Between his schoolwork, he did construction. Eventually, he would become an independent general contractor which led to caring for two honey bee colonies at the request of a local landscape client.
That was in 2012 and instead of hiring a beekeeper, he decided to do the work himself.
"I was developing a passion for locally grown food provided by sustainably minded farmers," he explained. "With each new sting, I joined another beekeeping club, read another apiculture book, attended another lecture, and eventually added more and more hives to my sideline operation."
Long story short: Cerniglia was having so much fun that in 2014, he decided to develop BeeKind Farms (a friend thought of the name) and start providing single source, raw, traceable honey bee products.
His Greenwich-based business now has hives grouped in a few locations in Fairfield County, New York City and Suffolk County, N.Y., with plans to set up hyperlocal apiaries in other states.
Cerniglia says what makes his product different from others is that his honey is traceable to the hive from where it was harvested.
"Our labels provide the harvest date, the Queen name of the honey producing bee colony and the jar number," he said. "We believe it’s important for people to be aware of where their food comes from so we use this as an opportunity to hopefully inspire people to think about that when they read the variables that are handwritten on our label."
As for where you can buy his products, he and his team are working on adding an online store to their website (go to www.beekindfarms.com/).
BeeKind, a newly registered vendor with Down to Earth Markets, will also be at the Rye farmers market next month and at other Down to Earth markets starting in Spring, 2016. In addition, a host of Greenwich retail locations are starting to ask about carrying it. (Being a vendor at the recent Greenwich WINE + FOOD Festival for the second year in a row also helped stir local interest.)
Along with selling and spreading the BeeKind love, Cerniglia is all about educating consumers about the benefits of using raw honey bee products which include Propolis, Royal Jelly and yes, Bee Venom.
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