The 10-Year-Old Social Entrepreneur Behind Austin’s BeeSweet Lemonade

Mikaila Ulmer founded BeeSweet Lemonade in Austin when she was just 4 years old. Austin, Texas was celebrating its annual Lemonade Day around one fateful afternoon when Ulmer was stung by a bee — twice — shortly before her Great Granny, Helen, who lives in Cameron, South Carolina, sent her a 1940’s recipe for a special Flaxseed Lemonade.

Around this time, Ulmer’s parents had been encouraging her to think of an idea for a children’s business competition, and the recent stings combined with Ulmer’s newly-piqued interest in bees led her to experimenting with Texas wildflower honey, which she ended up using in place of sugar in the lemonade. The recipe was a hit, and soon Ulmer opened a lemonade stand to benefit organizations that work to protect vulnerable honeybee populations. A few years and several flavors later, Mikaila’s BeeSweet Lemonade is now stocked in the original Whole Foods location in Austin. We at Garden Collage are partial to the Ginger and Mint flavors, and we’d encourage you all to try it for yourself– heritage Flaxseed Lemonade is an under-explored culinary tradition that’s hard to come find. Plus: it’s made with local wildflower honey!

Listen to Mikaila talk about lemonade and her continued efforts to save the honeybees:

Follow Mikaila on Facebook and stay apprised of her latest adventures in Beekeeping.