Meet the Keeper

My name is Jonathan Adam Hargus and I am the Beekeeping Mentor. I’ve been getting stung since 2002. I apprenticed for fifteen years as a commercial beekeeper in Florida before buzzing off on my own into the North Central Mountains of Georgia.

I actively dislike commercial beekeeping practices. They use chemicals to treat for pests and disease, they use pesticide-laden high fructose corn syrup as a ‘food’ for honey bees, just to name a few. Their Unsustainable Practices are one of the TOP reasons for the high mortality rates of honey bees and most people are simply not aware of it.

Honey bee research is looking for magic cures in all the wrong places, while honey bee forage suffers from land clearing and development. While researchers are trying to cure the symptoms rather than the cause, I call this ‘Barking up the wrong Bee.’ I get pretty involved with my bees, the issues facing honey bees and their Keepers, and I do this more so than any other beekeeper that I know. I’m always looking for the Sweet Spot in beekeeping practices.

Beekeeping aside, I am also an author and illustrator of several upcoming educational picture books for children, including one dystopian style novel for Young Adults (older adults can read it too if they want to) that I am super excited about!

When I’m not getting stung, illustrating or writing my books or blogging, I’m taking wonderful macro shots of my little honey bees. I love seeing what plants they forage from and identifying them. I believe that honey bee forage is so important to bee aware of.

Thanks for joining me today, please read a blog post or two and share your thoughts in the comments…Buzz buzz!

I look forward to hearing from you and learning what drives your passions.

Jonathan Hargus/Beekeeper Extraordinaire