This year we had all new hives, and didn't expect a lot of surplus honey from them.

Typically honey bees consume about 8 pounds of honey to make one pound of wax, so building wax for new frames can take a hit on the amount of surplus honey at the end of the season.

Which is why we were surprised to have 52 pounds (4 gallons) of surplus honey to extract this fall.


We gave a lot of it away to our friends, family and neighbors, and did not intend to sell any. This year has gone by quickly, and we just haven't had time to advertise the honey for sale.

We've discovered quite a few good recipes that use honey as a natural sweetener and we've been using the remaining jars of honey for home cooking.

A couple of months ago, one of the friends we gave honey to came back and asked to purchase additional jars from us. We happily sold them a few jars and thanked them for thinking of us.

Recently they came back with a request to purchase several more jars. I'm excited to see how easy it is to sell local, natural honey around town and have repeat customers come back asking for more!

In 2012 with hives full of drawn out comb, we expect an even larger honey crop. That being said, I've already started working (behind the scenes) on a new section of the blog to market and sell honey in the future.

When it's ready for the unveiling, anyone interested will be able to choose from a variety of size jars of honey, and have their order shipped the next day.

Anyone who lives close by can always drop by the house and hand select their own jar too.