Conversations with Ben Bancroft

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ben Bancroft

Hi Ben, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have kept bees for a little over 40 years. For the first 30 years I ran a couple hives as a hobby. 12 years ago I decided to increase that number to 12. Since then I have been growing my hive count every year to where I’m at now, about 125 hives. In the beginning I sold my honey around town to neighbors and at school where I teach. After a few years I needed new outlets to sell off the honey I was producing and that’s when I joined the Farmington and Birmingham Farmers markets.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Like any small business there has been growing pains. Keeping enough hives to supply an ever increasing demand for the farmers markets, to battling the always present Vorroa Mite. When you keep honeybees you are a farmer. Like other farmers you are at the mercy of Mother Nature.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
By profession I am a PE teacher at Berkley High School. During my 30 year tenure there I have taught several different classes and coached both basketball and track for most of that time. As you can imaging having a full time job, coaching, and a family with 4 kids it has been hard to keep and grow our small beekeeping business. But with the help of my family we have been able to not just keep the business going but grow it into something that will provide for our family after I retire from teaching.

Networking and finding a mentor can have such a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
First thing you should do if you’re going to keep honeybees is you should join a local club. I owe a lot of my success to the Oakland Bee Club and the late Dennis Holly. Dennis took me under his wing and spent an immense amount of time teaching me the ways of not just keeping bees but keeping bee’s alive through the winter., which is most necessary if you want to run a sustainable honey business. To this day Dennis’s wife, Donna Holly, has also mentored me in beekeeping and has also become a grandmother figure to my children. So start off with a bee club and you will receive more help from all the great people out there raising bees.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: Triple B Honey
• Facebook: Triple B Honey