Bakersfield Valley Honey

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Where do you get local honey?

People always ask me, “what made you want to start keeping bees?” Well, besides being yummy, local honey has so many health benefits, and there was just no honey around close enough to call “local.” Plus, I’ve always been fascinated with bees and beekeeping. I just find the entire idea to be very intriguing. I toyed with the idea for a long time, and finally brought the subject up to my husband, Randy. Come to find out, his grandfather kept bees on this farm back in the eighties, and his step mom, Beverly, continued for several years after Daddo passed away. So... Randy was actually on board with the idea! After that, I read everything I could about bees, and tried to learn everything I could. Finally, on March 27, 2014, I ordered my first 3 hives. Randy and I went to pick them up in Midland, and even though I thought I knew enough to be ready for bees, a very steep learning curve was about to commence!

We got the hives home, and let them settle in for a few days before I got into the hives. The first time I opened a hive, I was a nervous wreck. I had my shiny new full length bee suit on, a shiny new hive tool in my hand, and one of Daddo’s old smokers lit and ready to go. I gave the hive a few puffs of smoke, and I pried the the top open. I wasn’t wearing gloves, because I had read that gloves are actually a bad thing when working gentle hives. They make you clumsy, and when you are clumsy, you drop things and squish bees, neither of which the bees will put up with. Anyway, it didn’t take long for the bees to put me at ease. I was truly amazed at how gentle they were; that was when I was hooked.

At first, I just wanted a few hives to supply my family with honey, but when friends and acquaintances found out I had bees, they all asked when I would have some to sell. Well, 3 years later I finally had enough that I could share. I even sell some at our local farmers’ market.

Like I said, there was a huge learning curve, because keeping bees in the desert is far different than anything I had read. We no longer have any of the original 3 hives, but we have learned how to do cutouts and catch swarms, and that is why we still have hives. I have also gotten better at keeping the bees alive and encouraging them to stay. The more I learn about beekeeping, the more I realize I don’t know.

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