Beekeepers’ hives are constructed of multiple frames. Each frame is home to hundreds of honeybees. 
Cody Hughs, beekeeper for Buzz in the Hills, pulls a frame full of bees. 
Can you spot the honey? The brown, filled in combs are full of delicious honey. 
Bee wax collects on the edges of each frame. On the wooden rails, pointy, malleable wax has been pushed away from the honey and larvae. 
Cody’s honeybees aren’t camera shy. These sweet girls love the attention, which allowed for some close shots. 
The brown pockets are full of honey, while the black are full of baby bees. The adult bees focus on both! 
Bee frames aren’t very heavy, which allows beekeepers to lift them with ease. The bees cling to the frames, which means beekeepers can hold hundreds of bees at one time! 
Smoking bee hives protects beekeepers from angry bees as they collect honey, fix the hive and tend to the bees. 
The brown, honey-filled comb stands out against the backdrop of a blue shirt. 
Buzz in the Hills owns ten hive boxes. Each box contains a separate bee colony with their own queen. 
Buzz in the Hills owns ten hives. One is named Pie Society after the owner of the land Cody keeps his bees, which belongs to the owner of Pie Society. 
The San Marcos Farmers’ Market is the perfect place for local beekeepers to sell honey. 
Without bees, colorful flowers would struggle to exist. Bees are powerful pollinators! 
Bees and other pollinators are important in growing fruits and vegetables. 
The Texas State Green House is home to a diverse set of plants, many of which perfect for those looking to support local pollinators.
Buzz in the Hills, a bee keeping consultation based in San Marcos, Texas, will begin selling beeswax based products at Cornucopia, San Marcos starting December 2.
The move from the hive to the store has been a hectic journey for Buzz in the Hills founders Cody Hughes and Lexi Nutters, who’ve begun backyard beekeeping in an effort to tend to a few struggling hives.
“The hives in my backyard have been there for about three months,” Hughes said.
Beekeeping in the Texas Hill Country comes with a few challenges. San Marcos sits at the top of a hill, subjecting the town to soil erosion from rain, wind and other weather variables. As that soil is removed, pollen rich plants like flowers are removed with it, leaving honey bees without the flower nectar needed to make honey.
“Hopefully when we get a little bit of rain we’ll see some flowers pop out,” Hughes said. “It really depends where you’re at. Beekeepers east of I-35 get a lot more honey than this side. San Marcos is uphill, so all the good soil eventually erodes down hill. It’s a lot harder to produce honey here than other parts of Central Texas.”
Despite the season’s setbacks, Hughes’ and Nutters’ backyard hives have begun healing.
“They weren’t doing so well, so I nursed them back to health,” Hughes said. “Now they’re doing really well.”
Now that the few struggling Buzz in the Hills hives are on the mend, the business can focus on selling products at Cornucopia.
“Lexi makes a bunch of products,” Hughes said. “The honey producing season is coming to an end, so we’re buckling down and producing a lot of items. We’ve had popups at Buzz Mill and Pie Society, but most of our sales and operations are usually out of the house. We’re pretty excited about Cornucopia.”
Nutters, who makes most of the Buzz in the Hills products, shared that the most popular item is Bee Calm, a lavender salve used to promote sleep and relaxation.
“I infuse oil with herbs and blend them together to make salves,” Nutters said. “I’ve done this for about two years, and I’ve found that the most popular products are healing salves like our signature Bee Calm lavender salve. It’s really nice to rub on the bottom of your feet before you go to sleep.”
The seasonal transition from summer honey production to winter gives beekeepers the time to create products from unused bee resources.
“Winter is the time for beekeepers to use leftover resources that bees provide to make products to share with others,” Nutters said.
Homemade herbal balms made from responsibly sourced beeswax, honey, organic and wild harvested herbs will be the first products to hit the shelves. Other Buzz in the Hills items like lip balm, scrubs and body butter are still available to purchase online as stocks allow.
For more information on Buzz in the Hills, please visit buzzinthehills.com.
