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Homegrown Georgia Honey
Honeybees were named Georgia’s state insect in 1975, so it’s no surprise that honeybees and honey are a big business in the state. Ben Bruce, owner of Bruce’s Nut-N-Honey, is proud to say his honey is 100 percent pure Georgia grown.
“The majority of the honey we package is produced by our bees, so we get to see the complete process from beginning to end, and the honey we do have to purchase comes from local beekeepers and family friends we have known for years,” Bruce says.
His father, who was a hobbyist beekeeper, established Bruce’s Nut-N-Honey Farm in 1980. Over the years, his father’s hives increased until he had a running business.
As a young boy, Ben Bruce worked alongside his father tending the hives of bees. He learned how to manage the hives, extract and package honey. The business was passed from father to son after the younger Bruce graduated from high school. Since then, it has expanded to more than 2,000 bee colonies.
Bruce’s Nut-N-Honey Farm has remained a family business over the years. Currently, Bruce’s daughter helps label honey jars during her summer vacation. His parents, aunt and uncle manage the honey packing line and keep it in top shape, and his niece operates the retail store, The Honey Shack, which is adjacent to the honey house.
The Bruces have several varieties of honey, though they are known for their famous Gallberry Comb Honey. This mild form of honey is rare and only produced in specific areas of southern Georgia and northern Florida, where the gallberry bush is located. It takes near-perfect conditions to produce this specialty honey each year.