Keith Kimes keeps his bees on our farm, which helps to keep our crops pollinated and growing well, and provides his bees with a healthy organic field to live in. He has some hives at our Lewis Road site and some at our home fields. The honey we have available now is from the Lewis Rd. hives and is largely from the spring blossoming of the eucalyptus trees and wildflowers at the top of our farm fields. (You can see some of the hives in the background in the picture to the left from our 2012 spring farm tour.) I asked Keith to write a little bit about his bees and the ups and downs of the honey flow. — Jeanne]
Keeping honeybees is not easy these days with all the parasites and diseases, especially if you are running a chemical free apiary. It seems like every other year a new parasite; fungus, virus or disease is discovered. Our honeybee, apis mellifera, is not native to most of the world. They are originally native to Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East and North Africa but have been spread to pretty much everywhere by European colonists during the colonial era and since. From time to time a parasite or disease manages to crossover to the honeybee from a different bee or insect and results in a new disease or parasite for which the honeybee has little resistance. Before too long it manages to get spread all over the world through our modern transportation system. The latest most detrimental are the Varroa mite (an external mite) and the Nosema ceranae (an intestinal disease) both of which crossed over from the Asian honeybee Apis cerana. This mite and fungal disease are minor problems for their original host but they are devastating to the honeybee. They are likely causing the loss of many of my hives each winter but they are not believed to be the main cause of the colony collapse disorder (CCD) that you have heard so much about. The cause of CCD is very controversial and is likely the result of synergetic stresses too numerous for this article.
We didn’t get much honey last year, with the winter losses and the dry year. Fortunately I am learning more each year, about the bees, the seasonal nectar flow, and how to replace hives lost over winter. The bad news for this year is that we had even less rain then last year and our winter loss was even higher with 60% of the hives dying. The good news is that the warm winter weather allowed the hives to grow strong very early so they could take advantage of the early spring. The winter warmth also caused the feral hives to start swarming earlier than normal. Our procedure of setting out empty bait hives as attractive new homes for feral swarms really paid off this year helping us replace hives lost over the winter. We had 43 hives going into the winter, lost 26 by early spring and have already recovered to over 40. That is the fastest recovery we have had, largely due to the warm winter and the successful use of bait hives in attracting feral swarms. My goal is to have 20 production hives each spring. Allowing a 50% winter loss means we need at least 40 hives going into winter.
Here are some of Keith’s wife Cristy’s thoughts on the honey we have available right now:
Keith’s hives are chemical free. Because of the many pests and diseases that are attacking honey bees now, most beekeepers use medications and pesticides that can end up in the honey. In this country the use of these chemicals is at least regulated, but if you are buying foreign honey–especially honey from China, you don’t have any idea what is in your honey.
The flavor is unsurpassed. The honey was recently harvested (It hasn’t sat around in a warehouse for months) and has both wild flower and eucalyptus nectars. Eucalyptus honey doesn’t taste the way eucalyptus smells–it has a very light, delicate flavor. My favorite!
Eating local honey may help people who have allergies to plants in this area. My husband doesn’t rent out his beehives for pollination–the hives stay right here in the Pajaro Valley.
You can get Kimes Apiary honey at our Farmstand, or by placing an order on our web store to have it delivered with your CSA box.
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