As a third generation Marine, John P. Szczepanowski has made it his mission to help veterans transitioning back into everyday life through services and opportunities offered at Warrior Ranch 1775.
After moving from California during the pandemic, John had a goal to reopen his yoga studio that he had built on the west coast to Texas, but a connection from a friend came with a new opportunity — beekeeping.
“After my friend had told me she met a beekeeper, I instantly reached out to inquire about his services and learn more about what he does,” John says. “He invited me up to his place and I just became fascinated with bees and how they operated. After spending a few days helping, I was sent home with my own hive to start to learn the ins-and-outs.”
Though bees provide most of their nourishment themselves, it is not without some help from humans that they can continue to thrive as they produce enough honey for themselves to sustain throughout their active times and dearth where they are no longer producing and rather waiting for winter to pass, John says. Weekly, he provides extra nourishment through bee feed, which helps the bees stay active as they work to help pollinate the area around the ranch.
“In addition to the honey the bees produce, I will create bee feed once or twice a week that will help give them the extra push and keep them healthy during months where they are living off of their supply,” John says. “When you put out the feed, the bees will come right up and enjoy it.”
Periodically John will harvest the hives where he will take the excess honey that the bees have produced and will take that to make products from locally harvested honey.
“Bees are overproducers so they always make more than what they will need and that’s where we get the fresh honey. In my last harvest, we got over 2,000 pounds of honey that we can now use to create our product,” John says. “We, of course, offer Real Texas Honey that is harvested and processed here or in North Texas by my mentor, but we also have adapted to create new products that are our own.”
With honey harvest on the farm, John says the ranch offers a variety of products for sale including the Real Texas Honey as well as Bee Pollen and Creamed Honey in a variety of flavors like blueberry, lemon, chocolate mint and crunchy peanut. Proceeds from the honey sold are used to help support other veteran nonprofits in the Brazos Valley.
“We started making the cream honey to offer something new and different,” John says. “We produce it all ourselves in North Texas and have experimented with a number of flavors from sweet to more savory. It can be used in a number of ways to include using it to cook and also to pair with other foods or it can even be enjoyed alone.”
As he learned more and more about beekeeping, John’s services quickly expanded with offering ways to save bees across the area through bee removal. Once removed from where they were displaced, John takes the bees back to his land and helps establish a hive, where the bees can work to rebuild their home.
“As a beekeeper, you have to come up with a way to diversify yourself,” John says. “Our bee removal services offer a way for you to get rid of bees, which may be causing a disturbance at your home or business, and provide us a way to relocate the bees to a safer location and provide them with the tools they need to be successful in continuing their operations.”
As a veteran, beekeeping is actually quite therapeutic for John and many others like himself. Studies show that the positive rush of adrenaline, which is produced in the body when working with bees, can help to reduce anxiety and combat the effects of PTSD.
The ranch still offers John’s original yoga program, which hosts class every Saturday morning at The Hive, located on the ranch. The program includes one hour of Hatha Yoga guided by
instructors followed by 30 minutes of meditation. Classes begin at 8:30 a.m. and spots can be reserved online for pricings ranging from $14 to $18.
Veterans interested in becoming instructors can become certified for free through the warrior-yoga. org program, which will help them obtain their certification and John says many will work as employees at the yoga studio on the ranch before moving onto other opportunities. Veterans also have the opportunity to learn beekeeping and removal to help with operations.
“We have a number of opportunities for veterans to get involved with Warrior Ranch 1775. We have added arms to the business to set us apart — we offer bee removal services and, of course, beekeeping here at the ranch, yoga instruction as well as land clearing work,” John says. “Most veterans, if not all, are used to working in hot conditions and their adaptability and responsibility level is one that is impeccable.”
Warrior Ranch 1775 is located just a few minutes southeast of College Station. The organization primarily focuses on providing a safe place for veterans to grow and transition back into society. To learn more about the organization or to order local made products, visit warriorranch1775.org.
