The Apiaries

Our property is home to approximately 8+ million honeybees which live among our 8 apiaries. Busy at work from the first blooms in late winter until the last buckwheat cover crop blossoms in summer, these pollinators are vital to the health of the farm, increasing harvest yields on a range of crops. They also produce our award-winning honey, which was recognized with the Good Food Award for Best Honey-Southeast—considered the top honor in the country for craft producers and farmers—three times. We only harvest the honey after two seasons of flavor profiles have been captured. It’s worth the wait. Working to reverse the trend of bee decline, Pollination Program Manager Jay Williams and his team share their love and knowledge of these invaluable creatures with guests, providing a look inside a honeybee hive and revealing the essential role honeybees play on the farm.

Segmentation of the Land

A railroad once ran through this farm, and the creeks were channelized for efficiency of crossings and track maintenance. Williamson County’s limestone karst is blessed with an abundance of natural springs, and water is a blessing until it becomes a curse. Nature creates rambling creeks with meanders and pools, ripples and runs. Channelized ditches lose their flow, and dry up until the next major rain forces the water from the banks and out into the fields, where the soil is further eroded. Heavy runoff from the hills can cause massive damage.

Dr. Wayne Dorband is a nationally renowned hydrology and environmental risk manager out of the Denver area, which is flash flood country. He recognized a dream scenario at Southall, where water could not only be directed down from the ridges, but also captured and redistributed in a sophisticated, yet ecologically sound, way. He also saw an opportunity to restore Polk Creek and its tributary that transect the property in a way that draws even more water from the underground springs, ensuring year-round flow and enhancing the natural diversity for both beauty and function.

“Streams naturally meander according to the topography, the soils they’re encountering, the slope of the banks,” Dorband says. “That is, until they’re modified. We believe that by managing the water, they will return to their natural courses, creating more water features that will increase ecological diversity and more ways for guests to interact with the stream, whether that’s wading or fishing or just enjoying the beauty.”

Dorband says that creeks respond to abuse by going underground – and the creeks at Southall were no exception. According to the historical record and conversations with neighbors, both Polk Creek and its tributary here have always dried up after the spring rains. Yet they run year-round now, thanks to the careful planning and implementation.