Welcome! We are tickled that you’ve stumbled across our little blog. We are the Glacier County Honey Company, Greg and Courtney Fullerton, a pair of commercial beekeepers who live on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, just south of Canada, and just east of Glacier National Park. As Emmylou Harris and Mark Knopfler sing, This Is Us:
And this is Roy Rogers, our puppy dawg:
On this blog, Courtney gets to pretend she’s still an English/creative writing major at the University of Georgia – some days, she writes. Others, she uploads pictures. Occasionally, she makes a public service announcement. But, generally speaking, whatever she posts about is in some way related to the Glacier County Honey Company … even if that whatever is a picture from 1987 of Greg/Courtney + their siblings. After all, we cannot escape our raisin’, and the way Greg and Courtney were raised impacts the Glacier County Honey Company every day, in every way.
If you read this blog regularly, you’ll eventually end up reading about bees, beekeeping, honey, pollination, and all things related to Apis mellifera. And of course, we’ll encourage you to buy the best honey you’ve never tasted from us, along with gorgeous beeswax candles and ornaments. But you’ll also read about bee embroidered sheets, Stila lip gloss, grizzly bears, pickup trucks, quiet mornings, rockin’ Saturday nights, and grief. Courtney’s youngest brother, Howard, died on August 27, 2004, and she considers blogging about him to be not only cheaper than therapy, but also a beautiful way to talk about him in an everyday-sort-of-way.
If you haven’t read it before, here’s the Glacier County Honey Company’s story:
Greg Fullerton is a native of Glacier County, Montana, and a second generation beekeeper. In the early 1970′s, Greg’s dad, Bob Fullerton, began keeping bees in the Dakotas and later near Great Falls, Montana. Eventually, Bob founded what is now the Chief Mountain Honey Company, on the edge of Glacier National Park, just north of Babb, Montana, and just south of the Canadian border. Greg grew up helping his family keep bees, extract and sell honey, and make beeswax candles and ornaments.
After graduating from Cardston H.S. in Alberta, Canada, Greg enrolled in Montana State University to major in Wildlife Biology, though he continued to spend time helping his dad with the bees. Greg rejoined his dad as a beekeeper with Chief Mountain Honey and became interested in the pollination aspect of beekeeping. Greg founded Chief Mountain Pollination and began taking the Chief Mountain bees to the Sacramento Valley, in California, to pollinate the almond orchards. Greg worked for Steve E. Park Apiaries while in California and continues to do so today, generally from January through April of each year.
Courtney Stone Fullerton is a native of southwest Virginia. She grew up on a small farm on the Virginia-North Carolina border and comes from a long line of lawyers, farmers, and fabulous cooks. Courtney received her B.A. in English from the University of Georgia, Athens, and her law degree from the Appalachian School of Law in Grundy, Virginia. Beginning when she was nine years old, Courtney traveled to Glacier National Park each summer. She, like the rest of her family, fell in love with the area. When Courtney was in college, she began spending each summer working near Babb, and moved to Montana directly after college graduation. Not long afterwards, Courtney’s family bought the remnants of the old Bar X 6 Ranch near Babb. They renamed it Hillhouse, after Courtney’s youngest brother, Howard Hillhouse Stone, who passed away in 2004.
In 2006, Greg became friends with Courtney’s brother, Sanford, who was living at Hillhouse. At an August 2007 party at Hillhouse, Greg was introduced to Courtney, who was practicing law in Missoula at the time. Not long after their meeting, Greg began finding many reasons to drive through Missoula and visit with Courtney, just as Courtney began finding many reasons to drive to Babb. It didn’t take Greg and Courtney too long to decide that they were “meant to bee.”
Greg and Courtney opened the Glacier County Honey Company on June 1, 2009. They were married on July 25, 2009, at Hillhouse, and went to work extracting honey approximately 36 hours after they exchanged vows. During their “honeymoon,” they extracted about 125,000 pounds of honey! In 2010, the pair designed and built their honey house, an 80 x 120′ warehouse for extracting honey, bottling honey, and making beeswax products. They built an apartment in the honey house, too, and moved into their “warehome” shortly before Christmas.
In May 2011, Greg and Courtney welcomed Maggie Rose, their first child, who arrived the same day that the bees returned home from California. They expect another beekeeper in June 2013, an equally convenient time of the year for young beekeepers to bee born. Never a dull moment at Glacier County Honey!
2010. Glacier County Honey Company. All Rights Reserved.
April 24, 2010 at 8:32 pm
[...] About Glacier County Honey Company [...]
September 23, 2010 at 5:18 pm
So glad I found your blog & your company. I’ll try to get over there & buy some honey before winter shuts us down in earnest – but shucks, this is Montana. Snow doesn’t shut things down. Not for long, anyway.
Carol (CarolBMTbooks)
September 27, 2010 at 9:02 pm
Carol,
I’m tickled you found our blog! Let me know if I can bring some honey over to your side of the mountains – would love to meet you.
Courtney
December 4, 2010 at 11:56 pm
Hi, I was very excited to find your blog. I’m a Cut Bank resident (moved here about a year and a half ago to farm with my relatives after college). I freelance for Chukar Cherries (a Washington chocolate company and write their blog (www.thecherrypeople.com). Anyway, I enjoy your honey mucho. Yay for small businesses in Montana!
Beth
December 5, 2010 at 1:15 pm
Yay for small Montana businesses, indeed! I will definitely check out the Chukar Cherries blog. Thanks for reading, Beth. It’s nice to “meet” some local folks on the web.
August 9, 2011 at 9:13 am
Hi, I stumbled upon your blog while looking up photos of Glacier. I love all of your blogs about the park. How lucky you are to live so close to one of my “happy places”. I’m from Michigan but have been visiting Glacier since I was a kid.
Last year, I brought my boyfriend there for the first time. Now he’s in love with the park as well. His grandfather was a bee keeper and he’s been tickering with the idea himself. Now I know we’ll have to stop by and pick up some of your honey while we’re out there. I’m hoping to make it back out next year. In the meantime – I’ll just enjoy reading your blog and checking out your pics!
Melanie from Michigan
August 9, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Melanie, thanks so much for reading, and for introducing yourself! You and the boyfriend should get your own hive – can’t have too many beekeepers out there. See you on the internets!
December 2, 2011 at 10:47 am
Your pup is so cute! Pretty sure I am ordering the Worker Bee Gift Basket for my sis in Oregon. Great site! I love our local honey here in South Dakota, and excited to share yours with my sister.
December 6, 2011 at 9:43 am
Thanks so much for the comment, and the business! We’re pretty fond of that pup, too.
February 2, 2012 at 10:13 am
[...] About [...]
May 3, 2012 at 6:52 am
I stumbled across your blog looking for cowboy boot molds and saw your candles. I’m from Mississippi- my husband is a pastor&beekeeper and I’m a nurse and cake decorator. Love your blog and will “bee” back to visit soon.
May 8, 2012 at 11:19 am
Thanks so much for stopping by! We are big Ole Miss fans!
June 11, 2012 at 2:49 pm
Courtney, Your mom was my “little sister” in the Phi Mu Fraternity at UGA. We have re-connected through facebook, and I’m looking forward to following you on your blog. Gay Hattaway Morgan
June 12, 2012 at 7:21 am
Gay,
So nice to “meet” you! Thanks so much for reading.
July 11, 2012 at 1:14 pm
I´m an 15 years old student from Germany and an enthusiastic beekeeper. The pictures of beehives in the foreground and glaciar landscape in the background are incredible beautiful! I’m very glad that i found your blog!
Konrad
July 11, 2012 at 5:16 pm
Thanks so much for the kind comment, Konrad. Good luck with your beekeeping!
January 4, 2013 at 10:44 am
I’m so happy to have found this blog! I worked at the Park Cafe for four summers (08-11). I must have eaten gallons of Chief Mtn honey while working there. I love Glacier and I love Babb. Its wonderful to see two young people fall in love with the place and make their home there. What a dream come true!
January 12, 2013 at 10:15 am
What a sweet comment, in more ways than one! We’re so glad you found us – I love connecting with other valley employees – especially ones that love our honey. Come by and see us next time you come to visit.
April 13, 2013 at 6:22 am
As a fellow beekeeper from Ohio, it is fun and interesting to read about others’ experiences around the country and world. You live in a beautiful place. We are enjoying our third year as beekeepers and are amazed at these wonderfully created beings!