A beekeeper in a full veil suit lifts a frame of bees from an open hive box at the edge of a field near railroad tracks

Our Story

A Family Apiary in Curtice, Ohio

Arik grew up working on his family's farm in Curtice, Ohio. Beth grew up in Toledo and Perrysburg, Ohio. They married in 2001 and have 3 growing kids.

Beth taught high school social studies before staying home with their kids and helping on the family farm. Arik worked at Right Tool and Die for 20 years before returning to farming full-time.

Arik started into bees by helping a friend and quickly fell in love with beekeeping. Beth and the kids were soon brought on board and Bench's Bees & Honey LLC was created in 2016. In addition to the apiary, they also have an organic grain farming business, a machine shop and a drainage tile business.

Working with the bees brings them closer to nature and each other. They are enjoying working outdoors, helping the environment by helping the bees and offering an incredible product for others to enjoy!

A full frame lifted from the hive, densely covered in honeybees, held by a beekeeper in a mesh glove — A frame straight from the hive.

Our Bees

A swarm of bees clustered thickly across the front of a hive box and its landing board

A frame densely covered in bees tending capped and open honeycomb cells

Macro view of honeybees packed across a frame of capped honeycomb, wings catching the light

Bees clustered on a comb frame, viewed from above a beekeeper's gloved hands

Bees walking across yellow foundation frames with patches of comb and honey inside an open hive

Bees along the top bars of a hive frame against the weathered wood of the hive box

Close-up of foraging bees returning to the hive entrance carrying pollen

Bees flying in and out of a small entrance hole in a white hive box, surrounded by tall grass

Our Process

A row of hive boxes tucked under a shade tree at the edge of a grassy field

A row of white beehive boxes lined up in an early-spring field with bees flying nearby

A young beekeeper in a full veil holding a smoker beside hive boxes in a wooded apiary

Three beekeepers in protective suits inspecting hives in a wooded bee yard in late fall

Beekeepers in protective suits pulling frames of honeycomb from hives beside a red-roofed barn

Rows of extracted honeycomb frames, from light to dark amber, mounted in an uncapping rack in the honey house

Frames of capped honeycomb loaded into a stainless steel honey extractor