Arkansas teen found bees when looking for a project to strengthen her SAE
JASPER, ARK. – In her senior year of high school, Arkansas FFA member Hannah Harrison created her small business, Honey Babees.
Honey bees are a staple in today’s agricultural world. These little insects make a huge impact, from pollinating the flowers to producing delicious honey. Not only do they impact consumers’ lives, but they also impact newly found apiarists (beekeepers).
The hills of Northwest Arkansas are home to many farmers, ranchers, and homesteaders.
“I grew up on a farm in little Jasper, Ark.,” Hannah said. “My passion did not flourish until eighth grade, when I joined FFA. My family raises cattle, and I was involved in Career Development Events and Leadership Development Events within FFA. I am glad everything worked together and built my passion for agriculture.”
However, her passion for honey bees fully came to fruition in her senior year of high school.
FFA members have a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project.
“I did not have a great SAE project. I just wanted to do something more true to who I am,” Hannah said.
And that’s Hannah did. With the help of her family, she found an SAE project that turned into a thriving small business.
Honey Babees was created in part after Hannah watched her brother.
“My brother Matthew had bees for around three years. I would watch him harvest the honey, and I would be there. I was like the handyman helping out. He would have these beeswax bags at the end of that harvesting process,” Hannah recalled. “He would permanently save them, and I would always ask, what will happen to that? Then he would put it in storage and say, ‘Oh, I will use it for something.’ We had all this beeswax lying around, not doing anything with it. So, one night, my mom and I were trying to figure out good ideas for an SAE project. We came up with, let’s use these materials that are not being used.”
As Hannah’s business began to take root, so did her purpose for Honey Babees.
“We want this entire harvesting process to be efficient,” Hannah said. “We want everything to be used and made for others, to give back to the community, and to learn while doing it. I want this to be something I enjoy, learn from, and can help others with.”
These products may seem simple, but the heart behind them drew such a crowd for this small business owner.
Hannah started out using her beeswax for lip balms.
“We began searching for these different things we could use, and we started using lip balm. I have lip balm everywhere: one for my car, by my bed, just everywhere. I started advertising it on Facebook, and it was probably within the first week that I had sold around $300 worth of it just on orders.”
Excited from her initial launch, she continued to grow Honey Babees. Soon, Hannah began to expand her product inventory.
“I decided to expand and do body butter, which we call a bee bar. It is just a bar of hand soap,” she said.
Hoping for positive brand feedback, Hannah continued producing her new bee bars, which paid off.
“I started doing that and had great community feedback, which I valued.”
Hannah is pursuing her bachelor’s in agricultural education at Arkansas Tech University in Russellville, Ark. She still desires for her business to continue to expand and grow.
Even though she has gradated high school, she is active in FFA at the collegiate level.
“I am hoping to get my American Degree next October or November. But right now, I am in the Collegiate FFA Chapter at Arkansas Tech and a member of the ATU Ag Club.”
Overall, agriculture is more than just about cows and plows. It can come in many shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and occupations. While honey bees are one significant aspect of agriculture, they all work together to create agriculture.
“In agriculture, we do not have to be in a club. We do not have to be in this specific organization. This is mainly something I have been learning a lot lately: just being an advocate in your way. You know, just helping out however you can, spreading the agricultural word, how it is not just about plows and cows, but also so many of these different things put together.”
