Beekeeping in 2009..Lookin’ in the Back Mirror
Chef Isaac | September 30, 2009
After the flooding in the valley in late 2008/early 2009, beekeepers hoped that this would be a great year. But things just don’t always go our way.Early spring brought a lot of work in the bee yard, especially the bees in the lower valley. Two spots where we keep
bees out in the Duval area got major flooding. After the intial shock of “where is all my stuff”, it was like looking in the “Wheres Waldo” books to try to find frames, bee boxes, bricks, feeding cans and everything else in those yards. That was somewhat fun! One positive thing that came about is that the flood water pushed the blackberry bushes out of the way for the time being.
After I made serval trips to and from the bee yards, everything seemed to be cleaned up. I took some time to drive out to each bee yard and took stock of what bees where alive and what bees went to “honeybee heaven”. This, by far, is not my favorite thing to do but I did find out that I needed to replace several dead hives and decided to buy what we call packaged bees. I think I got around 40 or so. So many packages translates into hard work with long hours so I decided to round up some friends, both newwbees to beekeeping and some old bees (sorry Jason… I 
luv you!)
We had a great time. Everyone got to shake several packages of bees and it seemed like everyone had a blast. After the hard work (and yes, it was hard work), I treated everyone to a nice lunch in Fall City. What a great end to the day!
Since I took the culinary instructor position at Le Cordon Bleu, I am having more time to grow Sweet as can BEE so this year, Angela and I thought it would be a great idea to do a farmers market. We were execpted in Columbia City Farmers Market in Seattle. Well, if you know me at all, one is never enough. One market turned into two, which turned into 4. Four went to 6 very quickly and the next day we were at 8 farmers markets a week. Angela was working the markets full time, I was working the markets full time and Cherisse, a new member of our family, was always working the markets full time. Working the farmers markets are a blaste. Meeting the other farmers, establishing that relationship, and nibbling on their offerings that they produce is amazing. Fresh strawberries right from the ground that morning. Freshly picked asparagus for tonights dinner. Yum! Beef jerky from organic cows.
Fresh apple cider. The list goes on and it is all amazing!
Then came the truck wreck on I 405 early one morning. Lets not talk about that one…..
But with working many markets does translate into more work on the back end. Sari (my wife) was at her wits end and almost kicked me out of the house. Everything at our house was sticky. Want a glass out of the cupboard? No problem…. expect some sticky substance on your hand. So, with my wife fuming in the back ground, Angela and I found a small little house we could turn into our honey house. Now we have a place to work and I love it!
Of course it felt like we lived there, working so much. Bottle after bottle of honey to be poured. It makes me tired just thinking about it! To be honest, we had a hard time keeping up with our orders and equally as hard to keep up with our line of creamed honeys. But it was like another full time job. Once you got used to it, it was “easy”. And thanks to Angela and Cherisse… (thank you tons!)
Since Angela and I focused on our retail market sales, I found myself with less and less time with the bees. So, I called in my English friend David. He and is daughter did so much for us. Took care of the bees, kept me updated, and did everything he was asked. Thank you David and daughter. That helped out so much.
The honey harvest wasnt at its best. Yes we did take some off and enough to keep going at the markets but I have had to cut back on 5 gallon bucket orders to make sure we please our retail customers. Hopefully next year will be good!
September finally came a long and there was a little relief. A couple of the markets shut down for the season but we were still hard at work with all the other markets. David kept up with the bees, Angela switched some of her efforts to whole sale and Cherisse and I worked the markets. That pretty much summed up September.
October came about and a couple more of the markets shut down for the season. Angela put more effort into whole sales and Cherisse continued to do some of the markets and also help out a lot in the honey house. She made all the honey sticks and kept the honey house nice and clean. Keeping it nice and clean was tough at the time. We didnt have any racks to put boxes of honey on and there were some days that it got so cluttered on the floor, you wouldnt think there was floor. So, after nagging from Cherisse and Angela (yes, it takes a lot of nagging) I bought 4 stainless steel racks and put them together. I gotta say it is nice to have them!
October also brought the help from my wife, Sari. She played (and still plays) a critical roll in helping me fill jars and get things done at the honey house. She has also done some markets and craft shows too and it has been great. I need all the help I can get. Thank you Sari for helping out.
Now it is November and as I type this, it is pouring down rain and all I can think about is the bees and taking a little break. Rumor has it that they are building a platform for my bees in one of the bee yards in the valley. I can’t wait to see!
We are all still busy but not with the farmers markets per say but more with craft shows. They are a different beast all together and they seem to take more energy to do. But they are starting to slow down as well.
As I look back in 2009, it was a year of growth. We moved out of the house into a honey house. Angela and Cherisse joined the team, sales grew, our creamed honey line grew, and we started moving in the whole sale direction.
I want to thank all of our customers who really do support us. Thank yo ufor eating local raw honey. It does make a difference.
I also wanted to thank Angela for all of her help. It has been an amazing, fun, steesfull, and sometimes tearful year of growth. Thank you to Cherisse for joining our team and helping us stay organized. Thank you Sari for being so helpful when I needed it most. And Dave, thank you too for all of your help!
