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
​
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 four hives. A small colony from Dan Stoner survived its second cold winter and Ben split it this Spring to create two strong hives. He also established two new hives. Ben is looking forward to another good honey season in 2026.
​
Bees flying in April 2026.
The strong hive from Dan has survived two winter!
Queen bee in hive on April 15th.
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.
For 2026, Rick has three new hives, installed in early March on his elevated bee platforms designed to survive hurricane surges up to 3 feet. Rick is hoping for good honey production this year; first from Sea Grapes in April and May and later more honey from Black Mangrove and Brazilian Pepper blooms. He will return to Sanibel in the Summer to harvest his honey.
Sea Grape Honey, June 2024
Rick with his new Sanibel hives in March 2026
Elizabeth coating foundation with bee's wax.
New hives in March 2026
Marie Stoner. Berkeley, California
Mare Stoner, daughter of Ben, had a Stoner Honey apiary in Durham, North Carolina in 2019. However, Marie relocated to Oakland, CA and her beekeeping partner, Amy, relocated to Eugene OR, so Ben took their hive back to Falls Church VA where he looked after it.. Marie visited Falls Church each year to check her hive to ensure a strong summer honey season.
In 2025, Marie found a friend in Berkeley who has a yard suitable for a honeybee colony, and she joined a mentoring program for new beekeepers. Her new hive was successfully started and build up enough strength to survive the winter.
Now in the Spring of 2026, she has a strong hive. She has already harvested one batch of West Coast Stoner Honey, and will soon harvest more! Her towering hive below is full of honey, so she needs to find time for another harvest.!
Marie's new hive - May 2025
Marie's towering hive in April 2026!
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 were brought 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. The hive boxes are now empty, but perhaps Becky will try to restart her apiary as she 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 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.
​​
In 2024, Dan and Rosemary decided to sell their home in Bethesda and move to Jackson, Wyoming. They gifted one hive to Ben when they sold their home in Bethesda. Ben is grateful for what has become a great hive. He split the hive this Spring to expand the queen's lineage in his apiary.
​
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
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. They have continued to maintain one or two hives each summer since then.
For 2024 Matt expanded to two hives. He got a second nuc of Italian bees from a local producer to complement his existing hive . This paid off. Matt and Robin had their best honey harvest ever in 2024.
Now in 2026, Matt has a new hive of Italian bees from Georgia. He is hoping that this hive will thrive and again produce some delicious Maryland honey this year!
Matt's August 2020 honey harvest.
Matt harvesting honey on July 4th
Matt and son Jason taste honey.
JApril 2026: Matt's new bee hive.
Matt holds up a frame of honey from his hive. .
Robin loves her honey! .
​
Bob Abrams and Janet Stoner. Moss Lake, North Carolina
Bob Abrams and Janet Stoner started a hive at their new home in Moss Lake, North Carolina on April 30, 2021.
Bob is a experienced beekeeper and 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 returned to beekeeping and producing "Stoner Honey!
Bob's hive did very well in 2023 and 2024, and he enjoyed training his grandkids in beekeeping. However, Bob developed an increasingly severe allergic reaction to bee stings, and thus decided in 2025 to end his beekeeping.
​
​
Bob with a new beehive.
Bob teaching his grandkids (Lena on left, Lena and Wes in middle and Kate on right) about honeybees.