Worldwide Beekeeping
Beekeeping => Bee News => Topic started by: Bakersdozen on November 05, 2014, 08:46:45 am
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I recently watched a documentary on Burt Shavitz, co founder of Burt's Bees. It was on Netflix, for those of you that subscribe. I particularly enjoyed hearing how he got starting in beekeeping and the origins of the company, Burt's Bees.
In a story Burt told, the name originates from the theft of his hives. He got some friends together and then stole them back. He decided to stencil his name in red on the hive boxes, "Burt's Bees", so that he could easily identify them if it happened again.
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From what I've previously picked up, he used to live in an old turkey coop. He and his partner/wife split up after major growth of Burt's Bees, and then she grew it even further and then sold it to Clorox I believe? Over $1 billion if memory serves me.
I'll have to look for that show on Netflix! Thanks.
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I particularly enjoyed hearing how he got starting in beekeeping and the origins of the company, Burt's Bees.
Bakers, Can you share a little bit of how he got started in beekeeping?
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I particularly enjoyed hearing how he got starting in beekeeping and the origins of the company, Burt's Bees.
Bakers, Can you share a little bit of how he got started in beekeeping?
He said that someone had given him woodenware. Sometime later he came upon a swarm. He used a copy of the ABCs & XYZs of Beekeeping to learn from. At one point he mentioned having 28 hives. I don't know if he was referring to now or when they began making candles. He did say he told Roxanne to figure out how to make candles because he had every bit of wax he had ever accumulated. Roxanne said that when she met him he was selling gallon jugs of honey along the roadside out of his pick up. She quickly realized that a little bit of packaging and a smaller size would result in higher profits. It's my understanding she has an art degree.
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she grew it even further and then sold it to Clorox I believe? Over $1 billion if memory serves me.
That's a lot of tortillas!!!! :)
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thanks bakers, i would be interested in seeing that documentary about him. i don't subscribe to netflix, but went to the website, and can download it.
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I've started watching it but had to stop till later. He is really quite odd, and somewhat likeable, but I can see where he could put a lot of people off. He is what he is and makes no apologizes for it. I didn't realize how old he is. The guy that looks after him isn't getting paid enough though. :laugh:
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thanks bakers, i would be interested in seeing that documentary about him. i don't subscribe to netflix, but went to the website, and can download it.
It might be worth checking with your local library.
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thanks bakers!
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Thanks Bakers, it is definitely on my list of things to watch.
He said that someone had given him woodenware.
That someone would be my Dad.....
Burt was a photojournalist in NYC who got tied of the city and wanted a simple life, so he moved to a little hamlet called Aligerville in the Hudson Valley. If you think he lives a simple live now, back then he bartered with a little general store owner to allow him to live in an abandoned chicken coop. No electricity, no running water, and heat from just a little old wood stove. He was interested in bees, so my dad gave him some old woodenware. Burt spent many of evenings that winter in our basement scraping, patching and painting the equipment. I was very young at the time, but to this day my mom continues to tell the story that she would be cooking a big dinner, Burt would come by (looking very thin and almost emaciated) and marvel at the wonderful smell, but would not eat with us because he was a vegetarian and mom had cooked with meat :P
A few years later, Burt got sick and tired of NY taxes and decide he was moving to Maine to be free from it. My dad helped him find an old flatbed truck that they got running with bailing wire and duct tape (did we have duct tape back then?). They loaded his 7 hive on the truck and off he went. It was quite a few years later that we where walking through the local craft fair and Burt yelled out to us. He and his girl friend where working the craft fair circuit selling bee goods. We saw them on and off for the next few years. That was the humble start that burst into a huge success.
I often think about putting my dad in the car and driving up to Maine to see if I could hook the two up again.
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Amazing story Robo.
Did you notice the part where he was firing that pistol? At one point he seemed to be having trouble with it and started checking it over. If I had been the cameraman at that point I'd have filled my drawers considering where he was pointing it.
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"He said that someone had given him woodenware."
"That someone would be my Dad....."
robo, like perry said.....what an AMAZING story, thank you! that's why you asked baker's if she could share how burt got into beekeeping!
i have read that he was a photojournalist and is an 'eccentric' sort.
all i can say is thanks robo for the story and the history!
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Great story, Robo! A road trip with your Dad would be time well spent, no matter the destination. If you were going to see Burt, you might make arrangements in advance. According to the documentary, he does some traveling as the "face" of Burt's Bees. I think he's the Colonel Sanders of Burt's Bees. He signed away his share of the company, but the company pays him to make personal appearances to promote the company. Unlike Colonel Sanders, he doesn't enjoy the personal appearances.
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I just watched this the other night! It was sad that he sold out to his ex for so little.
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because i don't have netflix, found i could download from amazon to watch, will try to get to it this weekend, and thanks again robo for some background info!
and thanks again bakers!
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If you don't have time for a full production presentation on Netflix or on Amazon, you can find a lot of shorter items by doing a "Burt Shavitz" search on Youtube.com.