Page 36 - South Mississippi Living - July, 2017

PEOPLE oh, honey
story and photos by Susan Ruddiman and photos courtesy of Tommy McCaffrey
Beekeeping alive and well with McCaffrey family
The McCaffrey men have been drawn into the fascinating world of beekeeping. Pat McCaffrey, 69, and his two sons, Tommy and Randy, are involved in producing Stinger Juice, a golden honey sold at local health food stores.
“If you had told me I'd get into beekeeping, I'd say you were nuts, but I truly wished I'd done it 30 years earlier,” Pat said.
Pat and his middle child, Tommy, are more hands-on with their beekeeping business. Randy, on the other hand, expanded his love of photography into a popular YouTube channel, 628DirtRooster, that is about beekeeping.
“Randy probably has the largest channel related to beekeeping on YouTube. His videos are informative and well watched,” Tommy said.
All three make house calls to extract bees from places they are not welcomed. Randy has a heat sensing camera that will accurately locate hives. Tommy started the entire process around eight years ago when he signed up for
a beekeeping class at the Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Museum in Jackson.
“My two sons had allergy problems, and I had heard that local honey was good for treating allergies. I wanted to buy honey or get bees,” Tommy said.
After the class, he was in the process of ordering bees when an acquaintance asked if he could remove bees that were living in the walls of a shed.
SUPER NATURAL STINGER JUICE HONEY is bottled by Pat McCaffrey in three different sizes.
36 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • July 2017
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