollow tree with a hive inside — to collect honey.
These days, collecting the honey is a lot more simple.
Mason now has 13 hives that average 50,000 bees per hive — some go as high as 90,000.
And he sells his Kentucky Pure Mason Honey from his home in Sorgho at the corner of Kentucky 56 and Woodland Drive.
“This is the best-tasting honey I’ve ever had,” his wife Janie Jett-Mason says.
Mason said, “Like small batch bourbon, I make small batch honey.”
He’s wearing a T-shirt that says, “Show Me The Honey.”
Mason retired from commercial real estate sales two years ago and turned his hobby into a small business.
“I’ve been raising bees for about six years,” he said. “I took some classes. My son who lives in Tennessee asked if I’d like to get into beekeeping. He had a place where we could put some hives. But he got discouraged after he had been stung a few times and had a reaction to it.”
Mason said, “If you don’t want to get stung, you shouldn’t be a beekeeper.”
But there are advantages to getting stung, he said.
“I had arthritis in the little finger on my right hand,” Mason said. “After I had been stung on that hand a few times, it went away.”
Bee venom therapy is considered alternative treatment.
“We’ve had the hives here for about four years,” Mason said. “People call about a swarm, and I go out and catch them.”
Most bees are female workers, he said.
Mason started making honey five years ago.
“I leave 40 to 50 pounds in each hive for them for the winter,” he said. “I harvest 50 to 80 pounds per hive.”
Processing the honey and putting it in jars takes about two days, Mason said.
“I don’t have a dominant source of nectar out here,” he said. “It’s everything from soybeans to trees to flowers. It’s a blend.”
Bees are endangered, Mason said.
“If it wasn’t for beekeepers, they might be wiped out by now,” he said.
“People are afraid of swarming bees, but that’s when they’re the least aggressive,” Mason said. “They like water. I have a birdbath for them and have to fill it every two days. They drink a lot.”
Asked if she can make the bees talk, she laughed, “Yes, but he probably wouldn’t like what they would say.”
Mason said he started advertising his honey with a sign in front of his house two or three years ago.
Business has been steady, he said.
“I usually sell out by Nov. 1,” he said.
People can call 270-315-8292 to inquire if any is left.
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