Tara Chapman found a beekeeping class on Groupon while trying to figure out what she wanted to do next. She went with a friend, came home fascinated by bees, and started two hives in an Austin backyard. At the same time, she was looking for a way out of a government career that had taken her into a very different world.
Tara tells Tab about joining the CIA after college and spending much of the following decade focused on Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iraq. Returning to Texas gave her a place she wanted to live, along with room to ask what she wanted her working life to become. Interviews with tech companies helped clarify how much she wanted to make something of her own.
The bees gave that curiosity a direction. She learned that flowers could produce honey with different flavors and began imagining hives in different Austin neighborhoods, each offering a taste of the place around it. That idea became Two Hives Honey.
She describes the practical side of making the change, too. She had savings and a career she believed she could return to. Before leaving her job, she arranged work with a bee breeder in East Texas so she could learn more of the trade. It meant months of demanding physical work, plenty of stings, and experience she knew a few backyard hives had not yet given her.
Tab follows her story into the surprising reactions from friends, the decisions involved in starting a business, and the work of caring for a colony. Tara shares how education grew into a central part of Two Hives, from tours and tastings to teaching new beekeepers. She also explains why learning to produce food can change the way someone values it.
She still remembers her first honey harvest and how carefully she decided who would receive some. After watching the work that went into it, each jar felt precious. Years later, she describes hovering while her team bottles honey, watching the drips and wanting every ounce to make it into the jar.
