About Cache Valley Bee Supply

We're the Scholes family, and we've been keeping bees in Cache Valley since 2011. What started as a small operation in Smithfield turned into a bricks-and-mortar shop in Hyrum in 2015, and these days runs as the website you're reading right now.

The short version: we used to sell you a smoker out of a garage. Now we help you choose one online, and we tell you which one we'd actually buy ourselves.

Our shop in Hyrum, Utah, where the family business ran from 2015 onward.

Who's behind the site

The site is run by the next generation of the family, grown up around the supply business, working with Dad on inspections, helping customers in the shop, and spending more weekends than I can count assembling frames in the kitchen.

I've been around this stuff long enough to know which gear actually holds up after a Cache Valley winter and which gear ends up in the back of the shed.

From a local shop to online recommendations

The Hyrum shop served Cache Valley for years, but the math on a small physical store stocking everything a beekeeper might need stopped working. Either we keep a Cache Valley garage full of gear that turns over slowly, or we focus on what we're actually good at: helping new beekeepers in the valley pick the right equipment without getting fleeced by a confusing online catalog.

We picked the second one. The site you're on today is what came out of that decision.

Honest about the affiliate model

We earn a small commission when you buy through the Amazon links on this site. That's how the site stays free and how we have time to keep updating the gear guides each year. We only recommend things we'd buy for our own hives, and you'll see us flag the cheap kits that leave beginners short, even when those kits would pay us a higher commission.

Full affiliate disclosure in the footer.

This spring we're running hives split from Dad's yard, the same Cache Valley genetics that have wintered here since the early days of the shop. We're documenting the season in the open: every inspection, every mistake, every weird thing the bees do at 4,500 feet.

Follow along in our First Season 2026 series. If you're starting your own hives this year, you'll see exactly what shows up in ours.

We've stayed plugged into the local beekeeping community for years: the people who show up to swarm calls, the folks teaching at the county classes, the neighbors who trade frames in the spring. Cache Valley beekeeping is a small world, and we like it that way.

Want to get in touch?

You can find us on Facebook.