SPRINGFIELD — Pooler’s Christy Bush found an ironic way to get out of an unsavory jam. She makes jam of a tasty sort — and lots of it.

Her We Bee Jammin’ LLC products have been extremely well received, including during "A Night in Effingham" on April 1.

“We are growing quite quickly,” she said. “We feel like there was some divine intervention.”

Bush and her family endured a troubling financial stretch after she was laid off from her job in mid 2020. With Christmas and a couple family birthdays closing in, they wondered what they would do about gifts, especially for the children.

After confiding to a friend about the predicament, Bush was encouraged to sell the kinds of jams and jellies she routinely made for friends and coworkers at a holiday pop-up shop. 

Bush, aided by her husband, Mike, decided it to give it a shot. She scraped up enough cash to make 35 jars of jam and jellies.

“I was shocked,” she said. “We sold every one of them.”

The 35 jars was paltry compared to what she sells now. She plans to take 2,200 to Macon’s Christmas Made in the South in November. 

Bush sold quite a few during Springfield’s “A Night in Effingham” on April 1.

“It’s crazy,” she said. “It’s just amazing how much love and support we get from the community. People come by all the time looking straight for us.

“There’s nothing nicer than seeing a familiar face coming back for more.”

The quality of Bush’s products have also been affirmed by an event sponsored jointly by the University of Georgia and Georgia Grown. One of them is a finalist in a statewide contest that started with 148 entries.

“What they are trying to do is nail down the (jam) flavor of Georgia,” Bush said. “You use as many Georgia ingredients as you can and that sort of thing. It’s real exciting.

“They want to see Georgia at its finest.”

Bush almost missed out on the opportunity to put Wee Bee Jammin’ LLC in the Georgia spotlight.

“We found out about the contest on the day it ended,” she said. “We decided we would send in our biggest seller, which is our Honey Habenero and Peach Jam. We also sent a second entry, which was Strawberry Lemonade.”

A few weeks later, Bush received a great anniversary present. She was notified March 16 that Strawberry Lemonade was named one of the three contest finalists.

“That’s not the one we expected,” she said. “We were very excited about that.”

The contest winner will be named April 21. The final judging will occur in Athens at The Classic Center.

“You have to do a three-minute pitch in front of the judges kind of like a baby ‘Shark Tank,’ ” Bush said. “You have to answer a few questions about the product and then we get to service it in its raw form. That’s how you would buy it.

“Our jam will be coming straight out of the jar.”

An “enhanced” sample will also be scrutinized by the judges.

“That’s how a consumer would utilize your ingredients,” Bush said. “I’ve tired different ways. I like it on vanilla ice cream but I’m not sure that’s what I’ll do at three o’clock in the afternoon without a freezer.”

Bush produces We Bee Jammin’ LLC products in her kitchen throughout the year. 

“I do two to three batches a day,” she said. “The batches anywhere from 20 to 50 jars at a time.”

The jars hold 8 ozs. and cost $9. Their shelf life is several months.

Currently, she is making a lot of “Christmas” jam that features strawberries and cranberries that she anticipates will sell well this fall.

“We’re always busy,” she said.

Bush is constantly tinkering in the kitchen in an effort to come up with new flavors.

“Today, we were playing with a no-sugar-added, strawberry rhubarb,” she said. “It’s fun. God bless my neighbors because I run something new over to them to make them taste it.”

Bush said she has received solid advice from Wendy Gambino of Springfield’s Sweet Treats Cannery. Georgia Grown officials have been helpful, too, she added.

Georgia Grown was created by the Georgia Department of Agriculture in 2011 to create desire and increase demand for Georgia’s products.

“It’s is an amazing resource,” Bush said. 

Georgia Grown benefits include:

— A program for producers to join together and more efficiently bring their products to agribusinesses, institutions and consumers.

— A means for producers to connect with and learn how to package and distribute their products for large business/institutions.

— A powerful, statewide database and website that makes it easy to find agritourism, farmers markets and other agribusinesses by product, location and target audience.

 Agriculture Commissioner Gary Black said Georgia Grown has produced many successful stories similar to that of We Been Jammin’ LLC.

“There are over 1,200 businesses that are Georgia Grown business now,” Black said. “We started with nothing in 2011. It exceeds every expectation.”

We Be Jammin’ LLC is beating expectations, too.

“We know we are going in the right direction because everything just seems to be working out right,” Bush said.