Storytime: A misadventure in beekeeping by Dan Hobgood

Today’s featured story is the childhood memoir of a Louisiana beekeeper. This is Dan Hobgood, of Shreveport. He owns the company Bee-Goods, which is headquartered in the north part of Sportsman’s Paradise (that’s one of Louisiana’s nicknames). The bees are raised in the gently rolling hills of Ida, Louisiana on the family homestead nestled near a pine forest. The bees feed on wildflowers, wild berries, clover, goldenrod, and buckwheat, as well as garden fruits and vegetables such as squash, melons, persimmons, and figs.

Dan is originally from south Louisiana, and he regularly travels to regional farmers markets to sell honey and other bee products (currently he is fermenting honey vinegar), including the Crescent City Farmers Markets in New Orleans. Whenever he comes to NOLA, he visits his daughter in Algiers Point: Katy Hobgood Ray—the host of Confetti Park!!!

Dan came to beekeeping in recent years, but in this childhood memoir about growing up in Bogalusa, he recalls his first misadventure in beekeeping. Perhaps bees have always been his destiny!

Learn more about the importance of honeybees, and the importance of restricting pesticides in farming, here.