This profile is in active compilation — some details are awaiting a cited source.

A local beekeeping business run by a Raytown-and-Lee’s-Summit couple that grew from a single backyard hive into an award-winning downtown Lee’s Summit storefront selling their own honey and beeswax goods.

  • Name: Messner Bee Farm
  • Type: Maker / retail — local honey and beeswax products (honey, lip balm, candles, soaps, colognes)
  • Owner: Rachael and Erik Messner
  • Established: Farm founded 2011; first store 2017 (Raytown); downtown Lee’s Summit store opened August 2024
  • Address: 26 SE 3rd Street, Lee’s Summit, MO 64063
  • Signature: Raw, infused, and creamed honey; beeswax lip balm
  • Status: Active (verified 2026-07-15)
  • Tier: 1## Description

Messner Bee Farm is a family beekeeping operation that sells the honey it harvests along with beeswax products — lip balm, candles, colognes, perfumes, and soaps. Its downtown Lee’s Summit store at 26 SE 3rd Street is a second storefront, joining the original shop at the couple’s Raytown home and beehives. The business qualifies for the Registry as a Tier 1 locally owned maker per the Registry’s non-service-industry expansion.

Ownership and history

Rachael and Erik Messner both attended elementary school in Raytown and high school in Lee’s Summit, giving the downtown location personal roots. The couple built their first beehive in 2011, a year after marrying, and received their first bee colony as a gift in 2012. Rachael developed their first product — a beeswax lip balm — in 2014 after an early successful harvest. The first Messner Bee Farm store opened in 2017 at the site of the couple’s home and hives in Raytown. In August 2024 they opened the downtown Lee’s Summit storefront at 26 SE 3rd Street, a space formerly occupied by Cameron’s Home Furnishings. 1 2

(For a maker, the “menu” is the priced product catalog.)

Last verified: 2026-08-14 · Source: Messner Bee Farm’s own Etsy storefront (business-operated, linked as “Shop” from the official site) — item-level descriptions pulled from individual first-party listing pages — plus the official site’s own priced field-trip page · URL: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MessnerBeeFarm · Confidence: High for the listed prices and for the descriptions on items with per-listing footnotes; items without per-listing footnotes carry name-only descriptions from the shopfront tile.

⚠ Scope note. The official site (messnerbeefarm.com) sells nothing directly — its “Shop” link points to the farm’s own Etsy storefront, which is where the priced catalog lives.3 Etsy is a marketplace, but this storefront is operated by the business itself and the prices are the farm’s own, so it is treated as first-party. Prices are online-store prices; in-store pricing at the Lee’s Summit or Raytown shops is not published and may differ. The catalog is larger than the listing below — this is the shop’s front page as captured on 2026-08-13, not the complete inventory.

Honey

  • Raw Honey / 16oz / Kansas City — raw, minimally filtered honey from the Messners’ hives in the KC metro (near the Little Blue River, local forests and prairie); the farm describes their honey as “generally dark, nutty and complex,” varying by season and year. 16oz in a vintage-style glass jar with cork and twine tag. ($20.00)4
  • Bulk Raw Honey / 48oz / Kansas City — same natural-beekeeping-practice raw honey as the 16oz jar, in a 48oz mason jar (jar styles vary). Farm-published tasting descriptor: “generally dark, nutty and complex,” flavor varies by harvest season. ($46.00)5
  • Hot Honey “With a Sting!” / 12oz / Kansas City Infused Honey — pure honey infused over time with cayenne pepper before bottling; the farm rates it “medium on the spicy scale” and recommends it on pizza, BBQ, buttered biscuits, grilled veggies, salmon, chicken & waffles, cheeseboards and brats. ($18.00)6
  • Lavender Elderberry Infused Honey / Fruity and Floral / 12oz ($18.00)7
  • Mushroom Creamed Honey — raw honey blended with lion’s mane and turkey tail mushrooms; the farm describes it as “subtly earthy sweetness” and suggests it straight from the jar, drizzled over roasted veggies, or stirred into morning coffee. 9oz jar. ($19.00)8
  • 9oz Caramel Apple Creamed Honey / Kansas City ($16.50)7
  • 9oz Cinnamon Vanilla Bean Creamed Honey / Kansas City ($16.50)7
  • 3oz Caramel Apple Creamed Honey / Kansas City ($7.50)7
  • 3oz Sampler Pack — cinnamon vanilla bean, lemon lavender, plain + simple and caramel apple creamed honey flavors. ($26.00)7
  • Honey Stick Set of 16 — Wildflower (Plain) — 16 straws of plain wildflower honey; the farm pitches them as a snack, an energy hit on the go, a stir-in for hot drinks, or a candy alternative for kids. About 8g / 15 calories per stick. ($10.00)9
  • Honey Sticks Variety Pack — 16 sticks, 2 each of the shop’s 8 most popular flavors: Plain Honey, Blackberry, Lemon Tart, Watermelon, Grandma’s Caramel, Peach Pie, Sour Raspberry, Cinnamon Fireball. Color-coded key on the label. ($10.00)10
  • Thank You For Bee-ing Here Today Honey Jar and Tiny Dipper — gift or party favor. ($6.50)7

Lip balm and lip tint

  • Set of 10 Lip Balms — raw honey and beeswax lip balm. ($57.50)7
  • Favorite Collection of 4 Lip Balms — lavender lemonade, lemongrass mint, strawberry rhubarb and plain. ($21.00)7
  • WINTER Collection of 4 Lip Balms — raw honey and beeswax lip balm. ($21.00)7
  • Amish Rose — Raw Honey and Beeswax Lip Tint ($6.00)7
  • Cherokee Purple — Raw Honey and Beeswax Lip Tint ($6.00)7

Lotion, soap and balms

  • Plain and Simple — Milk and Honey Lotion, 8oz ($15.00)7
  • Peppermint Sage — Milk and Honey Lotion, 8oz ($15.00)7
  • Lemongrass Bergamot — Milk and Honey Lotion, 8oz ($15.00)7
  • Plain and Simple — Milk and Honey Lotion, 2oz travel ($7.50)7
  • Peppermint Sage — Milk and Honey Lotion, 2oz travel ($7.50)7
  • Cereal Milk — Milk and Honey Lotion, 2oz travel ($7.00)7
  • Cereal Milk — Foaming Hand Soap — made with bee propolis. ($19.00)7
  • Bug Block — Insect Deterrent Balm — DEET free, made with beeswax and botanicals. ($10.00)7
  • XL Paw Balm — treats “ruff” paws, handmade with beeswax. ($15.00)7

Fragrance

  • Solid Cologne — Orion — handmade with beeswax. ($20.00)7
  • Solid Perfume — Honeysuckle — made with beeswax and essential oils. ($20.00)7
  • Solid Perfume — Queen Bee — made with beeswax. ($20.00)7

Candles and wax

  • Flower Pillar — 100% Beeswax Candle — hand-poured from local Kansas City beeswax with no added scent; carries the wax’s own “warm honey aroma,” with color and scent varying slightly with the honey, pollen and propolis content of the wax. ~2.5” wide × 4” tall, approximate burn time 15 hours. ($19.00)11
  • D20 Dice — 100% Beeswax Candle — twenty-sided-die-shaped candle, hand-poured from local KC beeswax, no added scent (natural warm-honey aroma). ~4” × 4”. Farm pitches it for game night. ($23.00)12
  • Small Pinecone — 100% Beeswax Candle — hand-poured pinecone-shaped candle in local KC beeswax, no added scent, ~2 1/8” wide × 3” tall, approximate burn time 5–6 hours. Farm suggests bundling several or displaying a single one on a mantle. ($8.00)13
  • Christmas Tree 4oz Candle — made with soy, beeswax and coconut, paraffin free. ($15.50)7
  • Honey Fig Tart Wax Melts — made with soy, beeswax and coconut, paraffin free. ($9.50)7
  • 100% Beeswax Honey Pot — made out of real beeswax. ($16.00)7

Gifts and other

  • Messner Bee Farm Gift Box — box only — empty 8×6×3 gift box, crinkle paper included; the farm packs it for you if you add it to an order and recommends it for creamed honeys up to 9oz and raw honeys up to 12oz. ($7.00)14
  • Vinyl Sticker — Messner Bee Farm — vinyl sticker with the Messner Bee Farm logo, sized for a laptop, water bottle or car bumper. One sticker per listing. ($4.00)15
  • May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers Sticker — vinyl — black-and-white vinyl sticker reading “May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers”; 3” × 2.94”; farm suggests tumblers, mugs and computer cases. ($4.00)16

Field trips and classes (priced on the official site)

  • 1.5 hour field trip — recommended ages 11–16; includes a trip to the bee yard to see live bees, weather permitting; up to 15 students, additional students $7.00 each (25 max per class); teachers, support staff and parents free. ($140.00 + tax)17
  • 60 minute field trip — recommended ages 7–11; includes a trip to the bee yard to see a hive set-up (no live bees inside); up to 10 students, additional students $7.00 each (20 max per class). ($80.00 + tax)17
  • 30 minute field trip — recommended ages 4–6; topics brief and summarized for a younger audience; up to 10 students, additional students $5.50 each (15 max per class). ($55.00 + tax)17
  • A $50 deposit is required at booking, and all attendees must sign a waiver.17

⚠ The classes page ends with the notice “We are not doing field trips or classes in 2024. If you’d like to be put on our wait list for next year please email keepers@messnerbeefarm.com,” and the site footer reads ”© 2024” — so the field-trip programme’s current availability is not established and these prices may be stale.17

Hours and locations

Own stores18

  • Downtown Lee’s Summit store — 26 SE 3rd Street, Lee’s Summit, MO — Mon–Sat 10 a.m.–6 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m.–4 p.m.
  • Raytown farm store — 8301 Westridge Rd, Raytown, MO — Wed–Sat 10 a.m.–4 p.m.

The Raytown farm-store address (8301 Westridge Rd) is published on the official Visit Us page and was not previously recorded on this page.18

Also stocked at (third-party retailers, not Messner-operated): Made in KC Marketplace — Plaza (306 W 47th St, KCMO), Lee’s Summit (860 NW Blue Pkwy) and Lenexa (8703 Penrose Lane, KS); Shop Local KC at Crown Center (2450 Grand Blvd, Suite 209, KCMO); Queen Bee Boutique, Blue Springs (825 SW US Highway 40).18 A mobile pop-up shop, “Beeatrix the Trolley,” appears at events on the farm’s own events calendar.3

Sources

Footnotes

  1. “KC area couple turns a love of bees into an award-winning Lee’s Summit store.” The Kansas City Star (via Yahoo/AOL) — asserts: owners Rachael and Erik Messner, Raytown/Lee’s Summit upbringing, 2011 first hive, 2012 first colony, 2014 first lip balm, 2017 Raytown store, August 2024 downtown store at 26 SE 3rd St (former Cameron’s Home Furnishings), product lineup. ↩

  2. “Messner Bee Farm.” Downtown Lee’s Summit directory — asserts: current downtown storefront and address. ↩

  3. Messner Bee Farm — official site (accessed 2026-08-13) — asserts: site navigation (About, Events, Bees, Shop, Corporate Gifts, Wholesale, Visit Us, Press, Grant, Contact); the “Shop” link points to etsy.com (resolving to the MessnerBeeFarm shop); mobile pop-up shop “Beeatrix the trolley” with an events calendar at /events; Facebook, Instagram and TikTok links; footer email hello@messnerbeefarm.com. No products are sold on the site itself. ↩ ↩2

  4. Messner Bee Farm — “Raw Honey / 16oz / Kansas City” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: the natural-beekeeping-practices language, the Little Blue River / forests / prairie foraging area, the “generally dark, nutty and complex” tasting descriptor, the 16oz vintage-style glass jar with cork and twine tag, materials list (cork, twine, glass jar, honey). ↩

  5. Messner Bee Farm — “Bulk Raw Honey / 48oz / Kansas City” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: the same natural-beekeeping language and “dark, nutty and complex” flavor descriptor, 48oz mason-jar format, jar-style variance note. ↩

  6. Messner Bee Farm — “Hot Honey ‘With a Sting!’ / 12oz / Kansas City Infused Honey” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: ingredients (pure honey and cayenne pepper), “medium on the spicy scale” heat rating, over-time infusion process, and the pairing suggestions (pizza, BBQ, buttered biscuits, grilled veggies, salmon, chicken & waffles, cheeseboards, brats). ↩

  7. Messner Bee Farm — the farm’s own Etsy storefront (accessed 2026-08-13) — asserts: the itemized product catalog and prices transcribed in the Menu section (front page of the shop; the full inventory is larger). Linked as “Shop” from messnerbeefarm.com, i.e. the business’s own storefront rather than a third-party reseller listing. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13 ↩14 ↩15 ↩16 ↩17 ↩18 ↩19 ↩20 ↩21 ↩22 ↩23 ↩24 ↩25 ↩26

  8. Messner Bee Farm — “Mushroom Creamed Honey / Made with Raw Honey, Lion’s Mane and Turkey Tail” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: raw-honey + lion’s-mane + turkey-tail composition, “subtly earthy sweetness” descriptor, serving suggestions (straight from the jar, drizzled over roasted veggies, stirred into morning coffee), 9oz jar size. ↩

  9. Messner Bee Farm — “Honey Stick Set of 16! Wildflower (Plain)” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: 16-stick set of plain wildflower honey, ~8g / 15 calories per stick, use-case pitch (snack, energy on the go, hot-drink stir-in, candy alternative for kids), infant-safety warning. ↩

  10. Messner Bee Farm — “Honey Sticks Variety Pack” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: the 8 flavors (Plain Honey, Blackberry, Lemon Tart, Watermelon, Grandma’s Caramel, Peach Pie, Sour Raspberry, Cinnamon Fireball), 2 sticks of each, color-coded key on the label. ↩

  11. Messner Bee Farm — “Flower pillar - 100% Beeswax Candle” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: hand-poured 100% beeswax from local Kansas City wax, no added scent (natural warm-honey aroma), color and scent variance from honey/pollen/propolis content, ~2.5” × 4” dimensions, approximate 15-hour burn time. ↩

  12. Messner Bee Farm — “D20 Dice - 100% Beeswax Candle” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: twenty-sided-die-shaped 100% beeswax candle, hand-poured from local KC beeswax, no added scent, ~4” × 4”, game-night pitch, wick-trim guidance. ↩

  13. Messner Bee Farm — “Small Pinecone - 100% Beeswax Candle” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: hand-poured pinecone-shaped 100% beeswax candle, ~2 1/8” wide × 3” tall, approximate 5–6-hour burn time, bundle-or-single display suggestion. ↩

  14. Messner Bee Farm — “Messner Bee Farm Gift Box - BOX ONLY” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: 8×6×3 empty gift box with crinkle paper, farm-packing service when added to an order, capacity guidance (creamed honeys up to 9oz, raw honeys up to 12oz). ↩

  15. Messner Bee Farm — “Vinyl Sticker - Messner Bee Farm” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: vinyl logo sticker, use suggestions (laptop, water bottle, car bumper), one sticker per listing. ↩

  16. Messner Bee Farm — “May All Your Weeds Be Wildflowers Sticker - Vinyl” listing (accessed 2026-08-14) — asserts: black-and-white vinyl sticker, 3” × 2.94” dimensions, tumbler/mug/computer-case use suggestions. ↩

  17. Messner Bee Farm — official “Classes / Field Trips” page (accessed 2026-08-13) — asserts: the three field-trip tiers and their prices, per-additional-student rates, class caps, free adult chaperones, $50 booking deposit, waiver requirement, booking email keepers@messnerbeefarm.com, and the notice “We are not doing field trips or classes in 2024.” ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  18. Messner Bee Farm — official “Visit Us” page (accessed 2026-08-13) — asserts: downtown Lee’s Summit store at 26 SE 3rd Street (Mon–Sat 10–6, Sun 10–4); Raytown farm store at 8301 Westridge Rd (Wed–Sat 10–4); stockist locations and hours for Made in KC (Plaza, Lee’s Summit, Lenexa), Shop Local KC at Crown Center, and Queen Bee Boutique in Blue Springs. ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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  • Owner-And-History-Research-Toolchain
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On the record — ks.city/registry/messner-bee-farm · record updated 2026-08-14