LIVING HISTORY
Two generations of Gruwells, Larry, with son, David and daughter, Melissa, offer customers raw honey and beeswax products from their stand in Fort Pierce.
turned into a permanent move and the apiary business grew,
the Gruwell Roller Rink became a part of Florida history and
Gruwell Apiary opened a new chapter.
The original building on the Fort Pierce Buzzz On In
property was a house belonging to the Ulrich family, where
Orville set up equipment in the old kitchen to pull honey
from the hives, Melissa says. Young Larry and his brother,
Bill, would watch TV there while their parents and grandparents
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spent long hours extracting the honey by hand. Larry,
now 66, began doing chores in the family business when he
was in first grade at Fort Pierce Elementary School. He recalls
that “the family would sit on the porch and teach the children
the craft of beekeeping.”
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
With the passing of 80-year-old Carroll Gruwell in 2006, the
four-generation Gruwell family business was handed over
to the care of Larry and Brenda and their children, Melissa
and David, with the addition of Melissa’s fiancé, Brian Fisher.
Fisher is the webmaster who maintains the BuzzzOnIn.com
Web site.
Like bees to honey, the current generations of Gruwells were
drawn back to the business after setting out in very different
directions. “My father, mother and myself graduated from the
University of Florida,” Melissa says. “Larry graduated with a
chemical engineering degree. Brenda graduated with a degree
in liberal arts and sciences. They got married soon after
they both graduated UF. I graduated with a degree in speech
pathology and audiology and a master’s in specific learning
disabilities. Our family bleeds orange and blue. Go Gators!”
Beekeeping leaves little time for anything else, Melissa
says. Watching the University of Florida football games is
about the only hobby they can manage. Bees don’t observe
holidays or weekends, so beekeepers have to keep the same
schedule. “Bees do what they have done for thousands of
years ... pollinate, make honey for food and survive.”
For the Gruwells, that means caring for hives in four counties,
so everybody wears many hats, including the bee veils
PHOTO PROVIDED
The Gruwell Apiary still stands where it began in the 1950s, at 5698 W.
U.S. 1, Fort Pierce.
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