My Ladies. Or I sometimes like to call them savage bee-ches :D. And I say that with so much love and respect. Bees are so freaking awesome. The labor that they put into keeping their home and family running like a well oiled machine fills me with awe. Please understand, when I first started beekeeping it was to continue on the premise of creating a sustainable eco-friendly orchard. You can’t have that without including the ultimate pollinators. They just fit in with the family, and so I jumped right in.
Hahahaha……I was so scared. But I did it because it was needed. And so eventually my ladies and I got used to each other. I learned each hives personalities, in fact each queen has a name. I named then after my friends that had enough faith in me to make initial investments in our first fundraiser. Oh gawd, it failed so bad but my friends still supported me. But interesting enough each hive displayed unique personalities that reminded me of each friend. For instance, my Stef and Linda hives. I swear these hives do whatever the hell they want. I give them frames, their like f*ck it we’ll build comb on everywhere but the frame. You bother them too much then they quit. Queen Stef did that to me, basically stopped laying eggs for a few days just to teach me a lesson. So I’ve learned to how to treat them. This is when I came up with savage bee-ches. They did their thing and I just had to respect that.
Now to the honey. The honey is definitely a plus and its a way for us to earn revenue to support the store and project. I’ve always loved honey but I’ve realized very quickly that I didn’t give enough credit to the bees and their keepers. Its alot of work and its even more work if you try to have the least amount of impact on the hive as possible. I truly aim to be in the middle range of caring for the bees in order to help them populate but also believing in nature to take its course. To be as organic as possible even when that distinction is difficult due to the fact that the bees can travel up to 2 miles to forage. Our hives in Ranchita I can guarantee are 100% organic because they are located on 80 acres high elevation chaparral raw land, surrounded by more raw land and Anza-Borrego Desert State Park.
When we first tasted the honey, so worth all the effort. It was like cream and not as sweet as most honey I’ve tasted. Based on the various shrubs and cacti in the area, the honey will vary month to month and and year to year. This year (2020) the honey is not like the honey from last year. Last year was a superbloom in the desert so the variety of flowers was more than usual. This year is still very fragrant and delicious.
I’ve made a promise to myself. I refuse to collect more than 20% of the honey made by the hives. This is a source of disagreement between Mike and I because he is the retail arm of the company. He needs items to sell. For me I see the honey as food and source of comfort for the bees. Maybe its a little weird and it’s just a feeling I have but I feel that removing too much of their hard earned honey causes stress. And stress leads to sickness, weakness, and other negative impacts. They have that surplus for a reason, almost like how humans should have a rainy day fund. It makes me comfortable to know that in case shit hits the fan, I have a slight cushion to save me. Am I wrong? And it also makes it less like likely that you need to supplement their food source. Its hard to provide an adequate replacement for something they specifically made to nourish themselves.
Savage Bee-ches is more than just that sweet sticky goodness. Craft, small batch, ethically harvested. When you purchase a jar you are supporting a different reason to keep bees. Don’t get me wrong, our honey will most likely be the best you’ve ever had. But there is more. Bees need our help as they have helped us. We plan to expand our beekeeping to include programs to repopulate native bees. Help us help them help us :D. Shop Now!! or camp
0 Comments