The Personality
In 1945,
Oupa Francois (Jimmy) du Toit, whilst a teacher in Calitzdorp, built his first
beehive. As a result of his inquisitive nature, this beehive was made partially
of glass, so that he could study and better understand how these furry yet
feisty little ladies functioned within the colony. As his interest grew, so did
his love for bees, and by 1960, he was more excited for the school bell to ring
than most of his students. By then he had accepted a teaching post at the De La
Bat School for the Hearing Impaired, where he taught diligently during school
hours, and worked endlessly learning and growing his apiary in his spare time.
As this
hobby grew into a small business, Oupa Jimmy’s son, Francois (Byeboer) du Toit,
was pulled in to help. Being only 8 years old at the time, he very quickly
became accustomed to working with bees. As a young teenager, Francois would
earn his weekly pocket money from Oupa Jimmy based on “a penny per sting”. Five
stings would ensure he could by a cone of sweets and a movie ticket at “The
Scala” in Worcester after a hard day’s work between the bees on Saturday. He
had a problem though: as he grew accustomed to the bees, he had to start
catching them to get stung.
As a
family, Oupa Jimmy, Ouma Martie and Francois would go harvesting honey over the
weekends, and bottling for orders in the week. Oupa Jimmy would send 1 gallon
tin containers up county by train on regular occasions, amongst volumes of
other consol glass containers in the years prior to PET.
By the late
1960’s, after matriculating and completing his compulsory military service
years, he returned to Worcester and while working various day jobs, decided to
make Beekeeping his primary focus. Due to the deteriorating health of Oupa
Jimmy, Francois made him an offer and bought the business from his father.
The years that followed, Francois grew in his understanding and management of the business, supplying bottled honey to stores the likes of Pick ‘n Pay and Shoprite, as well as bulk delivery to Bokomo for the production of their honey cereals. As time passed however, he started to focus more in the pollination of fruit orchards, a decision made as a result of the unpredictability of honey production year on year.
It came to
pass that in 1986 Francois invested in a table grape farm close to his home
base, and as his commitment to bees over the years, he also committed
wholeheartedly to learning and establishing this fruit farm. In 1998, Francois
Jnr joined Francois (now Snr) in the family business, helping run both the
pollination service and the grape farm.
Hex Valley
Apiaries has continued to exist under the management and participation of both
Francois Snr and Francois Jnr. Although
the format is smaller than the years prior, our commitment to exceptional, pure
honey has not changed.