Couple turns passion for pollinators into thriving honey business

NEW PORT RICHEY, Fla. - From beehives to spicy honey, Robert and Carleigh Patterson are enchanted by the world of honeybees. They bought their first beehive in Jacksonville in 2017 and slowly turned their passion for pollinators into a thriving business called The Honey Couple.

"After we collected our first honey harvest, we decided, we have a whole bunch of honey, how are we ever going to eat all this? And we started and giving it away to friends and family," Carleigh Patterson remarked.

The Honey Couple began creating gourmet honey, like spicy honey, which really took off with pizzerias and wing houses.

"Then we found people who wanted different flavors of honey so we decided to try and infuse it with other types of ingredients like lavender, lemon, garlic, and bourbon and people really loved it" Carleigh shared.

READ Clearwater garden has beekeepers buzzing about free place to keep hives, harvest honey

They say the most important thing to them is quality. They like to have all-natural ingredients in their infused honey and don’t use extracts or vinegar.

The Pattersons have 130 beehives now.

"This is a lot of work and we’re going to have to work extra hard so we can quit our day jobs, so we can do this full time because this is what we really love," Carleigh added.

The Honey Couple also helped Nona Slice in Safety Harbor win a national Award with their El Diablo pizza featuring their spicy honey.

LINK: For more information about The Honey Couple, visit www.thehoneycouple.com.

MORE GOOD NEWS: Download the free FOX 13 News app for more #WeLiveHere stories like this