Winter 2013

Pretty tame winter so far.  Good snow for skiing too.

Sales have been good and we are low in inventory (January).  About the only thing we have lots of are the 3 kg pails.  We packaged more 7 kg pails than last year, but it is looking like we could have done more.

Again we didn't put aside enough for ourselves.  We both thought the other had done it.  Luckily my parents didn't need the 15 lb pail I filled for them, so we still have that.  But August is a long ways off...

October

What a miserable month this has been!  Chilly and grey.  I thought we'd have more Fall to clean up the yard for winter.  Didn't happen but, the bees have all been wrapped for the winter and we wait till spring to see how they did.

We still have honey for sale for all those that might be looking for it.

September

Last drums of honey were shipped out today.  Overall, it turned out to be a pretty good summer.  I was having my doubts with all the wet weather in between the sun.  Now it's time to clean up all the equipment and prepare the bees for winter.

August

Pails are filling. Come and get 'em! We are open Friday to Monday as long as I am home (sometimes we've gone swimming in the creek and occasionally we even need groceries...), so phone in advance and make sure we're around. We'd love to see you!

2012 Honey Sales

We should have fresh honey for sale in a couple of weeks!

Our honey is a clover/alfalfa blend which produces a white honey with a mild flavour. We do not process our honey more than what is required to get it into containers. It is kept at natural hive temperatures or cooler at all times. Prior to filling containers the honey is allowed to settle which lets large particles (mainly wax) float to the top of the honey tank. We then pass the honey through a screen to remove any last wax and bee bits. It satisfies the requirements for "raw" food, as far as I know.

If you come out to the farm to pick up honey, it may still be liquid so be careful the containers don't tip over on your way home! By the beginning of September, most of the honey will have started to crystallize into its natural state (the liquid honey you buy in the supermarket is heat-treated and filtered to retain its liquid consistency).

2012 prices are:
7 kg (15 lbs 7 oz) $38.00
3 kg (6.6 lbs) $22.00
1 kg (2.2 lbs) $9.00

Farm Gate sales are Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday - anytime. BUT please call in advance to make sure we're not down at the creek!
E-mail: modestecreekhoney at gmail DOT com
Phone: (780) 542-2556

Positive energy from a local honey house - Drayton Valley Western Review - Alberta, CA

We were recently featured in the local newspaper for a grant we received from the Alberta government Growing Forward Program along with friends from Dandelion Renewables who installed our solar photo-voltaic system. We are now generating 5 kV of electricity from the sun! Very cool. And very neat to watch our energy usage on the software that is included with the installation.

Positive energy from a local honey house - Drayton Valley Western Review - Alberta, CA

First Round

Almost finished pulling (that means picking up the boxes with the honey in them) our first round of harvest and maybe halfway done extracting it.  Things are looking nice this year in between the torrential rainfalls. Phenomenal amount of white dutch clover out there. Some of the bee yards are going full on. I've had to balance a couple of boxes on my head while loading the truck--just pooped out during the lift since they were so heavy. That can be quite messy.  Some days (if I had the energy) I think that if I ran at a wall and jumped, I would just stick to it with all the honey and propolis coating me. Well, on second thought, I'd probably just leave a sticky schmeer down the wall...  Then I'd have to clean that up...

We generally start packaging during the second round. That way we get the dandelion honey out of the way in the first round. I keep meaning to pull the dandelion earlier, but never seem to be able to get to it. So those of you waiting for honey-- its coming!

The kids have been indulging in some of the comb honey I scavenge for them. I really enjoy the first honey of the season. This year I scraped some burr comb off of a hive lid to get some tasty dandelion honey. It's got a heady aroma, a beautiful golden colour and a bit of bite to it--definitely not for the clover lovers out there.