Bee Pure Apiary is a Port Allen company that produces raw local honey and all-natural skincare products. The company was founded in 2017 by mother and daughter duo Alison Landry and Robin Fontaine.
Unlike many other honey companies, Bee Pure Apiary is an all-female operated business—right down to the bees themselves. This bee company focuses on creating sustainable alternatives with beeswax and honey and, of course, saving the bees.
Fontaine received her first bee hive as a wedding gift from an uncle in 2014. With no previous experience in beekeeping, Fontaine and Landry began their research and unearthed a deep passion that would become their livelihoods. Through the care and cultivation process, Fontaine and Landry became fascinated with how much work could be done and how much honey could be produced by such small creatures.
“The way that they work is so in-sync and so efficient,” Fontaine said.
What started as one small hive has now grown into 20. Originally, Bee Pure Apiary started only selling raw honey. Today, the company offers other products such as beeswax food wrap, body butters, lip balm and facial creams. New products are also underway such as an all-natural eczema cream made with honey. One of the most popular items, the food wrap, is an all natural alternative to plastic wrap.
During the honey extraction process, Landry took notice of the mass amounts of wax that coats the honeycombs. She wanted to re-purpose the wax, that way all of the bee’s products were being used.
Landry found a way to combine the beeswax, jojoba oil and pine tree resin into a natural wax mixture. She used the wax mixture to coat sheets of fabric made of 100% cotton which she then baked, resulting in a moldable food wrap.
Creating sustainable, environmentally-friendly alternatives using bee products was a perfect way for Bee Pure Apiary to show how resourceful bees can be. In their short lives, bees are some of the hardest working insects in the animal kingdom.
All of the working bees that produce honey are female, an example of girl power in its most raw form. Landry and Fontaine want to pass on their passion to more people by educating the public and encouraging people to use more organic alternatives. Bee Pure Apiary is not only a honey company but also an advocate for women empowerment and representation in the beekeeping profession.
“After we started working that one hive, we were just fascinated by the bees—the way they work and live,” Landry said. “It changes your whole perspective on nature and the environment.”
The full collection of bee products can be found on BeePureApiary.com or at local pop-up art markets. All future art and farmers markets can be found @BeePureApiary on Instagram or Faceook.

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@beepureapiary via Instagram

@beepureapiary via Instagram