Fresh, raw Oregon honey from this summer’s harvest is now
bottled and ready for sale!
Raw honey straight from the beekeeper is like nothing you’ve
ever tasted before. My goal is to turn
you into a honey connoisseur. Spoil
yourself or give one as a gift! You’ll
never buy supermarket honey again.
customers, my honey is available for sale in a variety of sizes (glass and
plastic jars). For customers further afield, flat rate shipping is available (1 lb. plastic jars only).Please see below for ordering information.
Honey from my bees comes out of the hive on frames which I
spin in an extractor. The honey is then
filtered through a series of sieves to remove impurities and bits of
beeswax. The resulting honey is clear,
smooth, and never heated. A true raw
product straight from my hives.
Light South Corvallis honey: these hives produce a light, very sweet honey
with floral tones and bright citrusy flavors.
They forage on a huge variety of flowers, herbs, vegetables, blackberry,
and native species near Willamette Park.
Dark North Corvallis honey (limited
quantities): my hives in this area
produce a darker, slightly richer honey. The taste is similar to dark honeys
with traces of buckwheat. These bees are foraging on the many native tree and shrub
species near Chip Ross Park, blackberry, and nearby vegetable and flower
Please send an email to firstname.lastname@example.org and
specify size, quantity, and color (dark honey available in limited
quantities). I will send you a PayPal
link for payment, or cash is acceptable upon pick-up.
I ship honey using U.S. Postal Service flat rate
boxes (U.S. addresses only). Shipping for up to nine jars of
honey is $13.00. Go in with friends to
really save on shipping costs! A full
box of jars is only $1.44 shipping per jar.
Please send an email to email@example.com and
specify quantity and color (dark honey available in limited quantities). I will send you a PayPal link for payment.
Thank you for your support! By purchasing honey from small scale local
beekeepers you are promoting the health and vitality of honeybees in your
A NOTE ABOUT
It is the natural tendency of
honey to crystallize (become opaque and nearly solid). Certain varieties
will crystallize sooner because of differing sugar concentrations in the nectar
sources. Colder temperatures, especially below 65 degrees, will speed the
crystallization process so please consider storing honey in a warm place, at
least 70-75 degrees.
honey is still perfectly good to use and has not spoiled at all. Some prefer it
because it does not run and spreads nicely. Crystallized honey can be slowly
and gently warmed to around 104-110 degrees in a water bath or low oven to melt
the crystals and return it to its original clear state. This is best done
gradually and without overheating to make sure the natural enzymes are
preserved and the honey retains its raw nature and original flavor. Resist the urge to microwave your
crystallized honey! It is hard to control the temperature with
microwaving and the honey can quickly become overheated.
It is also common for a small amount of suspended wax to remain at
the surface of non-crystallized honey. This is normal and an indication
that you have a jar of quality, raw honey!
I checked in with my backyard hive the other day, expecting to find them busily working on drawing new foundation and storing nectar. They were doing that (see above), but...
...apparently they are working on some side projects as well. Dang! This is the fancy pants Russian hygienic queen I bought last year. Multiple capped and uncapped swarm cells in the middle brood box (I use all 8 frame westerns).
Here is a queen larvae swimming in a bath of royal jelly. And WOW, my gloves are dirty!
Here is another surprise for me. Look closely...
Multiple varroa mites in a single drone cell. I check the mite board on this hive regularly, and I have counted maybe one mite in the last few weeks. But scrape open the drone cells and it's a different story. This highlights the importance of monitoring and testing for varroa beyond just visual inspections of a mite board.
It's not all doom and gloom though. The bees and brood look good and they are bringing in loads of nectar and pollen. Swarm season is upon us! I hope this queen stays.
Lots of emerging bees and lots of mites can only mean one thing - spring is here! This was after a formic acid treatment. It's pretty cool to see where the brood cluster is concentrated - all without opening the hive.
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. - from Amanda Soule www.soulemama.com
This weekend my bees discovered the joys of reading Dan Savage. I can't argue with them, I love the guy too. But let's back up a bit...
I recently acquired the space to start a new apiary in South Corvallis. I moved two hives from other places here last week. This is going to be an interesting place to have bees - they grow lots of chinese medicinal herbs here, in addition to blackberries, blueberries, and tons of vegetables.
The bees in Green (H1) have been going nuts lately. So much so that I needed to reduce their population in the feeble hope of reducing the likelihood of swarming.
Look how covered this one is with pollen!
I grabbed a variety of frames from Green and put them in a new box on top of Blue, which had a smaller population (and only two brood boxes). When equalizing hives you try to transfer as many nurse bees as you can, spray them a bit with sugar syrup, and separate this box of strangers from their new colony with a layer of newspaper. By the time they chew through the paper they should be fairly acclimated to the smells and order of their new hive.
Hence Mr. Savage is in my hive, probably having his face chewed on by hundreds of bees as we speak. He has probably written about bee fetishes, don't you think?
Green and Blue have cute apiary buddies now, too...
Here's another one, I'm just so excited! The bees are getting really active, especially the Italians, who have depleted their winter honey reserves but otherwise look fabulous. Here they are eating leftovers of last year's cappings. Emergency feeding!
My Old Sol queen arrived today, so what better time to try out our new western nucs? The majority of my hives are all westerns, meaning I use western hive boxes for both brood and honey supers. The problem with this system (only ONE of many according to deep fans) is that standard deep nucs are useless if we want to make splits or keep a queen on reserve.
First I made triple-sure the queen wasn't on a frame I was taking from the existing colony. Look at that Italian queen. Large and slow and sexy (isn't beekeeping great?). You wait right here, ma'am.
I pulled a few frames of solid capped brood covered with nurse bees, shook a couple frames of extra bees in for good measure, added a frame of honey and pollen, and placed the queen cage.
The western nuc! And just like that, one colony becomes two, and I have a premium queen on reserve if I need her.
Read that product description above. So hilarious I can't stand it. I've used a smoker many times in my hives, and I can honestly say I have never felt smog entering my alert posture. If you have, please comment - I'd love to know how that feels.