How did you get into beekeeping?
I started keeping bees at my husband’s, Ed, suggestion. He was a mead maker in need of reliably unadulterated honey. I was a frustrated farm girl with nothing to farm. There was a local annual bee keeping school, so I went. The rest is history! Eventually, Ed attended bee school and became my faithful assistant.
What brought you to Asheville?
I came to Western North Carolina from eastern Virginia to attend an Outward Bound course, about 26 or 27 years ago. During one of those long stretches where you’re left to your own devices in the woods, I decided when it was all done, I would go home, pack up my stuff and come live the next chapter of my life in Western North Carolina. At the time, I didn't even know about Asheville; it wasn't until sometime later I was able to figure out where our Outward Bound course had taken us (deep into the Pisgah Forest).
Western North Carolina is conducive to our business, and sometimes not so conducive, for some different reasons. The terrain is perfect, the floral variety is superb and the weather is (for the most part) okay. The mix of urban, suburban and rural land is surprisingly beneficial. When a late spring freeze has decimated the countryside blooms, typically whatever is blooming in the city comes through just fine. Last year's amazingly abundant black locust flow was a prime example of this phenomena.
What is naturally produced honey?
Our naturally produced honey involves roughly three areas of concern:
- Keeping the bees without pesticides, antibiotics or chemicals of any kind.
- Feeding bees only what they would feed themselves: their own honey and pollen.
- Processing honey only to the extent that it is removed (in most cases) from the comb, and otherwise left unfiltered and unheated so as to leave the natural nutritional content intact.
What are the benefits of naturally produced honey?
With naturally produced honey we have all the goodness inherent in the honey itself, plus a deeper stewardship of the bees. In addition to not getting residue of pesticides and antibiotics in their honey, consumers have the satisfaction of knowing the bees have been fostered with respect and tenderness, rather than simply kept. To me, this is the most powerful benefit of naturally produced honey. To the consumer, there are nutritional benefits. Thorough and highly sophisticated analyses of honey have been done, all of which help us understand that while honey is a wonderful sweetener, it is an even more wonderful food. We know that honey is nourishing, and healing, as well.
How is Asheville conducive to your beekeeping business?
Somehow coming to Asheville has put us on a path to believing we can do here what is in our hearts. Whether it is making something, growing something, writing, teaching, entertaining, healing or nourishing. In Asheville, the possibilities are endless.
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