Our First Honey Harvest

Last week we took our first harvest of honey. What an adventure it has been, a lifetime in the making. I’ve shared before that J. and I each came into our relationship with a dream of keeping honeybees one day. It was quite a surprise when we realized it because it is a rather uncommon dream, especially where we live. Still, we were happy to discover it and so our mutual dreams of honeybee-keeping fused together in our hearts and minds.

After nearly two years of such dreaming, this spring we finally made the leap to make our dream come true. We researched, purchased what we needed to start our hives, and finally brought home two colonies in April 2020. Since then, there has been much learning, and trial & error. But overall, so far, so good! Last week–mid-August 2020–we took our first harvest.

The harvest was successful and the response to our honey sale was overwhelming. The feedback has been so sweet. People love our honey! We didn’t get as much honey as we initially expected to, but we were happy with what we got. It is delicious and absolutely gorgeous, photographs don’t do it justice.

One of the things that we decided early on was that we would not take too much honey from our bees. There is still a lot of honey in the hives. This is the honey that the bees will live on over winter. We could take that honey from the bees and replace it with sugar water, as some beekeepers do, however we will not do that.

It has always been our goal to treat all of the animals that we keep with compassion and respect. Even when it comes down to our bees, our priority is for them to be happy and healthy. Allowing them to live on their own honey that they have worked hard for is the best move in our minds. Not only is it ethical, but it is also practical in the sense that it is far healthier for them than sugar water and it will give them a better chance of surviving the winter.

So that’s that. First honey harvest success. Looking forward to many more.