Buzzing Bee: Exley Farms Takes Flight in Jarrell

by Charlotte Kovalchuk

What began as a homeschooling project for Liz Exley’s four sons nearly 20 years ago has turned into a thriving family business — Exley Farms — here in Jarrell. “We were always looking for projects to dig deep and learn a ton,” Liz says. “My two oldest sons wanted to keep bees and so we researched it and joined the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association. They offered a scholarship and tutor to school age youth under 19 who were interested in keeping bees. So, my oldest son applied and won some bees, equipment, bee boxes, a tutor, and the next thing we know, many years later, we are a small family business selling honey and beeswax products.”

That business endeavor started out with Liz’s sons, Paul and Nathan, removing unwanted bees from homes, barns, and other structures around their previous home in Georgetown. Excited about their newfound love for bees, they would share their passion with many friends in Boy Scouts, 4-H, church, speech and debate, and homeschool. While the Exleys love Georgetown, they realized the swiftly developing city was diminishing their bees’ food supply and lost half of their 50 hives. That led to them buying land here in 2011 for the bees and in 2020 decided to make Jarrell their new home. Today, Exley Farms beehives provide amazing products using beeswax and honey to make raw honey, creamed honey, soaps, hair conditioners, shampoo bars, lotion sticks, and lip balms – which can be found at Georgetown locations including the

Wolf Ranch Farmers Market and Market Days on the Square. Her honey products are also sold in three stores in Williamson County.

The best part of owning Exley Farms, Liz says, has simply been learning and doing something together as a family. Over the last two decades, she and her family have tirelessly researched everything about bees and spoken at many events and participated in the Williamson County Area Beekeepers Association. She adds that they have made many mistakes during bee removals and realized they still have much to learn about these “amazing insects.”

Pollinator Power

Bees play a critical role in our ecosystem, pollinating 80 percent of the fruits and vegetables we eat. “We depend on a tiny, 1/2-inch-long insect for one out of every three bites of our food,” Paul shared at the Texas 4-H State Roundup in 2012 after winning a scholarship for his beekeeping.

Even coffee bean plants benefit from honeybees, which yield larger, healthier beans compared to coffee plants pollinated by other insects. In fact, honeybees are essential to more than 100 crops in the United States, and the value of their pollination services exceeds $18 billion annually.

Next time you enjoy a bowl of ice cream, remember that bees are behind it, too. About 50,000 honeybee colonies are used to pollinate alfalfa, which is fed to dairy cows, producing the milk that makes your favorite scoops.

Sticky Situation

Despite their importance, bees are increasingly at risk. Habitat loss, over-development and loss of their forage sites, and pesticide exposure are just a few of the threats to bees around the world. Declining bee populations could spell disaster for the agricultural industry and our food supply.

From learning to prevent swarms from flying away to coping with diseases that devastate hives, Liz and her family have faced their own share of challenges. But a more pressing challenge looms – the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality permitting the construction of a wastewater treatment (WWTP) plant near Exley Farms. The project is deeply concerning for Liz, who worries about the plant’s impact on her bees. “The plant will have open tanks, and our concern is that those tanks will have E. coli and other pharmaceutical chemicals. We know bees are super sensitive to chemicals, which will either kill them before they make it back to the hive, shrink the size of the hives with sickness, and shorten the bees’ lives,” she explains. Unaware of the danger, the bees could drink con-

taminated water and bring it back to the hive, potentially causing the death of the entire colony. “Wastewater should not be something bees are around,” she says.

While Exley Farms could move to a different location, Liz notes that another relocation would be costly and time consuming. And more importantly, Exley Farms is the family’s home, where they have planted more than 500 trees and irrigated the land. She hopes TCEQ will cover the tanks or choose to move the plant further away from their business. “I have enjoyed beekeeping more than I ever thought I would and hope we are not guilty of doing too little too late to help protect our pollinators and natural water resources. Our children and our future are already at risk right now and we could really learn much from Singapore, Switzerland, or Israel WWTPs and resource recycling. They don’t risk the health of people or pollinators with their projects.”

To learn more about Exley Farms, visit ExleyFarms.wordpress.com or her retail website ExleyFarms.com.