Honey

Hamilton Hills Honey is a registered business (unlike my other ventures) and was started in 2014. I am the sole proprietor and the registered beekeeper that started it all. Of course I couldn't do this without my family with my dad being very interested in the whole process and helping thoroughly. My brother and mom also helped out when needed.

                 My interest in beekeeping really began while I was taking my agriculture diploma. All of the other kids had farms to go back to in the summer when school was out and I really had nothing comparable. Starting a beekeeping business caught my attention when I found out how interesting it was (I love insects in general) and that it was relatively less expensive to get into (and the future potential was high). The pollination process is also wildly intriguing and the decline of the honey bee was also on everyone’s mind. Seeing the ecological and economic importance of the honey bee, I decided to get involved in this industry.

                I started with taking course on beekeeping at the University of Manitoba taught by Rheal Lafreniere (Provincial Apiarist of Manitoba) and David Ostermann (Pollination Apiarist). After that I read a few more books, got up to date on the current issues and had my first run at producing honey by starting off with 5 hives. Ian Steppler who also lives near Miami has been my mentor for this entire journey (see his blog at http://www.stepplerfarms.com/StepplerHoney.html) He has a full size honey production facility (150,000 pounds of honey produced annually) and has been gracious enough to lend me some knowledge and help me avoid some slip-ups along the way. Along with that, he has also allowed me to use his working crew, extraction and storage facility. A great mentor goes a long way; it helps you avoid silly mistakes and needless flailing in the dark. I still have a long, long ways to go if I ever want to be as successful as him.

                All in all, I was really happy with my first year. We managed to carry all five hives to the end of the season with only minor bumps and scratches. I still need to invest some money into better equipment within the following years and gradually grow my colonies to a profitable size while still being kind to the bees.  This summer I will be looking to running 10 hives which should be twice as exciting as 5. If anyone is still looking for honey, has run out, or wants to try mine let me know. I still have some left over and I also do deliveries.  Its smooth, creamed, white canola honey if anyone is interested!