Beeman Thomas McCall
ONCE YOU HAVE THE LOVE OF BEES
IN YOUR BLOOD… THERE’S NO GOING BACK!
More than 20 years ago, I returned to California from Chicago to work on my family’s bee farm. I learned the craft from my grandfather, Howard Bradshaw, a first-generation beekeeper (or "beek") and my uncle, David Bradshaw, a second-generation beekeeper. But the truth is, my fascination with bees started much earlier. As a child, I visited the family farm every year and was captivated by the incredible life and work of honey bees.
For a while, I searched for my work niche. I studied auto mechanics and worked in construction. When I went back to school for forestry and natural resources, I recognized the simple truth: beekeeping was already in my blood, and there was no going back.​​
​As a small operation, I oversee every step of the process to ensure the highest quality. Instead of running a large commercial outfit, I chose to focus on honest, real, raw honey harvested in small batches from secluded private ranches along California’s Central Coast.
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Each season, when the nectar begins to flow, I use special honey boxes reserved only for honey production (no breeding, pollination, or other uses) to collect that “liquid gold” from the central coast hills. My process is slower than other operations to ensure the quality of the honey is not jeopardized. No heat, no steam, and no separators are used in my extraction process. The result is pure, raw honey, handled with care to preserve its natural flavor and quality.​
Sierra Honey Farm
After years of working with my family's farm, my own relationships grew and my customer support allowed me to start my own company. And so, Sierra Honey Farm began. My goal was simple—to keep a manageable number of hives and focus on producing exceptional honey, straight from the hive to the jar.