Those that know me, also know that my dad is a beekeeper – or apiarist, if you want to get technical. He started it out about 15 years ago as a hobby with just a couple hives in the garden and it has grown into a full time gig with 150+ hives. You can find his honey locally in Spokane at Main Market Co-op, Simply Northwest, Rusty’s Produce and others. Look for this label:

I have gotten the opportunity to help him out several times over the years. While my dad forgoes gloves and a suit, opting to only wear a veil, I suit up head to toe. He says wearing gloves restrict his fingers too much. Needless to say he gets stung several times a day, it just doesn’t bother him much.

Most years he ships some of his bee hives to farmers in warmer climates for the winter. Almond farmers are said to get triple the almond yield just by putting one hive per acre on their farm. Some apple farmers in Central Washington also use my dad’s bees on their farms. But from spring to fall he keeps his bees here locally in the Inland Northwest, producing some of the finest local honey available.