Hello, my name is Brian Higgins and my son is Branden.  We have been beekeepers since 1992, and it's a funny story of how we became involved with bees. We live on an acre lot in a subdivision. Coming from a farmer family background, of course, it was important to us to have fruit trees and gardens, but there was a problem! No fruits and no vegetables would grow on our property.

Thinking it's my soil (red clay). I gave the county agricultural department a call to see if they could help me. They told me it's not the soil. The problem is the lack of wild honeybees. When was the last time you went outside and saw a honeybee? You see every other kind of bee even new bees that haven't been named yet, some bees that look as if they could carry your dog off, but no honeybees. So I decided to buy a hive and have honeybees in my yard and hoped to have fruits and vegetables. And I did! So did the neighbors!!

I started to make my own hive boxes and before I knew it I was up to ten hives.  My honey was in such demand that I had to keep growing!I now have 5 bee yards there are in Kennesaw, Acworth, Woodstock, Marietta, and Cartersville. We have been active members of the Georgia State Beekeepers Association since 1995 and support UGA'S bee research lab.

Beekeeping has been a great learning experience for my son who has been incolved in it since he was nine years old. He enjoys assisting with seminars and answering questions about bees. Branden has entered several honey judging contests and has won several ribbons. In 1998, Branden won the Junior Beekeeper of the Year Award from the Georgia State Beekeeper's Association. We would love to see more children learn about the hobby of Beekeeping .