Our Story

About GJB

Good Job Bees! Honey House is a family owned, artisan honey business. We produce small batch, pure, raw Hawaiian honey.  Our beeyards are located on the Big Island in both mauka (mountain) and makai (ocean) locations.  From kiawe honey to delicious multi-floral honey, we are pleased to bring you our fine-crystallized honeys that are everthing the Bees intended them to be.

Our Name

“Good Job Bees! Honey House”. Not a Hawaii name, so where did it come from? Well, its one of those things. It all started because David likes to talk to the bees…. When he goes through the hives to check the bees, there can be quite a difference from hive to hive. Whenever he opened the lid of a hive that was booming and bees were everywhere, he would always tell them “Good Job Bees!” thinking everybody needs a little positive encouragement when they’re doing something good, the bees included. As it turns out, with the state of bees in our world today, we think they can use all the encouragement they can get!

This is us in a nut shell

Let us introduce you to David and Carole Davenport, the owners of Good Job Bees! Honey House. They are both transplants to Hawaii; Carole form Vermont 25 + years ago and David from California more than 35 years ago. How time flies… How did they get into bees? It all started around 2006 when a friend of David’s who was a beekeeper, asked if he could put a couple of hives on their property to see how they would do. They of course said yes and thought it was kind of cool to have bees on property.

David watched the bees and would empty a pollen trap that was on one of the hives into a jar for the beekeeper to see what kind of pollen was coming in. He spent many hours just sitting and watching the bees as they went about their business. A few months passed and it came time to move the bees to another location. When the bees left, David missed them, so he asked his friend if he would help them get a hive of their own.

David did some work in trade and they got their first hive. The bees did well and they eventually had two hives. They got a little honey here and there and would send it to family and friends. Beekeeping was fairly easy back then and the bees for the most part maintained themselves. When the Varroa mite, followed by the small hive beetle, came to Hawaii, it challenged everything and they lost their hives. Life was in transition for them, so they didn’t have bees for a couple of years after the loss. When the time came again that they could get some bees, David traded some work for another hive. It was a rainy year in the usually arid place they live and there was an abundance of rain. The bees were loving life and David was able to make some splits and soon had four hives. As the hives increased over the years, so did David’s knowledge as a beekeeper. Every day is a continuing education. He is also blessed to have friends that are beekeepers who are willing to offer their knowledge.

Where there are more hives there is more honey. So much honey that they couldn’t just keep giving it all away. They decided to start selling it at a local farmers market in Waimea, and have been slowly working their way into retail. They decided when they started this bee adventure that they wanted to maintain the integrity of the honey the bees produce by not filtering or heating it, and not using any harsh chemicals in or around the hives. Their goal is to bring you, the customers, as close to the hive as they can with the honey in their jars. As an added step, they were “Certified Naturally Grown”, and they are proud to be part of the CNG family. In 2021 they also got Certified Organic and continue under both certifications….

Our Commitment

As we continue to grow, we keep our original goals of bringing our customers the highest quallity honey we are able.  Our bees are never fed because they are in places that produce all the food they need, and that provide extra for us. We don’t use any harsh chemicals in or around our hives.  Our honeys are all pure, raw and unfiltered, keeping them the way they are intended to bee. This has alway been our way of beekeeping and will continue to be whether we are certified by someone or not.