Here at Heritage Wings Farm we have multiple generations of honeybee lovers. This all started back in 1975 when head beekeeper Bob inherited a few hives from his wife Janice’s late uncle. Even though he already had a whole farm to take care of, he added the bees to his plate. Since then, he has raised multiple kids and grandkids who have followed suit in his adoration for these magnificent little creatures. Now along with his daughter Jennifer and his granddaughter Becca they have built up the farm, and it has blossomed into this beautiful Apiary. What makes this apiary different from most is the dedication to varietal honey. Now you may be wondering what that could possibly mean, since the average consumer only knows honey as just that, the sticky sweet substance that we add to tea and treats. But with some precision and dedication we have perfected melding agriculture and beekeeping. By planting different flowers, fruits and trees that all blossom at different times we are able to separate out each type of honey our bees make for us, giving us drastically different looking and tasting honeys. In spring we see locust trees in bloom, providing a very light-colored honey with a delicate sweet, almost floral taste. Soon after in early summer we start to see the blueberries and raspberries bloom which give us our bramble variety which is more amber colored and has a wonderful fruity aroma and classic honey flavor with just a hint of fruitiness. In mid-summer our buckwheat crop is in full bloom giving us a very dark colored robust flavored honey (this is best in baking to really bring out that honey flavor) which is very pungent with a sharp honey taste. Finally in early fall we have our sunflower fields in full bloom which provide a very rich amber colored honey with a sweet nutty taste. While the bees will travel 1-3 miles away from the hive to get nectar, since we place the hives so close to our fields they are primarily going to those flowers we have in bloom right on their front lawn. By monitoring the pollen color on their legs and the color of the honey in the frames we have pinpointed which blossoms they are favoriting at that time of year. Most beekeepers just do one or two big harvests each year and everything gets mixed together creating “wildflower” or “clover” honey, we do multiple smaller harvests that coincide with the blooming of our different crops. It is a bit more work, but the result speaks for itself. We hope you enjoy our different honeys as much as we do.