About Our Apiarists (Saskatchewan Beekeepers)
Meet Stella Sehn, Founder and Innovator
It’s been a busy few years for me raising three young children at home, reuniting with four amazing siblings I didn’t even know I had, and starting Sweet Pure Honey Bee Farm from scratch with my partner, Sheldon.
Our Canadian No. 1 Raw White Honey, Beeswax Candles and Sweet Pure Honey lip balms get their heady floral notes from the abundance of healthy crops and wildflowers surrounding the prairies farm in Porcupine Plains, Saskatchewan where we live and work.
The overwhelmingly positive response to our hand crafted, handmade, organic products is beyond thrilling, and makes all the highs and lows, the risk-taking and the hard work worthwhile.
I’m not trying to be a supermom; I’m trying to be the most loving, nurturing mom I can, and a mom my kids can be proud of.
Having struggled with weight issues for years, I’ve made many gradual lifestyle changes. Eating mainly whole foods keeps our whole family healthy and has really helped me shed the pounds. Our honey has sweetened that whole process – literally!
As our eldest children transition to regular school, I’m devoting more time to marketing and developing Sweet Pure Honey. I want our kids to see that it’s possible to run a business with values – respect for employees and the environment – that provides customers with really special products and sustains our family.
As this exciting venture takes off, we continue to build strong bonds with one another in our home and make time for being together as a family, sharing meals and touching base with each other. Sheldon and I want our children to see and experience the world first-hand: to live by the rhythm of the seasons in Porcupine Plain and yet to know the thrills of big-city festivals and culture. Beyond our little family unit, I believe that we are all inter-connected, and that we need to look out for one another to thrive as human beings.
I invite you to join us on our adventures in beekeeping. Visit our BLOG to learn more about what's new. Keep in touch and keep REACHING out! Stella Sehn
Meet Sheldon Hill, Beekeeper
I grew up in Porcupine Plain, Saskatchewan on a mixed farm – my parents were grain farmers and raised pigs and free-range chickens. Like any farm kid, as soon as I could touch the accelerator and look over the steering wheel of a tractor, I was out in the fields lending a hand.
I left for college at 19 to study art and graphic design (painting is still a passion), and took a summer job beekeeping for a childhood friend’s dad to pay the bills. Apiculture turned out to be my calling: I enjoy being in nature and the bees are fascinating creatures in the way they organize themselves and make collective decisions for the good of the hive. We still don’t fully understand why they do some of the things they do. It is intriguing being a part of that culture of beekeeping, a culture that is thousands of years old.
The driving force behind everything I do is family. Raising our three children, Marley, Sierra and Lauren, with Stella, my amazing partner of fifteen years, is what I am most proud of. There have been some sacrifices – leaving the farm for weeks at a time the past few winters to work in Alberta so we could finance Sweet Pure Honey. I’m excited about being around twelve months a year to be fully involved in raising our kids, to coach hockey in our community and to paint during the winter… a quiet time for us beekeepers.
Enjoy our delicious Canada No. 1 Raw White Honey and Natural beeswax products, knowing all the work and care that has gone into them on the part of our miraculous bees, our dedicated community partners and of course Stella and me.
