The History of A-1 Honey
Producing honey in the Western Cape since 1982.
How we started.
A-1 Honey is a 2nd generation operated honey production and pollination service operating in the Western Cape. It is owned by Pieter Theron who learned his apiculture skills from his late father, Wessel Theron.
Pieter still remembers the wonderful times he spent as a child, and later an adult, with his father in his bee yards. Pieter learned his selling skills from his mother, Lettie, who in her lifetime became known as ‘the honey lady’ to the members of the local bowling community – who made out the bulk of her clientele.
As a young boy Pieter loved watching the great hustle and bustle about the hive and loved spending time with the bees. For him, there is something of a mystery in the little community where thousands of active little creatures live in perfect harmony.
For most of his life, Pieter was a professional policeman. In 1982, whilst still a member of the police force, he produced 15 hives and took beekeeping up as a part-time undertaking.
His number of hives grew and soon he started selling honey to colleagues, local cafes and to farms situated in the deciduous districts of the Cape, which he is still doing today, though on a much larger scale. Since those early days in 1982, Pieter’s small beekeeping enterprise has grown into a fully fledged business.
Pieter retired from the police force in 2011 and has now become a large scale commercial beekeeper. He is planning to expand his beekeeping activities even further with the emphasis on honey sale.