A post-military career and new-found passion yield sweet results for Jim Hartman, the founder of Secret Garden Bees, a small Cumberland County producer of premium-quality raw honey and jellies. The family- and veteran-owned business recently won the North Carolina Small Farmer of the Year honor for 2024 as a co-recipient with Brown Family Farms in Warren County. This year marks the first time in the award's history that two farms were named.
Hartman's journey is not just about personal success, but also about making a difference in the lives of others. His drive for success and his desire to serve others, including veterans, future farmers, consumers and the community, guide growth at Secret Garden Bees. The budding business owner shared this vision in his North Carolina A&T Cooperative Extension award-acceptance speech.
"I’m actually excited to share this award this year because I am 100% convinced that there's enough success to go around for everybody, and everybody can be a winner," Hartman said. "This (award) is indicative of that."
Secret Garden Bees has grown from a solo-managed, two-hive hobby farm to a thriving enterprise with 65 hives on a site and at several host farms — a staggering 650,000 bees producing 3,000 pounds of honey harvested bi-annually. Today, Hartman's signature labels — raw clover honey and raw wildflower honey — are distributed to 170 stores across 20 states, notably every Fresh Market grocer in the nation. Smaller retail locations include Cape Fear Botanical Garden, Altman's Grocery Barn in Godwin and a few Harnett and Moore County places. The bee-friendly business also sets up shop at the Fayetteville Dogwood Festival each spring, among other festivities in the Cape Fear region, and sells its wares online.
It was 2014 when Hartman, his wife Christi and their young son and daughter moved from Fayetteville to a 22-acre farm in Linden. The disabled veteran began beekeeping for agri-therapy, using the hobby to manage the symptoms of post-traumatic stress syndrome and a traumatic brain injury — consequences from 10 years in the U.S. Army as an explosive ordnance disposal officer, including two tours of duty in Iraq. After leaving the military, Hartman worked as a high-level project manager for a defense corporation for a few years and farmed on the side. Once catching the beekeeping buzz, Hartman saw health improvements and scaling possibilities.
"I found it is super, super good for me from a mental health standpoint, and something that you have to be very, very calm with the bees, very focused. And if you're not, they give you feedback. And so, if you force yourself to do these things, the bees become so much easier to work with, and that also calms your mind. And that has been very beneficial to me," the veteran explained.
From the 2020 seedling start of hand bottling honey in the family kitchen to an automated system with a growing number of employees, Hartman and Secret Garden Bees have blossomed in their four short years. Originally from rural Missouri, Hartman grew up around corn and wheat fields and worked on local farms as a youth. He is proud to be the first honey farmer in North Carolina to be recognized at the state level, the most recent accolade among the farm's growing distinctions.
Secret Garden Bees, a name that represents the "hidden garden" environment the Hartman created for his bees, complete with three acres of wildflowers plus fruit and nut trees, berries and grapes, poultry and waterfowl, swampland, pondlife and the mighty Cape Fear River as a backdoor neighbor, is an award-winning label. In 2022, the honey won first-place blue ribbons in its inaugural competition at the Cumberland County Agricultural Fair and then again in 2023. Ditto that for Secret Garden Bee's jellies, Christi Hartman's specialties, available in pear, muscadine, jalapeno muscadine and jalapeno pear. The honey is all-natural, never overheated and filtered appropriately to accent its natural goodness. Likewise, the jellies are made with fresh fruits grown on the farm and local peppers — a bouquet of flavors in every jar. Distinctive glass bottles and jars with pretty, floral product labels and a cork topper for the honey that makes use a snap help set this boutique business apart, revealing attention to detail from the inside out.
In 2023, as one of the 10 semi-finalists in the Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge, Secret Garden Bees, the People's Choice Award winner, took home a $10,000 prize. Now in its 10th year, the Challenge stands out as the first national business competition focused exclusively on rural entrepreneurs launching agriculture and food-related businesses. Secret Garden Bees is also a two-time recipient of The NC Sustainable Business Council's Sustainable Business Award for its use of solar panels, an 85% step toward "the farm's goal of reaching net zero energy consumption here on our farming operation," Hartman said.
Secret Garden Bees has tapped into numerous veteran and civilian resources for equipment, funding and even its workforce, including the Veteran Small Business Enhancement Act, USDA Value-Added Producer Grants, NCWorks and the Department of Commerce's work extension program — an apprenticeship program that will bring two high schoolers and two veterans to work on the farm for 12 weeks each. While the youth component is for the summer, veterans will rotate for the year.
"One of the things we do here on this farm that we are committed to is being a place where we train veterans to enter agriculture. We've partnered with the county's cooperative extension Soldiers to Agriculture program, which teaches transitioning veterans how to enter farming," Hartman stated.
The popular Secret Garden Bees' products are easier now to pick up than ever before since the Hartmans added a self-serve store for their honey, jellies and eggs at their farmstead at 6930 Moray Street in Linden. Customers can pay via Zelle, CashApp, Venmo, or the provided cash box. Still, the owner, a soldier-turned-farmer, has a business model about much more than just honey.
"Everybody can win,” Hartman concluded. “If you just put it together into a package, you can do something where everybody wins. You know, youth will get trained, more people will enter agriculture, and we will stimulate the economy by giving more people jobs and preparing them in a hands-on, practical way to enter farming. And then it helps my farm grow by having extra hands on board. It's a win for everyone."
Learn more at https://secretgardenbees.com/.

(Photo: Jim Hartman, the found of Secret Garden Bees, mans his vendor booth at a farmers market. Photos courtesy of Secret Garden Bees Facebook page)