FEATURES |beekeeper
sweet as
TEXT AND PHOTOS BY CHARLOTTE BLOM
B Billie Jean Crosby greeted me at the front door
in her striped blue T-shirt and jeans shorts and
stepped aside to invite me into the living room.
Serenading me with a howl from the top of their
brown leather couch was a little blonde dog,
Angel. Beside her stood the jovial 78-year-old
beekeeper, Grady “Bud” Crosby. Billie Jean and
Bud are the dynamic duo behind “B&B” Bee
Farm, based out of Petal.
At their kitchen counter they recounted sev-
eral stories of how they came into beekeeping,
all the places they’ve lived before settling into
retirement at their 2-acre property, various sce-
narios of their mailboxes’ demise (it had just
been knocked over for the 17th time the day
before), and about all four of their dogs, includ-
ing 3-legged dog, Lucky, and their blind dog,
Bear. Bud and Billie Jean, married for 57 years,
have an easy rapport with one another, often
making witty plays on words as Billie Jean
affixed labels on a couple of jars of honey and a
jar of bee pollen, which she takes religiously.
“Oh, she won’t go a day without it,” said
Bud.
Billie Jean explained that bee pollen (traces of
which are found in honey) is good for allergies,
arthritis and that some people even consume it,
by the spoonful, for energy, although in some
users, it might aggravate some allergies. But in
20 a cc e n t s o u t h m i s s i s s i p p i
HONEY Petal beekeepers buzz about
honey’s healing powers
order to get the benefits from it, especially the
anti-allergenic effects, Bud specified, it has to be
locally-produced honey.
“Don’t be foolish enough to go buy honey
from a health food store from California,” Bud
warned. Honey, they also informed me, has anti-
bacterial properties, one time healing a stubborn-
ly inflamed dog scratch on Billie Jean’s arm.
The Crosbys hadn’t actually meant to get into
beekeeping. After Bud retired 23 years ago from
United Gas Pipeline, the couple intended to
spend more time tending to the earth and their
garden, as well as the blueberries, bananas, mus-
cadines, Bradford pear trees and peach trees all
growing in their back yard. Each summer, adver-
tised only by a roadside sign, blueberry picking
also brings the Crosbys “hundreds of gallons”
worth of business.
Bud decided to start one honey bee hive in
order to help pollinate their plants. But soon the
sole hive was attracting more swarms, and since
a hive can only have one queen, “just like
women,” Bud joked, he had to get more. By the
end of the first year, the Crosbys were up to five
hives. After 22 years, “B&B” Bee Farm expanded
to more than 20 hives at several locations,
including Lumberton.
As the couple demonstrated the process of
extracting honey, recounted facts about the bees’
intricate organizational and social
order, and beekeeping, Bud’s amaze-
ment seemed fresh, even after two
decades of experience. “They are
absolutely fascinating,” he said. “It
boggles my mind … They are undoubt-
edly the greatest little insect the good
Lord ever made. And I’ve never heard
of an atheist beekeeper.”

For more information on B&B

Bee Farm, call (601) 584-8433.
Honey is sold at the following
locations: Stick’s Bar B Q,
Corner Market in Hattiesburg’s
University Mall and Petal,
Ramey’s in Purvis, Petal
Discount Grocery, Chuck Wagon
in Runnelstown and Cuevas Fish
House in Lumberton.
Pollen jars are sold at Vitamins
Plus in Hattiesburg.