Here I am, sneaking in a beekeeper selfie so I can say I actually met Sue Cobey and hung out with master beekeepers Bruce and Marco. It's all about street cred, you know?! so how did I get here? Good question. I've been working with and buying up a bit of Bruce's amazing honey for my small but growing wholesale side business, which will hopefully sustain me and my bees over the winter when funds and honey reserves are low. Bruce has a team of great guys working with him, each with their own set of strengths and abilities. I see Seth and Joe and Pat regularly, but haven't spent much time with the man himself. So I just...
What do you get when you mix one totally exhausted and overwhelmed beekeeper/owner operator, a honey house garage door left wide open for 14 hours on a sunny Sunday, and many many neighbors in a small conservative town? Well, you get the 2014 Everson Beepocalype! On Labor Day weekend this year, I packed up my truck with two markets worth of tents, tables, honey, and high hopes for a great day, as well as my suitcase to go home to Michigan for a week to attend my cousin Abagail's wedding and relax with family on a red eye flight out of seattle after the long day of driving, managing, and selling. I got my first indication that I'd messed...
What a couple of gorgeous days we've had up here in soggy 'ol western Washington! The rains let up and we marched ourselves and hundreds of lbs of frame honey out through muddy fields and farm pastures to get our ladies fed! We hold back tons of honey during extraction to feed back, if needed, to strong springtime clusters. I'm hesitant to say the word Springtime just yet, as we likely will have a million gallons of steadily-pouring rain yet to deal with, but after the recent cold snaps, I knew whatever bees were still alive would likely need a little treat to boost morale in the hive. It was also a nice day to cart out any unused equipment that...
Howdy Y'all! Seems the great big Holiday Season is rapidly approaching, and we all know how intimidating the process of shopping and shipping can be. Here at Sunny Honey, we use the US postal service, mostly because its an american tradition that we'd like to see maintained. The shipping costs, however, are hard to calculate and often times this website over-charges customers. We can easily refund any overcharge and probably have done so with at least 1/4th of all our orders so far. Remember, everybody loves honey, and so many of our products come in tiny sizes...perfect for stocking stuffers! Today we are cookin' up a fresh batch of Beeswax Lip balms, as well as more worker bee body balm....
I moved into a great big warehouse/apartment/production space last December that happens to have historically been a honey business. It has been an art gallery and studio space for a sculptor for the last 20 years, but there remains a small "on your honor" honey stand out front. My landlord has brokered honey from a gal down in Arlington for years, and the customers are both loyal and frequent. Because I rent and not own, I don't have regular access to the honor system honey sales. I f I wanted to, and I did back during tulip season, stand outside all day and sell honey or anything else for that matter, it would be fine. But I mostly...