About SBBA

We are fortunate to have some of the most knowledgeable and experienced Beekeepers living right here in Santa Barbara, willing to share this knowledge and experience with us.

What started out as a little Google Group founded by Krista Harris, publisher of Edible Santa Barbara, has turned into over 100 enthusiastic Backyard Beekeepers yearning to learn more about the Majestic World of the Honey Bee.

In the spring of 2011, the group began its journey to more formal organization through the efforts of Todd Bebb and Paul Cronshaw. Now an established California non-profit, SBBA hopes to bring our goals of education, awareness and honeybee preservation to a new level.

We are fortunate to have some of the most knowledgeable and experienced Beekeepers living right here in Santa Barbara, willing to share this knowledge and experience with us. Learning how to take care of the Honey Bee, so that she can continue taking care of us, is what we all hope to do.

We hope you will enjoy this web site, learn from it, and contribute your experiences with the Bees.

Bee Well and Bee Happy

Leadership

Paul Cronshaw / Board of Directors / Chairman & President

Paul Cronshaw

Paul “The Beeman” Cronshaw has been keeping honeybees in Santa Barbara County since graduating from SBHS in 1971.

Paul “The Beeman” Cronshaw has been keeping honeybees in Santa Barbara County since graduating from SBHS in 1971. He set up his first hive on the roof of his parent’s house, purchased his first hive equipment from Sears catalog, and ordered a package of bees from Mississippi. Since then he has been following his passion for honeybees by teaching beekeeping classes to adults and youth, maintaining apiaries in the Santa Barbara area, removing and relocating honeybees humanely from structures, and recently starting a Host A Hive program to promote the urban beekeeping movement.

Kelton Temby / Board of Directors

Kelton Temby

Kelton is the founder of Eyesonhives, a computer vision based Bee Hive Health Monitoring system comprised of a camera and data platform for beekeepers, researchers & citizen scientists.

A third generation beekeeper, Kelton Temby left rural Australia to become a medical robotics engineer designing systems to help doctors treat patients remotely. When not developing a new algorithm, prototyping a robot, or sharing the buzz about Eyesonhives, he’s found tending his backyard organic garden and bee hives or volunteering for the Santa Barbara Beekeepers Association.

Dennis Hardy / Board of Directors

Dennis is the founder and CEO of EvansHardyYoung. Dennis has over 30 years of food and commodity board marketing experience and currently supervises the National Honey Board. He keeps both bees and chickens.

Dennis Hardy: At the beginning of my career, I had the good fortune of working closely with Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy’s Old Fashioned Hamburgers and a restaurant industry icon. Dave strongly believed that hard work, humility, and personal accountability were the necessary requisites to achieve outstanding results. I think Dave was right, and his values have had a lasting influence on my approach.