September 12, 2024
Many people recognize Brian DeMarco as a fourth grade teacher at East Elementary School. But when he’s not filling the hallways of East with friendly chatter and laughter, he dons a bee suit and manages a buzzing crowd. DeMarco began beekeeping three years ago but had been thinking about it since he was a boy. He was drawn to the peaceful nature of the bees. “When watching the bees work in unison, something is calming about their work. Even though thousands of bees may buzz around at any time, it’s a relaxing distraction.”
The idea to take up beekeeping for Mr. DeMarco has ties, as much of his venture does, to East Elementary. “Several years back, a student’s father, Stephen Jiranek, volunteered to do a presentation on the life of a honeybee, which coincides with one of our units in science. I was enamored with all the work that bees do and all the work that goes into caring for them. And, like many people, I had heard that honeybees were in decline. Thankfully, that’s changed a bit, but it was a factor in my wanting to have a few hives. I like learning new things, so I thought I’d give it a go.”
“The keeping of bees is relatively easy once you commit to doing it. There are excellent resources like the Plymouth County Beekeepers Association and many books and videos. At some point, you need to say it’s time to get some bees. So I went into my woodshop, built all the hive boxes I needed, got two packages of bees similar to a shoebox full of bees, and took the leap.
“It wasn’t long before I pulled in my kids to help. Kids have a natural curiosity and haven’t fully developed the fears that adults have. Alex was with me the day I picked up the bees, and Aidan routinely helps me with hive inspections when he’s home from school. When it’s time to harvest, my daughter Abby is pulling the frames and extracting, and Aaron is helping jar up the honey. It’s been a lot of fun working the bees with my kids helping.
“Currently, I have five hives in operation, and by spring next year, that will likely double if they make it through the winter healthy. The honey, of course, is the main by-product, but it has inspired me to branch out a bit and try my hand at making a few other items, such as beeswax lip balm, bee-themed t-shirts, sweatshirts, tote bags, and stickers. I recently decided to give soap-making a try using old-fashioned cold-pressed methods. There’s always something new to learn. ”
It was the East School community that both encouraged and enabled DeMarco to launch his honey business. Anyone who walks into East School knows the friendly faces of Elisa Nelson and Karen Mariani. These ladies operate the front office and were the driving force encouraging Mr. DeMarco to launch his honey business. They had a vision for the venture and encouraged him to explore local venues to host pop-up honey stands. They also brainstormed different products to offer alongside the signature honey. “If it were left to me, this thing, such as it is, wouldn’t exist. The insistence of Karen and Elisa made me think there might be something to play around with here.” Once Mr. DeMarco decided to launch a business to sell his honey, he knew he needed a logo. It was obvious there was no better person to turn to than Kathleen McNamara, the creative powerhouse East is lucky to call their Art teacher. “I emailed Kathleen a few feeble ideas one weekend, and she used her artistic skills to create an impressive logo that perfectly embodied the spirit of what I hoped to convey with the DeMarco Family Apiaries. I thought the logo was too good just to put on honey jar labels, so I thought it would be fun to have a couple of shirts made for my family. It was meant to be sort of a goof, ‘Like, look at us, we’re a real operation.'” Mr. DeMarco asked fellow teacher and regular collaborator Mairead Swords if she could print some shirts at home using her Cricut machine. The shirts with the new logo came out looking so good people were asking if they could buy one. “I get a kick out of it when I think of how connected this all is to this community. From a parent’s willingness to present to the fourth grade, to encouragement from the office group, help in design and execution from two fabulous educators to the incredible support from all the staff.” DeMarco Family Apiaries is a business born of a heartfelt collaboration of East teachers and staff, making it all the more special.
All of the DeMarco Family Apiary products are hand-made. Mr. DeMarco keeps the bees and harvests the honey himself, which he bottles and sells in its 100% pure state. When it came time to create some swag, Mr. DeMarco took on that task himself. In addition to beekeeping, he is a skilled woodworker, so he learned how to use photo emulsion to create an image and then designed and built his screen printing press to produce shirts, totes, and sweatshirts. He hand-prints every item that he sells. “It would be faster to have these done by a machine, but I like the satisfaction of knowing my own hands made it.”
When it came time to launch the business, Mr. DeMarco knew the best place in town to market his product was the local family hot spot, The Barrel. Weekends at The Barrel are marked by families stopping by in between sporting events to grab lunch and sweet treats. It seemed like a natural partnership, made even more so by DeMarco’s relationship with the family that manages the Hingham Barrel. “When I first reached out to speak to the manager, I had no idea it would be Kimberlee Ward, the mother of Mikayla Balonis, one of my former students.” DeMarco Family Apiaries has successfully hosted two pop-up honey stands at The Barrel. The honey was sold out in the first forty minutes at the first pop up. The courtyard where the honey stand was housed was filled with local families looking to grab some local honey, connect with other families stopping by, and check out the many other products that DeMarco Family Apiaries offers, from t-shirts and sweatshirts to lip balms, totes, and soaps. The products sold so quickly that they turned to taking pre-orders for future pop-ups.
Buzzing with Passion: Brian DeMarco’s Journey from Teaching to BeekeepingWhile DeMarco enjoys selling his honey and other products, the main focus of the business is spreading the joy of beekeeping with local families. If you stop by the pop-ups at The Barrel you will find an array of beekeeping equipment that Mr. DeMarco will enthusiastically show you and explain what it is used for when working with the bees. “I was so caught up with the excitement of talking with people at the first event that it wasn’t until afterward that I realized I didn’t sell a single item to anyone. Thankfully, I had former students Rory O’Brien and Lucy Cincotta doing the heavy lifting. It’s just so much fun talking with people.” DeMarco Family Apiaries has social media accounts on both Facebook and Instagram that are chock full of entertaining and informative content. Follow along to see Mr. DeMarco explain the basics of beekeeping with an engaging twist that only a teacher can provide. He posts videos every Wednesday, dubbed “Beeswax Wednesday,” where he explains the bees’ behavior as well as some where he walks you through interesting aspects of beekeeping such as dethroning the queen and seating a new one, handling a “hot hive” of aggressive bees, and the delicate art of combining hives.
Please follow along with DeMarco Family Apiaries on Facebook and Instsagram @DeMarcoFamilyApiaries. And join them at the best pop up stand at the Hingham Cracker Barrel on Saturday, September 14th, from 11 am to 1 pm.