Meant to bee: How Robetta and JJ Baker lace their lives with gold

KNOTT COUNTY, Ky. – It is Friday- Robetta Baker’s day off. But instead of sleeping in and starting her morning with the bright sun shining in the sky, she is outside in the pitch black foggy morning, taking care of the ten sheep she and her husband own.

As soon as Robetta has let the sheep out to graze, she then goes to her local elementary school to read to kindergarteners. She teaches them about plant decomposition, and finishes the lesson by gifting a jack’o’lantern to the children so they can watch it decompose over the next few months.

At the same time, Robetta’s husband, JJ Baker prepares for a bear call, where he will go out into the wilderness to find and tag the bear just reported to him.

For JJ, a wildlife biologist at the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife, and Robetta, a nurse practitioner at a pain-management clinic, their days are often just as full and event-filled as the one before.

But as the two begin the rest of their busy and buzzing day, one thing remains constant- their love, devotion and care not just for their community, but each other.

‘Googly eyes’ and liquid gold

Now married for over 27 years, JJ and Robetta still remember the first day they met as if it were yesterday.

JJ recalled the immediate infatuation he felt when he first saw his wife from the passenger seat of his friend’s car at the park all those years ago.

“We stopped and there was this girl giving me the googly eyes,” JJ said. “We kinda looked at each other and everything, (but) we got in the car and left.”

However, instead of driving away, JJ told his friend to turn around and drive back to Robetta, where he then got out of the car, walked up to her, and asked one question.

“‘I don’t believe I know your name,’” JJ recalled, laughing.

Robetta said her response was simple.

“‘I don’t think you do,’” Robetta said, laughing alongside JJ as he remembered their first encounter.

After that, the couple’s connection only grew stronger. Within three months of dating, the two were engaged, and eight months after that, married.

Over the years, the two have found themselves continuously accomplishing the goals and tasks that face them.

From raising a son, to owning and renovating multiple properties, to adopting and caring for ten sheep, to now their most recent expedition- raising thousands of honeybees on their farm in Knott County.

Originally given a beehive from JJ in 2021, Robetta said they did not immediately begin farming honey. In fact, the two did not begin their beehive journey until two years later in 2023.

“I took an online class and found a mentor locally, and she got a swarm for us,” Robetta said. “And that was our first set of bees.”

However, what started as one simple beehive soon became something much more.

By the end of their 2023 season, the couple had 10 hives. By the end of 2024, their first official honey-producing season, they had 25 hives and 317 pounds of honey.

But by the end of their 2025 honey-producing season, JJ and Robetta found themselves with 37 active beehives and a whopping 1,306 pounds of honey.

Since becoming beekeepers, the couple has earned a multitude of national recognition for their honey, including winning the “Best Taste” award in the black jar honey contest at the 2025 North American Honey Bee Expo for the first honey the two ever produced from their farm.

Together at last

However, although the couple faces success together, they also face difficulties.

“The younger people say. . . ‘You’re just the perfect couple,’” Robetta said.

But, JJ said, that was not always the truth.

“We’ve had ups, way ups, way downs,” JJ said. “It has been hard. It’s not all a bed of roses, you
know.”

However, for JJ and Robetta, despite the obstacles that stand in front of them, the two always find a way to overcome their challenges in the end.

“The thing is, over all those years, whenever it’s bad, we always find each other again,” JJ said.

Over the course of almost 30 years, the two have learned that the key to a long, happy
relationship is simple.

“You have to talk to your spouse,” Robetta said. “You have to laugh.”

Despite the difficulties the two face, the two said they make sure to always come back to one another, regardless of the obstacles that stand in their way.

So, at the end of another long day, Robetta and JJ find themselves exactly where they started alongside one another ready to take on another day, together