Clover Honey (priced per pound)

We’ve caught the bug – the beekeeping bug!  We’re delirious with amazement at all these little critters do, how they organize their societies and share responsibilities, and the niche role they can play on our farm.  We are transitioning away from hay production on some of our fields and using more clover for seed production and to support pollinators.  This year it’s all new (20 hives, about a million bees, dozens of bee-stings…countless hours of waggle-dance-watching…), and we weren’t expecting to have any excess honey beyond what the bees will need to feed their larvae and support their growing colonies.  But the end of summer was generous to us, and most hives produced an extra box of honey beyond what they need for themselves, so we have honey to share!

The nitty-gritty details:

Our beeyard is located next to a field of organic red clover, a short distance from a hayfield with late-summer organic alfalfa blossoms, and probably 10 miles or more away from the nearest non-organic flowering field-crop (no canola anywhere in sight!).  Our organic field inspectors have occasionally mentioned that our farm is one of the only farms they’ve seen that have isolated enough fields that honey could potentially be considered organic.  Bees will regularly forage 2-3 miles away, so being located on an organic field isn’t a guarantee that the bees aren’t feeding from a nearby crop that’s sprayed with chemicals.  That being said, organic designation for honey is something that i’m not prepared to jump into.  As i’m new to managing and assessing the health of my hives, and as beekeepers across North America are seeing hives decimated by varroa mites and other environmental pressures, I don’t have the skills and experience to lock myself into only using organic treatment options.  So far I haven’t had to use any non-organic treatments, but i’m not guaranteeing that I won’t in the future if it seems like that might be necessary to keep my hives healthy.

The honey is currently in liquid form – a beautiful light coloured honey that tastes bright and flows easily.  Honey made by bees that have been foraging on canola will harden quicker than other types of honey, but I don’t know how long this honey (with clover, alfalfa and wildflowers as the primary nectar source) will remain in liquid form.  Our honey is raw, and has not been heated or pasteurized.

I will have a limited quantity available to sell, and this will be a direct pick-up option only in Winnipeg on Wednesday, September 24th between 6:30 and 7:30pm at Aubrey Park and then another pick-up on Wednesday October 1 between 6:30 and 7:30pm at the CMU parking lot (Shaftsbury Ave).  On farm pick-up is also available (almost) any time 🙂  I will be enabling just a limited number of customers at each pick-up day, so I will remove the option from my website when capacity has been reached.  Additional grains from our website shop (oats, cornmeal, beans, etc.) can also be added on to these orders.  Home delivery and Refill Market pick-ups are not available for honey orders.

I will have 5 gallon pails of honey with spigots on the bottom of the pails and you will need to bring your own jars to fill up with the quantity that you have purchased.  I will have a weigh scale to tare your containers and fill them to the requested quantity.

Some general guesses on quantities:  a quart jar will hold 3 pounds, a 4 litre (icecream) pail will hold about 10 pounds.  I can fill any assortment of jars and containers as long as they are clean and dry.  Because this is all new to me, I would appreciate if you place an order for the quantity that you have in mind so that I know how much to bring, and then defer payment until after the honey is received.  If you need a little more or a little less to fill your container we can adjust the invoice price as needed.  Payment by cash or etransfer after pick-up is preferred.

Pricing is $6 per pound for quantities between 1 and 4lbs, $5 per pound for quantities between 5 and 19 pounds, and $4.75 per pound for quantities of 20 pounds and more.  At the cart page you can adjust the number of pounds you would like to order and the pricing will be adjusted for each quantity.