Photo: Former U.S. Marine Nick French Dedicates Life to Hemp Farming and Beekeeping, Creates Nationally Renowned Wellness Products Made from Honey, CBD, and Medicinal Essential Oils. Photo courtesy of Heather Collins
By Heather Collins
Tucked away on the high plains of Southeast Denver, hemp farmer, entrepreneur, and ‘bee shepherd’ Nick French is starting his morning routine on his family farm. French greets the ‘lady’ chickens in the coop, gazes across the clover and sunflowers, and listens to the sounds from nearby hives a few hundred yards away from his one-acre hemp crop.
“Early morning is my favorite time out here on the farm – it’s not too hot, the bees are just waking up, and I can see how the recent rains are helping boost this year’s hemp crop,” said French, Co-founder of Colorado Hemp Honey, and former U.S. Marine.
Frangiosa Farms, located near Parker, Colorado, is the main operation for French’s Colorado Hemp Honey company, which he started in 2015 after realizing the powerful health benefits of blending CBD with honey and essential oils.
Nick and his business partner/wife, Ali French, also maintain 800-hemp plants on the Frangiosa Farms property, which also houses the couple’s honey business and home. Together, they grow, process, and harvest organic hemp strictly for CBD purposes and source it directly from their field. Instead of traveling hundreds of miles, the hemp ingredients only travel a few feet and go straight into the company’s proprietary honey support products.
Feed the Bees!
French admits that the organic hemp plants may be the main attraction, but it’s the bees that are the stars of the farm.
“Don’t forget the bees! Bees are more than just our neighbors. They are here with us – where we live, work, and play. The bees provide nourishment and well-being for our food supply,” said French. “And even though bees aren’t big hemp fans, they’re still bettering the planet and the native plants surrounding our flourishing hemp crops.”
Colorado Hemp Honey remains committed to creating the best environment for all bees to live and thrive nationwide. That’s why this past spring planting season, French started a ‘Feed the Bees Seed’ mix and campaign. It was estimated that through this initiative, more than 5 million bees nationwide were fed with bee-friendly flowers.
Lots of Buzz
Besides the ‘Feed the Bees’ project, French and his team at Colorado Hemp Honey have also been busy launching a new CBD honey variety called ‘Elderberry Support.’ Elderberry is known for its antioxidants, vitamins, and dietary fiber, which help boost the immune system.
French adds, “As beekeepers and hemp farmers, we are always looking for new and innovative ingredients to enhance the ingredients we grow in the fields and harvest from the hives. The blend of elderberry to CBD and honey provides consumers with the health benefits while also allowing us farmers to further our sustainability goals by maximizing every bit of crop we produce here at Frangiosa Farms.”
The new line of black elderberry includes both jars and single-serve sticks, both featuring 100mg Black Elderberry Extract plus 15mg full-spectrum hemp extract in each one teaspoon/stick serving and are available for purchase online.
Connecting to the Land, Connecting to People
Walking past the dozens of beehives on the property, French admits 2020 was undoubtedly a challenging time for the brand.
“People were used to picking up Colorado Hemp Honey products at retail stores across the country. When Lucky’s, Earth Fare, and Alfalfa’s shut their doors, we knew we had to keep going and create a way to literally not get stuck,” recalls French. “Now that life is returning, we’re looking forward to sharing the beneficial products that we grow, produce and make right here on our farm. Most importantly, we’re looking forward to sharing our story with the hemp and natural products community.”
If interested in learning more about the various product offerings available at Colorado Hemp Honey, visit coloradohemphoney.com.
About Frangiosa Farms and Colorado Hemp Honey
Frangiosa Farms was founded in 2008 with the goal of creating local artisan neighborhood honey using organic practices. In 2015, Nick and Ali French created Colorado Hemp Honey using raw honey from the farm, full-spectrum hemp with naturally occurring CBD, and organic essential oils. Frangiosa Farms helps save bees and veterans with its community outreach efforts, supports local farmers, and recently began growing industrial hemp. Colorado Hemp Honey has been featured in Food & Wine, Westword, and CNN, among others. Colorado Hemp Honey products are available in natural food pet and hemp/CBD retailers nationwide.
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Heather Collins is an Account Manager for Compass Natural Marketing and has been working in communications and marketing in the natural products industry for the past twenty years. Compass Natural serves in PR and programming for NoCo Hemp Expo and Southern Hemp Expo. Collins serves as a Contributing Writer of the weekly Let’s Talk Hemp Newsletter, published by We are for Better Alternatives. Contact heather@compassnaturalmarketing.com.
