Inside the recently expanded Honey House on Sierra Malnove’s acreage in the western reaches of Palm Beach Gardens, local beekeepers swarm—ready to learn more about hive tending and honey harvesting as well as processing, packaging, and marketing of honey-based products that Malnove preaches about like it’s a religion.
Malnove owns and operates Sierra’s Bees, a private beekeeping service. She—along with Al Salopek, her partner in both life and business—are heavily involved in the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association (PBCBA). On this warm Saturday afternoon, they’ve invited the association’s members to the Honey House to show off the expansion and improvements to the kosher-certified commercial food kitchen accented with bee-inspired charm.
“What I have is very unique,” Malnove explains, noting that there are a few large-scale beekeeping operations in Palm Beach County and a couple of honey-packers—but very few businesses that do both. That’s where Malnove comes in. “I’m a full-time beekeeper, and I’m a honey packer of my own honey and other people’s honey.”
Although she has run Sierra’s Bees for a dozen years now, Malnove got her start as a hobbyist—a stay-at-home mom to three
kids. She says she took “the scenic route” to beekeeping.
“I really wanted chickens,” she says, laughing. City ordinances put an end to that ambition, but sparked the idea that would eventually become her life’s work. “I found out that it was legal in Florida to keep bees [on residential property] because of our Right to Farm Act.”
She had a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of California San Diego, but no real-world experience in agricultural endeavors. But that didn’t hold her back. Soon, Malnove established her first hive and “completely fell in love with bees.”
“I started off as a backyard beekeeper, keeping a hive or four,” she recalls. “Then I was going through a divorce and needed to go back to work.”
She joined the PBCBA to expand her beekeeping knowledge. In the process, she got to know Salopek, a past president of the PBCBA and other beekeepers associations, who specializes in relocating hives. When Salopek gave a talk to the garden club at Broken Sound in Boca Raton, one of the members said she thought it would be wonderful if the club could have its own hives.
“He said, ‘Oh, I don’t do that, but I know this lady who would probably do it for you,’” Malnove recalls. “Broken Sound became my first private client.”
Twelve years later, Malnove’s hive count stands at 52—stretching from Vero Beach to Miami. Her client list includes Frenchman’s Reserve, Trump National Golf Club, the Club at Admirals Cove, the Loxahatchee Club, Jupiter Hills, Ballen Isles, PGA National, Mirasol, Eastpointe Country Club, Hobe Sound Golf Club, North Palm Beach Country Club, Mariner Sands Country Club, and Atlantic Fields Country Club—as well as resorts and private, high-profile residential customers.
But Sierra’s Bees is about more than just maintaining hives. “We are constantly looking for new ideas,” says Malnove who advises on landscape choices to support pollinators and hive placement for guest and worker safety. She works with chefs and mixologists to incorporate honey into recipes, and even dreams up new ways to process and package honey to be offered for sale or as gifts in the club or resort’s spa and shops. She also helps her clients obtain certifications from organizations like Audubon International.
“In order to be Audubon certified, you have to do a new project every two to three years to show that you’re continuing your support of the environment,” she says. In return, the environment provides honey with a flavor profile that’s completely unique to your location. “Even when [clubs] are only a couple of miles apart, everyone’s honey is just a little bit different because of their own microclimate,” Malnove explains. Honey flavors change seasonally as different species of plants flower and bloom throughout the year.
Back at the Honey House, Malnove processes honey harvests for her clients as well as local small-scale beekeepers. One machine extracts honey from hive frames, another bottles it, and a third prints labels.
In 2020, while attending the International Beekeepers Conference in Montreal, Malnove discovered a piece of equipment that solves a common problem with many Florida honey varieties, which tend to crystallize into a texture some consumers find less appealing. The machine alters this crystal structure, creating a smooth, spreadable product.
Inspired by the discovery, Malnove and Salopek launched the Palm Beach Creamed Honey Company, offering creamed
honey and Bee10 Coffee & Hot Chocolate—a honey-infused blend that transforms into a sweet beverage by adding hot water. Both products are available online and at select Fresh Market locations.
But for Malnove, the business has always been about more than honey—it’s about helping people better understand the vital role honeybees play in our lives.
“Beekeeping connects people to the environment,” she says. “It also connects people to their community in a way they’ve never been connected before.”
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