David Vince — beekeeper, philanthropist, veteran and West Tennessee Farmers Market regular — is built like a triangle. According to him, his shoulders are too broad to fit through most doors, and his time serving on a naval combat ship during the Gulf War did not allow for many leg days. When leaning against a black GMC pickup truck with rain pounding on the uncovered pavement behind him, leather jacket riddled with patches from his time in the Navy and a military veteran baseball cap shielding his eyes, he looks quite foreboding.
That was my first impression of David Vince. My second impression of Vince came when he abruptly moved from that stance and went over to a neighboring booth, offering up his leather jacket to the shivering vendor manning it. She received his gift warmly, and they exchanged pleasantries like old friends before he returned to his own spot, immediately leaning back against his truck.
But the second a person walked close to his unassuming booth—a folding table with a crisp navy tablecloth holding small jars of honey lined up in front of a cheerful yellow “local honey” sign—his demeanor shifted again. He gave each potential customer a wide smile, encouraging them to sample his homemade honey. Most people said yes. The few that said no missed out on the tastes of a lifetime: rich, sweet honey infused with a tingling cinnamon, buttery pumpkin spice, or sharp jalapeño flavor.
“All I’ve got to say is try the hot honey last,” Vince said. “It’ll ruin your taste buds for the other stuff.”
I tried it last. Though it was a phenomenal flavor, waiting to sample it was definitely the right call.
Vince spends hours each week heating and cooling each batch of honey six times to fully infuse and intensify the flavors. He occasionally rotates through different flavor infusions depending on the season and each one’s popularity. Vince also sells raw honey and fermented garlic honey, a popular immune-system booster.
Though Vince has been beekeeping for about five years — ever since his wife suggested he try it to help her with her pollinator garden — he only started selling honey at the farmer’s market recently. For the first four years, it was just a hobby. But in January, Vince retired from his job of 30 years managing biomedical engineers. He immediately got to work on his new job: bees.
“I have never had a hobby that I haven’t turned into an entirely new job,” Vince said.
So Vince went all in. Starting in January, Vince went from keeping nine beehives to keeping 39. Currently, he has 32 active hives. That is enough to keep selling honey throughout the winter, assuming nothing tragic takes place.
“They’re bugs; weird things happen,” Vince said. “It’s not like cattle. It’s not like anything you’re used to. Because you expect to go out and the cow’s still there. But you could just go out and [the bees] got up and left. 50% of the bees that you have in the spring die.”
Though working with bees is risky and time-consuming, Vince finds every second worth it, especially considering how dire the global bee situation has become.
“What people don’t understand is that all this large-scale farming that sprays pesticides and stuff kills bees,” Vince said.
Vince is dedicated to helping bees thrive.
“If the honeybee population collapses, two-thirds of the world’s food is going to collapse,” Vince said. “And you know what, it’s the good food too. If it has color, it’s gone.”
Vince is dedicated to helping humanity thrive, too. He then went on to highlight other vendors at the market with the best colorful food. He pointed at a woman two spots down, raving about her tomatoes. He mentioned the man next to him who grows high-quality onions.
The only thing that halted Vince’s praise of others was a customer asking to sample his honey. He made a joke about the cinnamon honey keeping her hair red. She laughed, and so did he. He explained his honey-making process and the anti-allergenic benefits of raw honey to the customer, ensuring that she knew how his expertly-made product could truly help her.
The customer opted for a plastic, bear-shaped container of raw honey, explaining that she would put it in her green tea. Before I could even take a breath, Vince pointed at the booth across from him and spoke.
“She sells incredible lemons; they would go great with your tea,” Vince said.
Vince couldn’t help but lift others up.
That urge follows him outside of the farmers market world. When he is not making honey or tending to his slew of hives, Vince finds passion in his charity work, especially his job dressing up as “Hartley the Clown” in collaboration with Shriners International, a brotherhood Vince is a part of that created Shriners Children’s Hospitals. By entertaining children and raising money in the community, Vince has made it his goal to bring joy to the children in Jackson who need it the most.
“I grew up in a dysfunctional family, and we didn’t really have anything,” Vince said. “So if I can help, I’m gonna help.”
That’s what Vince does. He helps. He helps hurting children around the Jackson area by giving them something to laugh about. He helps customers by creating honey rich with health benefits and flavor. He helps inspire college students like me find my own passion, even if I don’t get it right on the first try. It took him over 30 years to find his, after all.
“I think one of the healthiest things is to do something as long as you want to and can,” Vince said. “But do it with a healthy aspect of who you are and have your eyes open for other opportunities.”
Vince’s eyes were open, and they saw beekeeping. And they have stayed focused on that ever since. From battling hive beetle infestations to low harvests, Vince is dedicated to keeping his passion and his bees alive.
For Vince, being a beekeeper means fighting against large-scale farming that causes significant harm to bees and therefore humans. It means early mornings of trying to capture escaping swarms. It means hours of slaving over a hot stove to create the best product for his customers. It means going to the West Tennessee Farmers Market every Wednesday and Saturday to both fund his passion and connect with others who share in his love of consuming and protecting natural products and environments.
“It’s relationships,” Vince said. “I’m here for a lot more than just selling honey.”
Every description of David in this article is true. He has entertained many many underprivileged children, organized fund raisers to make sure all children get presents for Christmas and supported his community and fellow Jacksonians with his unbridled passion. He’s one of the most dependable friends anyone could hope for