Beyoncé is known by her loyal fanbase for a plethora of professional endeavours, from vocal legend to film director. More recently, however, the global megastar is expanding her vast portfolio into the horticultural and beekeeping sectors as she recently announced that she is “building a hemp and a honey farm”.
In a recent cover story with Harper’s Bazaar, Beyoncé revealed how lockdown had inspired her to go “from overindulgence to creating positive rituals drawing from past generations and putting [her] own spin on things.”
“I discovered CBD on my last you, and I’ve experienced its benefits for soreness and inflammation. It helped with my restless nights and the agitation that comes from not being able to fall asleep.”
The singer-songwriter revealed how she had been prioritising her health and mental wellbeing and that of her family – including her nine-year-old Blue Ivy and four-year-old twins Rumi and Sir.
In addition to building a hemp farm, Beyoncé is also planning to expand her bee-keeping hobby into a larger scale operation. The entrepreneur revealed that the family have been keeping bees (no less than 80,000!) in two hives on the roof of their home. The bees reportedly produce hundreds of jars of honey every year.
“I found healing properties in honey that benefit me and my children,” she revealed. “I started the beehives because my daughters, Blue and Rumi, both have terrible allergies, and honey has countless healing properties.”
Although separate ventures, hemp and honey may make an effective pairing – both for the health of people and the environment.
A recent study, published in the Environmental Entomology, found that bees in the USA are now using hemp crops as a critical nutritional resource. The number of hemp farms has exploded in the US following the introduction of the 2018 Farm Bill which legalised hemp cultivation on the federal level.
Beyoncé’s billionaire rapper husband, Jay-Z, also entered the cannabis industry with the launch of his luxury brand Monogram. The company recently appointed its new CEO, Troy Datcher, who became the first Black CEO to lead a major publicly traded cannabis company in the US.
