The Buzz on Bees

Josh and Briesa Ruby have a sweet thing going. The couple runs a family honey and beekeeping business, Rubee’s Raw Florida Honey, LLC, from their home near Immokalee. With a “modest” operation of 500 or so hives, they produce raw honey products, help farmers pollinate their crops, and grow queen bees they sell to other beekeepers. 

They even got together through beekeeping – Briesa’s family called on Josh’s family for help with removing a nuisance hive, and “it was love at second sight – we had met before,” said Briesa. “So Josh, this is all your fault.” Josh Ruby had been set on the path of beekeeping from age seven when he began working bees with his father. 

With World Bee Day (unanimously proclaimed by the UN General Assembly) coming on May 20, the time seemed opportune to investigate the buzz on bees. On a recent Saturday, Josh and Briesa suited up a visitor in a beekeeper’s full-body anti-sting protection suit and took him along out into local agricultural fields within sight of Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary to inspect some of their hives. 

For all their sweetness, honeybees are stressed out – and that is very bad news for all of us. Beehives in the U.S. have been under a widespread and mysterious attack known as colony collapse disorder, putting the country’s agricultural output at risk. 

It’s not just the potential loss of that sweet honey on your toast with breakfast. Bees pollinate about 75 percent of the fruits, nuts, and vegetables consumed in the United States, as well as 80 percent of the flowers, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. 

Statistics vary, but for the eight years from 2014 to 2022, about 30 percent of colonies nationwide were lost each winter, said the National Pesticide Information Center, and 42 percent of bee colonies collapsed in 2015 alone, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council. Why this occurs is the subject of serious research, but part of the problem is not having the right queens breeding the next generations of honeybees. 

The Rubies are part of the solution, raising queens for other beekeepers, as well as keeping their own colonies healthy and thriving. Out in the field, Josh moves from hive to hive, sorting through dozens of hive boxes, opening them up without even bothering to put on his gloves. Each hive contains something like 50,000 bees, not necessarily happy at being disturbed in the midst of their honey production, even after Ruby blows a few puffs of smoke from his handheld smoker over them. 

Each hive contains about a dozen racks covered with bees on each of two levels, but Josh unerringly finds and points out the queen bee – twice as big and not showing the classic honeybee stripes. When necessary, they summarily depose (kill) the reigning monarch and introduce a new queen, all carefully selected from bee stock, primarily from Italy, guaranteed not to contain the “Africanized” gene that has infected U.S. bee populations. 

“Commercial beekeepers re-queen every year,” said Josh. 

Briesa also goes gloveless and points out the stinger of a honeybee in the flesh of her hand when one bee decides it has had enough. She kindly lets her visitor know when he makes the classic rookie mistake of standing right in front of the exit door from a hive. The air around us is filled with hundreds or thousands of bees and a continuous buzzing sound. 

“A beehive is a body. Each bee is a cell,” not really an individual creature, said Briesa – the ultimate exemplar of “hive mind.” Bees are amazing creatures, flying over a mile to find sources of nectar and pollen and then returning to the hive to do a “waggle dance” to guide their hive mates to the spot. The bees can be threatened by two very different predators – black bears and cane toads. 

In the cooler months, the Rubies move their beehives around locations from Collier County to Hendry, Glades, Lee, and Highlands counties, following the flowers and placing hives to pollinate farmers’ crops. This gives their local honey its various flavors, although, as Josh points out, “bees are opportunistic” – any flower that looks good to them, they will drink up the nectar, so “it all ends up a bit of Heinz 57.” 

In the summer, though – this week, in fact – the Rubies pack up their whole operation and move it up to Michigan for the summer. That’s beehives by the semi-trailer load – well over 400 hives, something more than 20 million honeybees. 

“A couple years ago, we only took half the hives up. We only lost five percent of those hives, and we lost 60 percent of the ones we left in Florida,” said Josh. 

The Rubies sell their honey through an eclectic network of stores, therapy providers and even a game arcade, from Fort Myers to Everglades City, all listed on their website. They don’t yet have an outlet on Marco Island, but “we’re looking,” said Briesa. “You can’t find legit raw Florida honey at Walmart. We jumped through all the hoops to get a wholesale food permit.” They also offer home delivery.

Raw local honey has health benefits, including allergy-fighting properties, said Briesa. “One of our most popular varieties is our Allergy Blend,” with a mixture of local honey. 

The business keeps the Rubies busy as…well, you know. 

“It’s satisfying making honey, but it’s hard work,” said Briesa. The Rubies have three small children, from seven down to two and a half, and homeschool them. She makes smoothies for her kids from honey, raw milk, and frozen berries. 

“We don’t really use any sugar. I can’t think of anything honey’s not good with,” she said, although there is apparently a national “honey on pizza” movement she hasn’t checked out yet.

The couple sees being beekeepers as an expression of their deep Christian faith. 

“It’s our calling. We feel this is what God wants us to do with our lives. This is what we’re supposed to be doing,” said Briesa Ruby.