Meet Olivia M Menard | Chief Executive Beekeeper at Brookfield Apiaries

We had the good fortune of connecting with Olivia M Menard and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Olivia M, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When I first started beekeeping 8 years ago I don’t think starting a business would have ever crossed my mind. Running and gardening were my escapes from the stress of a day job. These activities took me outside and brought me closer to nature. They allowed me to step back from the day to day churn and settle my mind on the evenings and weekends.

Fast forward to 2020 and covid where I found myself considering an early retirement package that really made a lot of sense for me and my family. In the post covid world my identity fully changed. I was no longer an operations manager at one of the world’s largest airlines. Gardening and running became my focus rather than just an escape. Growing my own vegetables and fruits and exploring community gardens helped reduced my reliance on commercial food sources and improved my sense of self-sufficiency during a time when grocery store shelves proved unreliable.

Beekeeping was a step along my gardening pilgrimage. The challenges faced by bees made beekeeping seem like a social service – another way to help our food sources. The challenges faced by beekeepers made the barriers to entry for new beekeepers seemingly insurmountable. Half of all beekeepers lose all of their hives in their first year. About 80% of all new beekeepers quit after their second year. I was fortunate to have the ability to build repeatable systems, and the tenacity to seek out strong mentors like Mary Lacksen of BeeCo Apiaries in Sparta, Georgia (https://www.beecoapiaries.com/).

As I watched what was happening around me in the wake of covid I was deeply unsettled by the mental health and social challenges I saw people facing. Our community struggled to stay connected. Even as covid restrictions were removed, social interactions were sometimes challenging to find again. Feelings of isolation lingered. People needed ways to get together with other people again. These interactions are important and contribute positively to our mental health.

Brookfield Apiaries was an opportunity for me to share with my broader community a path to escape daily stress and improve public health.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
The benefits of spending time outside are easy to miss in today’s busy world. For years my workday started when I passed through the door from a house to an attached garage. I drove to work. My morning walk went from car, through parking lot, to the office door. If I was early and lucky enough to find a spot in the parking deck, then my entire walk would be under cover completely shielded from exposure to the elements. The return home was exactly the same, just in the opposite order. Unless I stopped for a run at a park or went out to work in my garden after work I may not see the sky or a blade of grass all week.

Nature has a physical impact on our wellbeing. Activities we do outside like running, walking, or even just sitting in a garden lower cortisol levels and improve our mood. The more things we do outside the more aware we become of challenges facing our communities.

One of the first Brookfield Apiaries initiatives was to bring honeybee hives and native bees to Monroe Area High School. With the help of a few caring teachers and open minded administrators I was brought in as a guest speaker to classes and as a mentor to interns. We hosted an environmental club and a bee club. We brought students together outside to learn about bees, pollination, and where our food comes from.

Time spent in community gardens or with local farmers gives us a closer look at how food is produced and distributed. This can make us more aware of food security issues and encourage us to support local food systems. It can inspire us to advocate for policies or practices that support sustainable food systems and equitable access to nutritious food.

When I’m showing a group how to build mason bee houses or helping a new beekeeper work their way through a hive inspection during the dearth I am doing something I truly enjoy – whether the audience is there or not. The benefits I get from working with nature show in how I work with the audience. I watch how people react to what we are doing and tap into my experiences to remove barriers and provide resources they need to lose themselves in the activity.

Seeing someone do something they didn’t think they could do because I did something to increase their confidence, knowledge, or courage to get it done. That makes me happy. I’ve known a lot of people who regret not having done something because they were scared, or didn’t know how to start, or couldn’t afford it, or any other of a million reasons. Empowering a person to become something more because my experience and resources are able to knock down a barrier for them. What a nice legacy to leave.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Spend a morning floating the Chattahoochee River from Buford dam to Abbots Bridge. It’s nearly 13 miles and takes 3-4 hours, depending on how much you want to paddle vs float. There is nothing like the feeling you get from the fog above the water chilling your skin on a hot summer morning.

Visit Hiawassee, Georgia. There are campgrounds and Bed & Breakfasts all around the town. Stay on the water at Lake Chatuge. Spend a lazy morning sipping coffee and flaking apart a pastry while the birds and boats spool up. Walk paths that wind through the Southeastern US’s largest collection of rhododendron and native azaleas at Hamilton Rhododendron Gardens on the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds.

In the afternoon, head down to Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest peak at 4,784’. There is an observation deck at the top from which you can see 4 different states, and sometimes even the iconic Atlanta skyline. The hike to the top is a half mile paved trail. Share memories and make plans for tomorrow over dinner at Brother’s at Willow Ranch before retiring back to your Bed and Breakfast on the lake.

Head west to Amicalola Falls, Georgia’s tallest waterfall and the highest cascading falls east of the Mississippi River. Book a night or two at the Len Foote Hike Inn (https://hike-inn.com/) from where you can relax and take in sweeping views of Georgia’s mountains, enjoy delicious home cooked meals with fellow travelers in the communal dining room, or catch up with old friends exploring one of the many trails around the inn. The inn is only 4.4 miles from Springer Mountain, the southern end of the world famous Appalachian Trail. If you make it back to the inn in time that afternoon, join a facility tour. It is amazing what the inn has been able to achieve in such a remote location!

Georgia has over 40 wineries. Most of them produce sweet muscadine style wines. A few tucked into the higher elevations of the North Georgia mountains are able to grow European or hybrid grape varietals that in many ways rival Napa, France, or Italy. My favorite is Wolf Mountain Vineyards where the Boegner family offers a decadent selection of luscious dry wines and some of Georgia’s only sparkling wines. The restaurants, tasting rooms, building, and entire community transport you from Georgia to a continental countryside without the logistical complexity of flying.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Mary Lacksen of BeeCo Apiaries in Sparta, Georgia (https://www.beecoapiaries.com/) has been a guiding light for me in business and as a friend. Mary and I met in September of 2021 when we both took and passed the daunting UGA Journeyman Beekeeper test.

In May of 2019 I passed the Certified Beekeeper test. By May of the following year I was at home on a leave of absence from my job of 20+ years and about to be presented with an early retirement package that would change my life forever. A UGA Certified Beekeeper is required to practice the craft for 2 years before qualifying to sit for the Journeyman level exam. The UGA Journeyman and Master Beekeeper study guides were online and available throughout the covid shutdowns. For the next year and a half, if I wasn’t out in the bees, my husband would find me reading the recommended books and learning about beekeeping by following the structure of the UGA Journeyman study guide.

When Mary and I sat together for the UGA Journeyman Beekeeper test in September of 2021 it was at one of the first in person meetings for a bee club anywhere in the state since covid sent everyone home. We were all starving for human interaction. Mary is a bounty of knowledge and experience in the related fields of beekeeping and agriculture, and she has such a gentle patience for mentoring. I started calling her for advice, and found her guidance helpful and our conversations encouraging. We became study buddies for the challenging UGA Master Beekeeper test (which we both passed on the first try!).

I would not be the beekeeper, business woman, or mentor that I am today if it wasn’t for Mary and the time she continues to invest in me.

Website: https://BrookfieldApiaries.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/om.bees

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliviamenard/

Twitter: https://x.com/oliviammenard

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BrookfieldApiaries

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@BrookfieldApiaries

Image Credits
https://www.getperspectiv.com/
https://gardens4growingcommunity.com/

Honeybee Removal

https://www.mcdaniel-tichenor.org/experiences