DANIELLE BROOKS
FOUNDER
Danielle is a girl with a dream, a truck, and a passion for bees. Here's the story of the woman behind The Honey Truck.
It all began with a cup of tea.
Danielle Brooks loves drinking tea, especially with honey. One day she thought how awesome it would be to have her own hive to harvest from; so she started researching bees and how to keep them. After checking out every book in the library on the subject, she decided to jump in with both feet.
Danielle now maintains multiple hives all over the city of St. Augustine, as well as partnering with other small scale beekeepers across the state. She is a Master Beekeeper through the University of Florida’s Master Craftsman Beekeeper Program and is an active member of the St. Johns County Beekeepers Association. Danielle is also a Certified Honey Judge and has won multiple awards for her honey in competitions across the state of Florida.
About the truck
Danielle may be the hands and feet of the company, but the real stars of the show are her cherry red 1962 and 1963 Ford Econoline trucks. She lovingly named them Glennda and Kennedy respectively.
Kennedy was the first Honey Truck. She was found on Craigslist in Spring Hill, Fl. Danielle had no idea how to drive a manual, much less a 3 on the tree, but she worked hard and is now a wiz. She lovingly named Kennedy after President John F. Kennedy, who was a huge advocate for the space program and committed America to sending a man to the moon. He was assassinated in 1963.
After several years and not really looking for a new Honey Truck, Danielle and her family were driving through Palatka when Rich, her husband, spotted the red Econoline with a for sale sign in the window. It was too good of a deal to pass up. Glennda gets her name from John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth three times in 1962.
Everything on each of the Honey Trucks has meaning, even down to the license plate. The license plates are original tags that were issued in St. Johns County. Back in the day the first number of the plate represented the size of the county in which the vehicle was registered. In 1963 St. Johns County was the 20th largest county in Florida. Both Glennda and Kennedy are resurrected pieces of history that get a second chance on life in the Oldest City.
