Bee Keeping

Photo by Landon Sveinson

The Harbour House Hotel was Buzzed about the Day of the Honey Bee!

Salt Spring Island, British Columbia celebrated the Day of the Honey Bee on May 29, 2011.  The hives at the Harbour House Hotel on Salt Spring Island have been buzzing since their honey took home multiple blue ribbons at the annual Fall Fair. The organic farm at the Harbour House Hotel is a magical spot for the bees to call home.  The variety of resident spring flowers not only gives the bees plenty of nectar but also give their honey a lovely floral flavour. 

Only in its third year Beekeeping is fairly new to the Harbour House Hotel.  “Beekeeping is like an adventure,” says Jack Woodward, owner of the Harbour House Hotel and third generation beekeeper. “It is always exciting when it’s time to open the hives, see the thousands of bees buzzing and try to find the queen bee amongst them.” The hotel gets its bees from New Zealand where being in the southern hemisphere works perfectly with our seasons. About 150 pounds of honey was produced at the hotel in 2010 with the majority of it going to the Harbour House Restaurant to be used in salad dressings, desserts and sauces. 

Participation in Beekeeping workshops at the Harbour House are kept very intimate and are only open to a few hotel guests at a time. Woodward is very enthusiastic about educating people, not only about the sweet results of Beekeeping, but on the importance of bees to our environment.  The staff of the hotel is not only trained for their specific job in their department but also get to learn how Beekeeping works so they can share the information with guests.

Harbour House Hotel will be hosting Beekeeping workshops this summer to a few fortunate hotel guests who will be celebrating a Day in the life of the Honey Bee with the Queen (bee) herself!

Photo by Landon Sveinson