The process · Eight steps, one year

From hive to porch, with nobody in the middle.

Here's exactly what happens between a bee landing on a clover bloom in July and a jar showing up at your door in October. No marketing language. Just the work.

The steps

Eight things we do. Nothing else.

  1. 01

    Site the hives

    January

    We split older colonies and place new boxes by hand. Forty-two hives sit across three pastures we either own or lease from neighbors who like having pollinators around. Nothing on a flatbed. Bees forage what's local.

  2. 02

    Watch the bloom

    Feb–Sep

    Every varietal needs a window. Orange blossom is two weeks in February. Tupelo is three weeks in May. Miss it and the bees move on to something else. We track bloom every day, by hive, in a paper notebook.

  3. 03

    Pull a single varietal

    Per bloom

    When a hive has worked one flower long enough to fill a super, we pull those frames. If a hive went hybrid, half clover, half something else, those frames don't get a varietal label. They get sold as wildflower or fed back to the bees.

  4. 04

    Uncap by hand

    Same day

    Heated knives are faster but they scorch the surface honey. We use a cold knife and a roller. The wax cappings come off, get saved, and turn into the candles we sell at the holiday market.

  5. 05

    Cold-spin extract

    Same day

    A hand-cranked radial extractor at room temperature. No heat, no pressure, no centrifuge tricks. The honey comes out slow and exactly the temperature it was in the comb.

  6. 06

    Coarse-strain once

    Next day

    Through a 600-micron stainless sieve. That catches wax bits and the occasional dead bee. It leaves pollen, propolis, and everything else that makes raw honey raw. We don't pressure-filter. We never will.

  7. 07

    Jar, label, date

    Within 48h

    12-ounce hex jars, hand-filled with a stainless gate. Labels go on by hand, with the hive number and pull date written in pencil. Anything sitting in a bucket more than two days doesn't get a varietal jar, it goes into the wildflower line.

  8. 08

    Box and ship

    Tue & Fri

    Recycled corrugated, no plastic, no foam, no peanuts. We use cornstarch packing fill. Each box gets a card with the jar number, your name, and a one-line note about the season the honey came from.

A note on "raw"

"Raw" isn't a regulated word. A lot of grocery-store honey labeled raw has been heated to 110-140°F to keep it pourable. Ours never goes above room temperature. That's the only definition we use.

Asked often

Reasonable questions, plain answers.

My honey crystallized. Is it bad?

It's fine. Crystallization is what raw honey does. Set the jar in warm water (not hot, not the microwave) for ten minutes and it'll loosen back up. Tupelo is the one varietal that won't crystallize, but everything else will eventually.

How long does a jar last?

Indefinitely. Honey doesn't spoil. They've found edible honey in Egyptian tombs. Keep it sealed, out of direct sunlight, and it's good as long as you can hold onto it.

Is it safe for kids?

Not for babies under one year old. Raw honey can carry trace botulism spores that infant guts can't handle. After age one, it's fine. This is a hard rule with all raw honey, not specific to ours.

Do you ship internationally?

Not yet. Customs paperwork for raw honey is a beast and we'd rather spend that time with the bees. U.S. only for now.

Will local honey help my allergies?

Some people swear by it. The theory is that trace local pollen builds tolerance. The science is mixed and we're not doctors. What we'll say: our honey has its pollen still in it, because we don't filter it out. Make of that what you will.

Can I visit the bees?

We do a couple of open hive days each summer. Sign up on the contact page and we'll add you to the list. Closed-toe shoes, long pants, no fragrance, and we'll bring the veils.

Taste the work.

If the process sounds like what you want in a honey, the shelf is right through here.

Shop the jars Ask something