Today we’d like to introduce you to Meagan Orsag.
Hi Meagan, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
“The Lord will fight for you; you only need to be still.” – Exodus 14:14 Like honey – We are messy, yet beautiful. Our family has experienced loss and love throughout the years. We wanted to share our story with you so you would begin to understand why we believe our little family of six is so special. Darren lost his wife in the fall of 2013 to cancer. Meagan became a single mom through divorce that following spring in 2014. These were dark and sad times for both of us and our girls. But we prayed. We had family walk with us through grief. God showed us such love and kindness through the people he brought into our lives as they loved us through the pain. In the stillness of finally surrendering to God’s plan for us, Darren and I found each other, blended our little family, and now we live in a little white farmhouse in Lexington, TX.
We had the sweetest little baby bee join our family in the early spring of 2018 and we call her Nash Fain, after Darren’s side of the family Fains Honey. Along with Meagan’s grandfather who had over 300 hives in LaSalle County, I guess you can say honey runs through our blood and deep in our family trees. We raise raw, natural honey – straight from our farm, to your table. our honey farm story Darren was born and raised right here in Lee County. The land in which we stand has been in his family for over a one hundred years. There is a homestead still standing with original barns, and orchard and farm equipment from the tun of the century. This place is special to us. This is where our bees call “home.” This is where our family calls “home.” This is where our girls will grow up, running through the pasture, picking wildflowers, meeting friends at the tank to fish, playing in the garden, and lying under the post oaks. This is our dream. God has brought us here and we see Him in every flower, bee, smile, and meal we share at our home. Learn more about our farm here! The road to this place wasn’t easy. There was death, divorce, loss, and pain so great – I honestly cannot put it into words. What you see wasn’t what our family had originally planned for our lives. But, God. We do not know why or how or when – but we do know that He is GOOD.
He is kind. He has brought us so much happiness and joy after such pain and sadness. We look at each other often and cannot believe the love, joy, and rest we find in our love and our family. We have truly been redeemed – but this is nothing compared to the redemption to come when Jesus returns. Darren had been feeling the “pull” to become a beekeeper for years. As a teenager, he would spend summers at his grandfather’s farm in Llano, TX to learn beekeeping from one of the original founders of Fains Honey. He spoke of those times often with such happiness. With a gentle “push” from his wife in 2017 – he took that first step, bought two hives, and brought them home to Lexington. We lovingly call these hives our “A-Team” – as they have been our major producers! 🙂 Since then, we have 27 hive will become home to Leeco Honey this spring. The Lexington ISD art and agriculture students painted our bee boxes and it has been so much fun to look out at the bee yard and see Lee County written all over the hives. This community has embraced us and our small business with open arms – we are truly grateful for their love and support. In fact, if you come visit us, you’ll most likely see one of our neighbors wearing a #supportyourlocalbeekeer t-shirt around town!
We love them! Leeco Honey has been more than just a honey farm. We do more than raise bees, harvest honey, and share with friends. This honey farm has truly built community here in Lee County and beyond. We have made more friends, shared a meal with more families, and learned more about God than we could have ever imagined. They have all poured into us in ways – that again – I have no words. We live on Farm Road 1624. We experienced a “gentle nudge” from God when we made the connection that one of our favorite Bible verses was also “Words like honey, sweet to the soul.” – Proverbs 16:24. We looked at each other and just knew we were where we were supposed to be – where God had planted us. We want share our love for honey, for community, for agriculture, for small local business, and for Jesus with our family, friends, and community. You are all friends. You are all welcome to sit with us at our table. This is more than just bees and honey. This is celebrating God’s gifts and sharing those with others. Thank you for walking with us as we grow as beekeepers, as Christians, and as your neighbors. We are so blessed with YOU in our lives!
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
Oh goodness no! Attempting to balance our full-time jobs, a family of 6, cattle, the garden, and our growing apiary has been a challenge. The bees have taught us so much about nature, trial and error, and the grace given when learning to “do it all.” We’ve grown our apiary from 2 to 25 hives and we have 20 more NUCs, arriving this spring. Time management has been a struggle because we want to devote the necessary to “keep the bees” and tend to the needs of our family. Also, best learning how to meet their needs without chemicals and poisons has been difficult, yet rewarding. We allow the bees to thrive in their natural habitat and try to do our best to allow for their natural behaviors to be what drives their flourishing. We do not treat them with chemicals and seek out queens with mite-resistant genetics. Many Thankfully, because of our “less is more” approach to beekeeping, our apiary has thrived and we have been able to offer our community, family, and friends non-treatment hive products free of chemicals and poisons.
We’ve been impressed with Leeco Honey Co., but for folks who might not be as familiar, what can you share with them about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Leeco Honey Co. was established in 2017 when we brought home two hives to our apiary. What sets us apart is Darren and I are generation beekeepers, he is a fourth generation and I am a third generation. We are carrying on a family tradition that started well over one hundred years ago here on the homestead, which has been in the family since the 1880’s. We have an incredibly strong focus on building and cultivating community. We perceive beekeeping as a way to get back to the “old days” of church picnics and barn raisings when people gathered and shared the fruits of their labor. We have hosted a Honey Harvest at our farm and founded “The Hive,” a local beekeeping club. We’ve shared the art of beekeeping with our community, schools, and people who have a love for the traditional beekeeping. Our Mission. Our mission is to grow bees ethically and naturally in order to provide our community with raw, natural honey straight from our farm to your table. We will never blend or compromise the nutrients shared with us from our bees – “we blend our family, not our honey” – our community will only have the best, and the best comes our Leeco Honeybees. Our Vision. We want everyone in our community and beyond to fully understand the benefits of and love for raw, natural honey. We want our community to become critical consumers of their food and food sources. We want our community to come and visit our farm and learn first-hand the hard work, dedication, and joy beekeeping can bring to a home. Our Values. We consider beekeeping and the subsequent honey production to be renewable and sustainable agribusinesses that are both integral to our overall community’s health and wellbeing. We value hard work and a love for the community that agriculture is able to sustain through natural products. We value family, our faith, and time with those we love. We are so passionate about transparency in the beekeeping world and providing 100% raw, natural local honey for our community.
Darren Earl 4th Generation Beekeeper Darren was born and raised right here in Lee County. The land in which we stand has been in his family for over a one hundred years. Darren had been feeling the “pull” to become a beekeeper for years. As a teenager, he would spend summers at his grandfather’s farm in Llano, TX to learn beekeeping from one of the original founders of Fains Honey. He spoke of those times often with such happiness. In 2017, he took that first step, bought two hives, and brought them home to Lexington. We lovingly call these hives our “A-Team” hives – as they have been our major producers! 🙂 Leeco Honey now has 25 hives here on the honey farm. We are busy bees! Darren is certified in the State of Texas to conduct bee removals/relocations. He is called often to relocate bees and is happy to help in Lee County. If you are outside of Lee County, we are happy to refer you to other beekeepers, as they are the experts in their home counties. Meagan Joy 3rd Generation Beekeeper Meagan was born in Victoria, TX and lived on a 100 acre ranch with cattle, horses, and farm dogs. She remembers days out at her grandpa’s farm where he talked about the bees, showed her how to spin honey, and had boxes upon boxes of hives stored in his barn. He would catch swarms and began splitting hives himself.
My favorite story is when he would drive around town with a full beehive riding shotgun in his truck. This was how he would move hives. He would stop at Walmart in town and say he was never afraid of anyone stealing his truck because of his little ladies in the front seat! When Darren told me about his family history of beekeeping, we knew we HAD to carry on a family tradition. We started with two hives and now we have 25. We learn “as we go” from our hives, as well as attend bee conferences and have been mentored by well-established beekeepers in our area. We have so much more to learn, but we are sure enjoying the process!
So maybe we end on discussing what matters most to you and why?
Honestly, our faith. We see beekeeping as a way to build community and to share our love for Jesus and his good creation. The bees have taught us so much about what it means to live in community. The roles they play and the care they give each other is something we hope our family and community will emulate. Also, natural beekeeping methods are extremely important to us. Our hives are free from harsh chemicals and poisons. We promote natural beekeeping and the importance this is for the products of our hive. Our lip balms, honey, and our salve and candles are all free from harsh chemicals. Education and awareness are also very important to us. We share the importance of “straight from the hive” products and encourage our community to be critical consumers of their food. knowing where their honey and hive products comes from is VERY important because there aren’t strict regulations on what constitutes as “Honey” in the market. So please support your local beekeepers to ensure you have local, raw, 100 honey!
Pricing:
- raw, local honey (11 net oz) – $15.00
- raw, local honey (20 net oz.) – $25.00
- Leeco honey beeswax lip balm (Bees Knees, Honey Mint, Lavender Lemonade) – $10.00
- Support Your Local Beekeeper T-Shirt – $25.00
- Leeco Honey Hat – $24.00
Contact Info:
- Email: leecohoney@gmail.com
- Website: www.leecohoney.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/leecohoney/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/leecohoney/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mK_sBoh_KZg
- Other: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N4KRQyx68ic
Image Credits
Annie Beth Photography
