Jerry Johnson working in his kitchen

Who's Uncle Jer?

Jerry Johnson a.k.a. Uncle Jer graduated with a B.S. in Business Administration and Finance from Sacramento State College and has been in the retail and manufacturing side of the food business for over forty years. 

As a teenager Jerry lived in Fiddletown (near Sutter’s Creek) on his mother and step-father’s farm.  They were bee keepers with approximately ten thousand colonies.  During the summer and weekends the family would travel up and down the central valley transporting their hives from one orchard to another.  They also harvested and sold the honey produced by their bees.   

Jerry has a green thumb and grows much of his family’s fruit and vegetables sticking to crops he can grow organically.  In the past five years Jerry has rekindled his interest in bee keeping.  Working with bees is a relaxing and interesting hobby.  Jerry has anywhere between three and twenty-five colonies.  Jerry started offering bee shows after a local church called and asked if he could do a presentation for their youth group. 

Why "Uncle Jer"?

Many ask why Jerry is known as Uncle Jer, especially when he does senior citizen shows!  Jerry has owned and operated Uncle Jer's Cookies for thirty years.  His nephews were helping to perfect the recipes by being guinea pigs.  When discussing the name of the cookies the nephews said in unison, “they’re Uncle Jer’s Cookies!”  which grew into Uncle Jer's Cookies, Inc.  Although Uncle Jer's Cookies, Inc. is still our corporate name, we discontinued making cookies in 2013.

Who is Mrs. Uncle Jer?

Ellen Johnson works closely with her husband, Jerry, to develop the educational portion of the bee shows.  When she is available, she will participate in the show and loves to explain how centrifugal force is used in harvesting the honey,  how the worker bees decide to make new queens, how many eyes bees have (5) and other exciting facts of the bee world.

Ellen also runs the administrative side of Uncle Jer's Traveling Bee Show and Uncle Jer's Cookies.