Turtlegrass LLC Brooksville, Florida

Curly Dog Apiary

Curly Dog Apiary FDACS Firm #48022353

We got into bees in 1976 because the beekeeper next door handed me a suit. One look in a hive and I was done for. I spent years moving his colonies into the orange groves for blossom honey, then down to the mangroves and Brazilian pepper for the dark stuff. Then I bought my own.

A few hives turned into 150. Retired beekeepers started giving me theirs, and I was running close to 250. Christmas 1983 and the January 1985 freeze finished that. The cold killed the groves north of Tampa, and the forage with them. Most of my bees went the same week the orange industry did.

We started again around Tampa, back in the mangroves and Brazilian pepper. Then Helene, on the night of September 26, 2024, pushed record surge into the bay and flooded those yards. I could not get the hives out. Two survived.

Those two came with me to Brooksville. The sand and the pines will not carry the numbers I ran farther south, so some colonies sit in satellite yards. The two are up to about 15 here, plus the ones placed out. Small trailers are next, so a load can be dropped on site and pulled if another storm lines up. The work now is local honey, and certified queens again and NUC before long.