our story

Leonid Zaytsev was in his fourth year of culinary school in Odessa, Ukraine when he built a greenhouse in his backyard to expand his home garden. He placed a beehive inside in hopes of better pollinating the fruits and vegetables and generate more harvest, but the honeybees didn’t react well to their environment. He decided to take an agriculture and beekeeping course to educate himself on backyard beekeeping. A hobby quickly grew into a passion and turned into a big life change. He dropped out of culinary school, attained his commercial beekeeping license, and soaked up all the knowledge that he could on honeybees and beekeeping.

Leonid, along with his wife and two young kids, immigrated to Oregon, USA in April 1989. He got to work right away working as a beekeeper and being mentored by Charles Lilley from Bee’s Knees Honey Factory. In 1993, Leonid started his own beekeeping and honey business - Bee Way Honey Pollination.

Now over 29 years later, Bee Way Honey Pollination is one of the Pacific Northwest’s largest commercial beekeeping company and honey producer. We are family-owned and operate in Damascus, Oregon. In the summer of 2019, we have opened our own store front - The Hive. You can also find us at the Happy Valley and Sandy Farmers Markets in the summer season.

In January 2022, our entire operation in Damascus has become fully solar-powered. The project was made possible by PGE Green Future Participants. Come visit us this summer to see how we harvest honey, try some of our products, and see how our family-owned business operates.