WELCOME TO
It's Sweet Stuff
Stoner Honey family beekeepers produce small batches of
local honey varieties in small apiaries to support healthy ecosystems;
we want happy bees and sustainable, organic, and balanced beekeeping;
and to save a vital endangered pollinator, the honey bee.
We track their health and honey production throughout the year
and during harvest season, we share the honey in our kitchens,
create gifts for our friends and family.
Our Band of Beekeepers
Learn about and follow along with the ladies and gents behind the protective veils
Ben Stoner. Falls Church, Virginia
The first apiary for Stoner Honey was established in Falls Church, Virginia by Ben Stoner in 1999. Trying to preserve the family beekeeping tradition of his grandfather E.N. Stoner, his uncle Gene Stoner, and his father Richard Stoner, Ben had been keeping bees for many years both in the U.S. and while living overseas. In Falls Church he has tried to keep two hives going for both local pollination and honey production. Unfortunately, Falls Church provides poor habitat for honeybees, due to lack of substantial summer and fall honey plants and the pervasive use of pesticide by some residents.
Ben has two hives. One is his and the other uses the hive box transferred by daughter Marie from Durham. Marie moved to Oakland, California, so Ben will be looking after her hive until she is able to get back in the bee business. In 2020, Ben harvested 104 lbs. of honey from Marie's hive, and then 52 lbs. more in 2021. Many thanks!
After a mild winter, the 2023 season was good for honey production. Ben had one really strong hive coming out of the winter that produced 123 pounds of honey in 2023! In May of 2024, Ben has two hives that produced 72 lbs of that light golden Stoner Honey from Falls Church.
Rick Stoner. Sanibel Island, Florida
The Stoner Honey apiary in Sanibel Florida was established by Rick Stoner in December 2018. Rick bought a 5-frame nucleus hive from a beekeeper in Vero Beach, Florida and installed it in a beehive in his backyard on Sanibel Island. He fed the hive and protected it from voracious Florida ants, so that by April it was a strong hive ready for its first Sanibel honey season. Rick, like his younger brother Ben, learned his beekeeping skills from Grandpa E.N. Stoner. Rick also kept honeybees overseas. He had three hives in Hudersfield, England where he produced delicious honey from heather and other local flowers.
In 2024, Rick has bees again, after losing his hives on September 28, 2022 when Hurricane Ian made a direct hit on Sanibel Island! The surge from Ian brought a 10 foot wall of water over Sanibel and washed away Rick's hives. The island and its landscape were devastated. Rick's 2 new hives produced 70 lbs. of honey in June 2024 from Sea Grape trees and another 30 lbs from Mangrove that was harvested in August. . Brazil Pepper plants were expected to produce still more honey, but along came Helene. A five-foot tidal surge swept through the apiary taking away the hives! One was found a few days later upside down on the ground, but it had only dead bees and larvae killed by the saltwater. Rick will need to get new bees and start over once again.
Rick's two Sanibel hives in April 2024
Sea Grape Honey, June 2024
Sanibel apiary safe in June 2024 flood.
Hive destroyed by Helene
Marie Stoner and Amy Handler. Relocated to Falls Church, Virginia
The Stoner Honey apiary in Durham, North Carolina was set up in April 2019 by Marie Stoner (daughter of Ben) and her friend Amy Handler in the SEEDS garden. SEEDS is a two-acre urban garden and kitchen classroom that develops the capacity of young people to respect life, the earth, and each other through growing, cooking, and sharing food. Marie and Amy are giving beekeeping training to the school kids of Durham who participate in SEED's garden activities. At the end of the 2019 season, Marie relocated to Oakland, CA and Amy relocated to Eugene OR, so Ben took their hive back to Falls Church VA where he will look after it..
Marie visits Falls Church in May each year to check her hive to ensure a strong summer honey season. She has also joined a beekeepers association in Oakland, California and looks forward to having bees there soon.
Amy and Marie at SEED's Garden . Installing a package of bees .
Marie and her Dad check her hive in Falls Church.
Marie checking her hive in Falls Church in May 2024.
Becky and Randy Kirts, Gnaw Bone, Indiana.
In 2020, Becky Stoner Kirts and her husband Randy moved their bees from Shelybyville Kentucky to their new lakeside home in Indiana. After a long lapse honeybees are back at at Stoners Lonesome!
They have found out that raising bees in the hills of Brown County Indiana is a lot more difficult than raising them in the lush farm county of central Kentucky. However, they are determined to keep trying to establish hives as Becky expands her flower gardens throughout the property.
Dan and Jacob Stoner and Rosemary Trent. Bethesda, Maryland
The Stoner Honey apiary in Bethesda, Maryland was established by Dan Stoner (cousin of Ben and Rick) and his wife Rosemary Trent in 2018 with good help from their eldest son Jacob.
Rosemary started a successful beekeeping cooperative in rural Guatemala for women coffee farmers through a nonprofit she led and wanted to transfer that passion to their own family beehive. Despite having to requeen the hive shortly after it started, they were still able to harvest 30 lbs. of honey during the first summer and have been going strong ever since.
With the help of son Jacob, they have expanded their apiary. Rosemary and Jacob got two free hives from their employer Best Bees, and they caught a swarm! With two years of work for Best Bees, Jacob has become and excellent beekeeper and a great technical resource for the Stoner Honey Collective.
Jacob's August 2020 honey harvest.
Two new hives, April 2020. The Team: Jacob, Dan, Rosemary The honey: Delicious!
Dan inspects a hive.
Jacob & Rosemary's Covid-19 Masks
A newly painted hive.
Beekeeper Jacob Stoner
Matt Nau and Robin Daly. Garrett Park, Maryland
The Stoner Honey apiary in Garrett Park, Maryland was set up in April 2018 by Matt Nau (brother-in-law of Ben) and his wife Robin Daly . The hive is situated so that they can watch the busy bees flying in and out of the hive from their back deck. Although it was a new hive only started in April, Matt and Robin were able to harvest 30 lbs. of honey in July 2018. They have continued to maintain one hive each summer since then.
For 2024 he has expanded to two hives. He got a second nuc of Italian bees from a local producer and to complement the hive that he started last year.
Matt's August 2020 honey harvest.
Matt harvesting honey on July 4th
Matt and son Jason taste honey.
June 2023: Matt's two hives - Buckfast and Italian.
Matt holds up a frame of honey from his hive. .
Robin loves her honey! .
Bob Abrams and Janet Stoner. Shelby, North Carolina
The newest members of the Stoner Honey collective are Bob Abrams and Janet Stoner. They started their first hive at their new home in Shelby, North Carolina on April 30, 2021.
Bob is a experienced beekeeper so they should do well and are a welcomed addition to Stoner Honey! Bob learned about Beekeeping while he was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nepal. His mentor was fellow PC volunteer, Ben Stoner. Upon his return to the states, Bob worked at a large apiary (of 10,000 hives) in Northern California for about 2 years. Ben joined him there working during one summer. Bob returned to Indiana to earn a Master's Degree in Entomology at Purdue University. He spent two summers being a State Bee Hive Inspector in Southern Indiana during this time. He and Ben also had several hives together at Stoner's Lonesome, and they sold the honey. After completing his degree, Bob taught Beekeeping at Purdue.
Bob enjoyed Stoner Honey so much, he ended up marrying one..Ben's sister, Janet! Bob and Janet also had a hive when they lived in Columbus, until he returned to school to get his MBA. Now retired and living in North Carolina, Bob is getting back into his old hobby of Beekeeping and producing "Stoner Honey!
Bob's hive survived a mild North Carolina winter and is very strong in the early spring of 2023. Bob used the DeMaree method for swarm control, so that his hive didn't swarm this year, and he is getting good honey production! He enjoys training his grandkids in beekeeping.
Bob with a new beehive.
Bob teaching his grandkids (Lena on left, Lena and Wes in middle and Kate on right) about honeybees.