Today we’d like to introduce you to Danessa (Nes) Yaschuk.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
When I was 8 years old while living in Houston, Texas, we had a wax leaf Ligustrum shrub right outside our kitchen window. Every spring it would be buzzing with honeybees and other cool-looking pollinators. I was fascinated with it and loved catching and releasing bees. I would use Ziplock bags to catch the bees and pop them into large plastic coke bottles (dry of course) with holes poked in them. I would keep counting how many I could get.
Through observation, I learned they were collecting the pollen from the flowers and storing it on their legs. It was so cool watching them! I got stung all the time and my mom would tell me to stop playing with the bees after doctoring up my many stings. Yet every time I would run back out to catch more. The year was 1988 and I had never really heard much about beekeeping or beekeepers. I knew they existed but never really knew what they did. My friends would sit far away on the sidewalk to watch. I don’t know why they never wanted to catch bees with me?!
All my family and friends called me “Nes” or “Nessa” growing up. I would joke that if I ever owned a boat, I would name it Sweet Nes. Fast forward many years later, after school, college, and many different jobs, I met my husband, Brent. We married and moved from our 1-bedroom condo near the Houston Galleria to the suburbs in Sienna, Missouri City. We had two super cute little boys and a dog named Sketch. I was working as the office manager for Brents’s company in the industrial safety business.
Although I liked my job and did a good job, I was not passionate about the work I was doing. I hated being stuck indoors behind a computer screen on beautiful days. One evening while sitting in bed working on my laptop, I sat up and blurted out to Brent, “You know what I want to do? I want to be a beekeeper!” And then silence… LOL! He looked at me like I had grown a third eye. He thought I was crazy.
I started studying everything I could find about bees and beekeeping. I followed beekeepers on social media, collected books, and joined all the local bee clubs I could find. I attended the Fort Bend Beekeepers Association and forced a senior beekeeper to mentor me. He reluctantly did so. He was a grumpy guy. I ran full speed ahead! Caught my first swarm of bees in my backyard! I was officially a beekeeper!
By the end of the week, I had two, and by the end of the month, I had 6 hives. I partnered with another hobbyist beekeeper and started providing bee removal services to our community. We did professional cutouts and repairs to safely remove the bees. Doing this grew my apiary rapidly. I did bee removal for a few years. Brent and I started a Farmers Market in our local community and also sold honey there.
I bought a large block of beeswax from my mentor and started teaching myself how to make candles and other beeswax products. My candles were beautiful and smelled amazing! I decided to create an Etsy shop to see if they would sell. I had to come up with a name for my shop and I already knew that SweetNes would be a part of it. SweetNes Honey Apiaries & Beetique was born in 2015.
Here at SweetNes Honey Apiaries & Beetique, we take pride in offering an array of all-natural high-quality products straight from our beehive. Pure raw unfiltered wildflower, clover, Tallow, and Huajilla honey to name a few, creamed honey in an assortment of flavors, organically infused honey, honey sticks, fresh cut comb, pollen, natural beeswax in bulk, beeswax candles, balms, and many other bee-made and bee themed items. We do all our beekeeping and honey production. We are a family owned and operated Honey Farm, Honeybee Rescue, and Beetique.
OUR PRODUCTS: Our sweet products can easily be found on our website at www.sweetneshoney.com. We do doorstep deliveries ourselves to local places. If you are further away, we will promptly ship it to you. You can also find our products in many retail locations as well.
We are in 25+ local H-E-B locations, Needville Feed Store & Supply, Novaks Meat Market, Prasek’s Hillje Smokehouse, Hinzes Country Kitchen, Home Studio 6, Wharton Feed Store, The Painted Tree Boutiques, Country Gurlz Emporium, the Brazos Bend State parks Nature Center, Blessington Farms, Dewberry Farms to name a few! Or you can visit us at SweetNes Honey Beetique at 8922 Main Street, in Needville, Texas.
You can also catch us from time to time at the Home for the Holidays Markets. We love getting out and mingling with people and spreading awareness for our very important pollinators. If you ever have any questions about a specific product, or location to pick up or just want to chat, give us a buzz at: hihoney@sweetneshoney.com
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Our apiary was located on someone else’s property at the time. Unfortunately, their property completely flooded during Hurricane Harvey, and we lost over half of our bees due to the flood. We decided to take the plunge and move to some acreage in Damon, Texas where we could rebuild and grow the business. We quickly built up our apiary and then some. I became the Vice President at the Fort Bend Beekeepers Association going on two years now.
One of our members announced they were retiring and selling off their honey business. My husband, being the entrepreneur, jumped at the opportunity, next thing I know, we ‘HE’ is buying the business! Who is crazy now!? We went from 50 hives to 350. Never in a million years did I, or Brent think that HE would become a beekeeper! HA! When I started beekeeping, he got involved with the business side of it, but not the bee side.
Today he is elbow deep in bees with me and loves selling honey on the side of the road. We make a pretty good team overall. He is the analytical ‘big picture’ and numbers guy, while I am more creative, detail-oriented, and ‘it’s the small things that matter’ person. We harmoniously balance each other out.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your business?
When I was 8 years old while living in Houston, Texas, we had a wax-leaf Ligustrum shrub right outside our kitchen window. Every spring it would be buzzing with honeybees and other cool-looking pollinators. I was fascinated with it and loved catching and releasing bees. I would use Ziplock bags to catch the bees and pop them into a large plastic dry coke bottle, with holes poked in it. I would keep counting how many bees I could get.
Through observation, I learned they were collecting the pollen from the flowers and storing it on their hind legs. I got stung all the time and my mom would tell me to stop playing with the bees after doctoring up my many stings. Yet every time I would run back out to catch more. The year was 1988 and I had never really heard much about beekeeping or beekeepers. I knew they existed but never really knew what they did. My friends would sit far away on the sidewalk to watch. I don’t know why they never wanted to catch bees with me?!
All my family and friends called me “Nes” and “Nessa” growing up. I would joke that if I ever owned a boat, I would name it “Sweet Nes”. Fast forward many years later, after school, college, and many different jobs, I met my husband, Brent. We married and moved from our 1-bedroom condo near the Houston Galleria to the suburbs in Sienna, Missouri City. We had two super cute little boys and a dog named Sketch. I was working as the office manager for Brents’s company in the industrial safety business.
Although I liked my job and did a good job, I was not passionate about the work I was doing. I grew restless being stuck indoors behind a computer screen on beautiful days. One evening while sitting in bed working on my laptop, I sat up and blurted out to Brent, “You know what I want to do? I want to be a beekeeper!” And then silence… LOL! He looked at me like I had grown a third eye. He thought I was crazy.
I started studying everything I could find about bees and beekeeping. I followed beekeepers on social media, collected books, and joined all the local bee clubs I could find. I attended the Fort Bend Beekeepers Association and forced a more seasoned beekeeper to mentor me. I ran full speed ahead! Caught my first swarm of bees in my backyard! I was officially a beekeeper!
From then on, I continued to grow my small apiary. I partnered with another hobbyist beekeeper and started providing bee removal services to our community. We did professional cutouts and repairs to safely remove the bees. Doing this grew my apiary rapidly. I continued doing bee removals for a few years. Brent and I started a Farmers Market in our community and we sold honey there as well.
I started teaching myself how to make hand-poured beeswax candles and other beeswax products. My candles were beautiful and smelled amazing! I decided to create an Etsy shop to see if they would sell. I had to come up with a name for my shop and I already knew that SweetNes would be a part of it. SweetNes Honey Apiaries & Beetique was born in 2015.
Any big plans?
We are so pleased to announce that we recently opened up our very own FIRST storefront in Needville, Texas on Main Street! All of the hard work we have put into the Beetique shows! It is Bee-autiful!
Pricing:
- 16oz Honey $12
- 32oz Honey $18
Contact Info:
- Website: www.SweetNesHoney.com
- Instagram: @sweetnes_honey_beetique
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SweetNesHoneyBeetique/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/sweetnes-honey-bee-tique/
- Twitter: @SweetNesHoney1
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@sweetneshoneybeetique
