Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm

Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm is a collection of raw honey made on the Johnson family’s land in Hunterdon County, New Jersey, and named after the two oldest kids.

Beginnings and Growth

Summer and Kam Johnson, the parents, had struggled with their youngest child Zach’s asthma for a while. The asthma caused him to have recurrent, bad seasonal allergies. Worth mentioning is that the Johnsons have always favored natural treatments over prescribed medication for their children whenever possible. In their quest to find a lasting solution to their son’s health challenges, the couple happened to learn about the benefits of raw honey.

Raw honey is known to combat inflammation while introducing the body to pollen in manageable quantities. As a result of this revelation, the family began purchasing a lot of raw honey from local beekeepers. In the process, they were able to forge friendships and create networks. Since they spent a lot of time researching on bees and honey, this eventually sparked an interest in bee keeping.

The Johnson children, Zach and Zoe with a display of the raw honey produced on their parents’ land. Image courtesy of Chelsea Market.

Their move from Montclair to Hunterdon County marked the start of their involvement with bees. Persuasion from their beekeeper friends led them to start keeping bees in 2015 with 2 hives. Initially, it was not intended to be a business but Summer had been homeschooling her children at the time and was keen on instilling in them the basics of business. Hence they began mixing beets and matcha into the honey, packaging it and selling it. Surprisingly, demand grew and a business flourished.

Eventually, Summer and her husband realized that there was a growing market for local honey in Midtown Manhattan. The Zach & Zoe Sweet Bee Farm therefore has a shop at Chelsea Market to cater for New Yorkers. Over the years, the family kept increasing the hives on their property and educating themselves some more on bee keeping.

Currently, they also conduct tours on their farm but with the pandemic, they have shifted to conducting video tours of the bees. 2020 has been a year of wins for the family with an appearance on Oprah’s Favorite Things List in November. Earlier in the year, the couple also welcomed another child, Gabriella Zuri.