My grandfather has kept bees for over 70 years. He learned the craft from his father-in-law in Ukraine, who learned from his father before him. Four generations of our family have kept bees. I grew up knowing this and thinking almost nothing of it — until four years ago, when I flew to Moldova and stood beside my grandfather in his apiary for the first time.

I was terrified. I kept trying to move away from the hives, certain something was going to go wrong. But my grandfather moved through them without hurrying, without fear, without a single anxious gesture. He knew every colony. He talked to the bees the way you talk to something you have spent your whole life loving. I stood there watching him and I felt something shift.

I flew home to New York and could not stop thinking about it.

The following year, I bought 33 acres in Franklin, New York. I started keeping bees. And then, almost naturally, I started making things from what the bees gave me — candles from the beeswax, skincare from the honey, soaps from ingredients inspired by the hive. Every product at Sunshine Bees Apiary starts with that afternoon in Moldova, with my grandfather moving quietly through his hives, and with the feeling that some things are worth preserving across generations.

Everything we sell is made by hand, in small batches, on our farm. The honey comes from our own hives. The beeswax in our candles and soaps comes from our own bees. Nothing is outsourced. Nothing is mass produced. There is a beekeeper behind every product, and she checks on the hives before she checks on anything else.