The Steiner Bros. Exciting Honey Journey: From Lavender to Beekeeping

“From lavender sachets to honey jars, the Steiner Bros. have built something sweet. This is the story of how three brothers turned savings and curiosity into a buzzing family business – with help from their mentor and a few thousand bees.” by Chad

What is our fascination with bees? Is it all the talk about how bee’s are struggling? Is it the threat of losing bee’s – or maybe the threat of losing food important to us (a.k.a. no pollination)? I’m not going to talk about any of that today. Today’s blog is a story about the Steiner Bros. honey journey. It starts with lavender sales and them building their savings. Then it moves to their decision to buy the Flow Hive.

From there, they’ve expanded. They continue to learn. The Steiner Bros. honey business wouldn’t be possible without their mentor, Craig. It’s been so fun to watch them “grow,”. So follow along for some “sweet” stories.

The winter of 2021/2022, after a couple of seasons selling lavender sachets at the tasting room, the Steiner Bros. had saved enough money to evaluate their next investment. I can’t remember where the interest came from, but I do know there were plenty of conversations about pollinators, having our own, and how cool it would be to have honey to offer people. I do remember when they decided to go for it and buy the Flow Hive.

The memory that sticks out most is how each of them gathered their money, one by one, and came into our bedroom to lay it all out on the bed. They’d decided to go with the Flow Hive, which with the bee suits, a few tools, and the hive, was about $1,800 – that’s $600 each.

Carston, the oldest, was first. He seemed the most comfortable with the decision and investment. Jackson was a bit more hesitant, asking more questions and wanting to really understand. This was most of his money at the time – handing over $600 cash was a lot. Then Owen. Owen may have understood really well and was very reluctant to hand over all his money.

Our guidance to the boys has always been to split things evenly. Owen went back and forth, back and forth, and at one point didn’t want in. As we sat there together on our bed, I offered to buy him out. He said, “Dad, this is all my money.” Well, as we know, he ended up doing it.

That first season with the Flow Hive was so simple in hindsight. The most incredible thing was connecting with Craig – our new friend and bee mentor. We’d known Craig through some other great friends and work he’d done to help us get the “Unlimited” our vintage forklift up and going. The boys were able to connect with Craig and talk to him about bees.

With the Flow Hive ready for action (thanks, Dad, for all the help assembling). The boys were ready for bees. Side note: my deal with the boys was that I’d donate my time to help them. And since it was 100% their investment, the only fee I’d take was the 3% credit card – I wouldn’t take any overhead.

Craig had a plan to catch a swarm for the boys’ hive. This was in early spring of 2023. One weekend, Craig had a swarm he’d caught – ready for the boys’ hive. So Jackson and I loaded up and went to one of Craig’s bee spots.

As we suited up, Jackson started asking questions. We were moving frames of the swarm hive into the Flow Hive. While making the move, Jackson noticed how Craig’s hives looked different than his Flow Hive. I remember so well Jackson asking Craig, “How much does one of these hives cost?” Craig said, “Oh, maybe a couple hundred dollars.”

All standing there in our bee suits, Jackson looks at me and says, “Dad, you hosed us.” Stunned and feeling a type of “oops – did I mess up?” Craig bailed me out. He said, “This Flow Hive is a great hive to start with. Keep in mind the comparison – Flow Hive, $1,200; a traditional hive, maybe a couple hundred. And as it turns out, the Flow Hive has been great.” The boys have been able to use it for demos, and it was very easy for them to get the honey out. It just flows.

That first season selling honey went well for the boys. The first season raising bees left them all interested in growing the business. They’d sold enough honey to pay back some of their investment and consider expansion with regular hives. They had (and have) a lot of fun seeing people’s interest in their honey. Thank you.

After that first season, they’ve been growing more bees and learning a ton. The winter of 2022/2023 was setting the stage for traditional bee boxes and – with the help of Nicky Allison – an official label. Such a cool part of our community.

If you can picture two great friends helping them out that winter, there were a couple of trips to Nicky’s art studio, and each brother designed a different part of the label. Nicky was able to put it all together. It’s their label you see today.

Our friend and bee mentor, Craig, helped them figure out what to order and had a couple of hive-building sessions in his amazing workshop.

Come the bee season of 2024, they were ready to expand. And expand they did. Thanks to so much of your support, they were sold out by Christmas.

2025 has been their biggest year yet – and our first year not having to bring bees in to pollinate the orchard. Lots of honey for sale in the tasting room or online. They continue to learn a lot and each have their own stories of being stung. They are keeping their earnings for college and reinvesting in the business.

The goal for 2026: learn more and more about how to time all the steps and bee care on their own. I’m happy to keep donating my time and so glad to see how this has gone for them. Maybe next week I can have them each share their stories of beekeeping.