Burlap & Beeswax was born out of self discovery and my need to create.

For me, my journey into beekeeping really began when I was visiting in Apalachicola, FL and discovered Tupelo honey; learning that not all honey is the same. And that the stuff in the grocery store may or may not be actual honey. Intrigued by this, I found myself paying attention anytime someone mentioned bees or honey. I don't know how I didn't know it, but I didn't know then that ordinary people could just keep bees. Imagine my surprise when I saw the local beekeepers club at the county fair perform a honey extraction demonstration and then ask if anyone wanted to sign up for a beginner beekeeper class?  Me! I am anyone! Yes, me! Where do I sign up?! I couldn't believe it - I was going to be a beekeeper and nothing was going to stop me! In March of 2018, I welcomed my first 2 colonies to my apiary. As a hobbyist beekeeper, I maintain an apiary of 10 or less hives in and around Nashville and southern middle Tennessee. I am passionate about bees and I love telling people about all I've learned. And I love that there is always something more to learn! I am thrilled to give back to mother nature and my community through beekeeping.  Bees are the most amazing and magical creatures and provide so much more to us than just honey.

Then one random day I was taking the trash out (at my day job) and I found burlap bags, I mean a lot of burlap bags, the kind that coffee beans come in, at a neighboring business that no longer had a purpose. They had such character! I had no idea what I wanted to do with them, but I knew in that moment, that I needed these bags. It wasn't long before my brain started racing about all the different things that I could repurpose and upcycle them into. Some of those items are for sale here in my shop, and some of those items are best left as crazy ideas, but I'm having fun making them and each one is perfectly imperfect and an original. No two pieces will ever be exactly the same.

But something was missing, it was more than just a desire to give these burlap bags a new purpose, I wanted the bags to have a more meaningful, significant and useful purpose and I thought 'what if I could turn these bags into backpacks'? Maybe these backpacks could be a practical and useful way that I can give back to a part of our community often overlooked or shunned - our homeless community. With that goal, I decided to partner with local charities serving our homeless population and I am donating 15% of all sales from my Burlap Creations Collection to these charities.