A Myakka City Farm Sells Hot Honey and Queen Bees. Same Cart.

I went to Heritage Bee Farm's website looking for something to put on pizza. I found it. It's a habanero hot honey, 12 ounces, $13.99.

Then I kept scrolling, and a few rows later the same store was selling me a live Carniolan queen bee for $40. Ships overnight.

The banner across the top of every page says queen shipping happens every Wednesday. It is Wednesday. Somewhere today a queen bee is in the mail, and she has no idea anyone is talking about pizza.

The part for regular people

This is a working bee farm in Myakka City, and the honey is the farm's own: raw wildflower, which the homepage says is never microfiltered and never pasteurized. From their shop:

• Hot Honey Habanero, 12 oz, $13.99. Their own raw honey with habanero blended in. The product page's serving ideas start with pizza fresh out of the oven, then fried chicken, a cheese board with sharp cheddar and brie, and sweet potato fries. I have nothing to add. That's the list.
• Cinnamon Infused Honey, 1 lb, $14.99. For people whose hot honey phase is over.
• Raw Wildflower Honey, $14 for a 1 lb jar, $9.99 for the 8 oz jar with a cork, and $79.99 for a full gallon jug, which is a lot of honey to explain to a roommate.
• A 2 oz honey bear, $2.99, sold as baby shower favors. Fine. Also, frankly, a $2.99 present to yourself.

The part for people with a backyard and a plan

The other half of the menu is bees. Mated queens are $40. There are queen cells, and there's a 2027 spring presale on starter colonies at $225, with Saturday pickups from March 20 to April 17. People are already reserving bees for a spring that hasn't been invented yet.

There is also a $2 add-on called Marked Queen. I chose not to look into it further. I like it better as a mystery.

Two hives, then about 3,000

According to the farm's own story, a church friend who kept bees commercially noticed Chris was hooked and just dropped off two hives. Two became ten, ten became fifty. Chris and Melissa raised nine kids, and the page says every one of them has worked on the farm in some way, bottling, labeling or working the bees.

Today it's around 3,000 colonies across Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte and DeSoto counties, a mile from the Myakka River among oaks, pines and citrus groves. So the honey on your pizza came from the same few counties as your commute.

Should you go this weekend?

If you want to see where it comes from, yes, with a reservation. The Bee Farm Experience is a 1.5-hour hive tour where you suit up, light a smoker, hold a live frame of bees and taste the raw honey.

• When: they book tours on Fridays and Saturdays, usually starting around 10:30 a.m. Fall is one of their two peak seasons, so book ahead.
• Price: $55 adults, $35 for kids 12 and under, kids 5 and under free.
• Wear: closed-toe shoes and light colors. Skip the perfume. They supply the suit.
• Allergies: if you carry an EpiPen, the farm asks you to contact them before booking.
• Drop-ins: it's a working farm and the crew is mostly out in the field, so call or email first even if you just want a jar.

One page of their site says the farm is about 45 minutes from Sarasota. Another says 30. Both are true, depending on who's driving.

No drive at all: their where-to-buy page says the honey is stocked at Detwiler's Farm Market, and the farm keeps hives on the Detwiler family's ranch.

More sweet heat around here

Craving hot honey? Gigly has the local makers, and Heritage Bee Farm is in there. If you'd rather your heat come in a bottle with blueberries in it, the FAS Sauce berry trilogy is out of Venice. Planning the rest of the week? Sandy has everything in costume.

— Marina