Why the Name Honey Harvest Apiary?
Mike (right) and I (left) during our first honey harvest, we got ~100 pounds from two hives that day! Things have changed a bit since then, but the spirit is still the same
In my mind, honey is one of the most captivating foods in the entire world. It is a natural sweetener, a medicine crafted from flowers and processed by insects, and a direct gastronomic connection between an individual and their local ecosystem. It is one of the most coveted substances in the wild, and something that can only be supplied by the bees. Even with all the crazy technologies we have today we could never emulate how fantastic this food really is without the help of honey bees.
Beyond being my go to late night snack, food topping, or tea (and coffee!) sweetener, honey has also served to enrich my life in so many ways. I began appreciating honey as a part of mead making, a hobby I began in my late teens. Honey is the primary fermentation ingredient in mead, which has historically been a valuable alcohol in the eyes of Vikings, English Royalty, and, so they say, even the gods of Greek and Hindu religions. I felt connected to this sense of reverence when making mead, a hobby that quickly led to me getting my first beehives.
Beekeeping, or rather the honey bees themselves, took my life by storm at this point. I knew that these amazing creatures make honey, one of the best natural sources of sugar and source of mead, but I soon learned that they were also a complex social superorganism whose ways are still mysterious to observers today (I later went to college studying bees, and found that even the most famous of honey bee entomologists hadn’t figured out their greatest mysteries!). Beekeeping was originally a way for me to get honey, but it grew into something more. Things have been going that way ever since, the bees themselves have become a constant obsession for me.
Even today, beekeeping feels less focused on the production of honey and even more on living in the little simple joys of being in the hive. That said, when I started this business I knew “Honey Harvest Apiary” had to be our name. The word “harvest” always meant so much to me, a word with so much soul to it that it sparks the imagination. In my mind, when the word “harvest” is paired with “honey” I get brought to a different world. I think of how a harvest is supposed to be a communal activity, something meant to be shared with others, and how honey connects us to the always awe inspiring bees. It is my hope that through Honey Harvest Apiary’s products, services, and blog posts like this that I can share this same feeling with all of you!
