Wildflower
Meadowsweet and clover. Bright, floral, a quick clean finish.
Twelfth season — we harvest after each bloom
Raw honey from hives that never leave the valley.
Ruth keeps eighty hives within three miles of one ridge, and because the bees forage only what grows here, every jar tastes like the week it was made.
The Honey
What does a valley taste like?
We harvest after each bloom and extract cold, in the shed, the same week the frames come off. Nothing blended, nothing heated past hive temperature.
Basswood
Linden bloom on the ridge line. Cool, minty, almost menthol at the finish. Eighty jars only. Back next July.
Buckwheat
Molasses-dark and bold. For gingerbread, baked beans, and stiff tea.
Creamed
Whipped until spreadable. Fine-set and smooth — never turns gritty.
Beyond Honey
What else the hive gives
Wax, comb, and the things we make from them over the winter.
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Beeswax candles
Hand-dipped, twenty-hour burn, cotton wick.
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Comb honey
A square of comb cut to order, in its own tray.
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Gift boxes
Three jars, a wooden dipper, kraft paper and twine.
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Beeswax wraps
A set of three. Cuts plastic out of the kitchen.
To order, call (802) 555-0193 or email us. We ship on Mondays.
Email an orderThe Beekeeper
Ruth.
80hives, none farther than three miles
Ruth Okafor kept two hives behind a hardware store in 2014, because a neighbor swore the clover that year was unlike anything. The neighbor was right. There are eighty hives now, all within three miles of the ridge. The bees have never been trucked anywhere.
We harvest after each bloom and extract cold, in the shed, the same week the frames come off. Nothing is blended, nothing is heated past hive temperature. If a season is strange, the jar is strange. That is the point.
Ruth still opens every hive by hand — no blower, no rush. Come stand at the fence line in June and listen to four million conversations.
Hive no. 14 — the original colony, still running.
- pounds a year
- 4,000
- Seasons
- 12
Adopt a Hive
One hive, your name on the board
A share of your hive’s harvest is yours. We jar it, label it with your name, and hold it at the stand until you come get it.
$120 / season
Adopt a hiveThis farm is made up, and so is the hive. The button opens your own email app.
- Name board. Hand-painted, hung on your hive at the fence line.
- Four quart jars. Reserved from your hive’s summer extract, labeled with your name.
- Season letters. Three emails a season: first flight, the flow, extract day. Photos included.
- Visit day. One suited-up visit in June. You hold the frame with the queen on it.
Eighty hives. Three miles. One valley.
Nothing is trucked anywhere
Find Us
The stand under the basswood
The stand sits at the end of the ridge road, under the old basswood tree. Take a jar, leave cash or scan the code. We count on you; you count on us.
Open daily Cash box on the shelf, QR code on the post.
| When | Where | Look for |
|---|---|---|
| Saturdays | Cedar Creek Market | May–Oct · booth 12, the yellow tent |
| Wednesdays | Valley Co-op stand | Year-round · inside, by the dairy wall |
| First Sundays | Mill Town Fair | Jun–Sep · under the grange hall awning |
Also on their shelves
The Corner Larder
Cedar Creek · year-round
Flour & Flame Bakery
Mill Town · they bake with our buckwheat
Greenfield Food Co-op
Greenfield · year-round
Jar Drop
Get an email when a new harvest is ready
Four or five emails a year, one line each. No noise, no newsletters about newsletters.