2020 Killer Bees Honey Wildflower Harvest
Due to the horrendously late spring here in Western North Carolina, and as mentioned in my previous post, our honey harvests were delayed this year. Fortunately, the girls made up for the lost time and did their best. All of our hives were able to build up their own 50 pounds of honey for the upcoming winter. We then super’d the hives —honey we eventually take from them for ourselves and customers. Luckily, most of the hives were able to produce at least one super of harvestable honey beyond the 50 pounds of 'winter' honey.
The late-blooming of the forest is making for interesting 2020 Smoky Mountain Wildflower Honey. The first early spring nectar producers are sumac, dandelion, black gum, persimmon, raspberry, and other assorted flora. This is usually followed by heavy tulip poplar and ladino clover nectars. But the late spring caused everything with the exception of tulip poplar to bloom all at once; all the tulip poplar buds were frozen in an April frost and fell to the ground.
While harvesting the spring flows, we noticed two distinct honey types. One is a dark, slightly sweet honey while the other is a lighter, more subtle, floral honey and not as sweet. Because neither is a monofloral varietal, we are not differentiating them and both are being sold as “Smoky Mountain Wildflower”. They are now for sale on our site and it’s the luck of the draw who gets light or dark honey.
Per our policy, this wildflower honey, as all our honey, was analyzed for any impurities, sugar adulterations, and toxins by Sweetwater Science Labs in MO. Once again our honey came back as pure as the nectar from whence it came in the Pisgah National Forest. The full report can be seen here.
“Pure. Raw. Uncensored” isn’t meaningless marketing hyperbole. It’s a core value. Purity and total transparency is not only our mission but is our core value at Killer Bees Honey. Try our 2020 Carolina Clover Honey or Sourwood Honey as well, and you'll see how good pure honey tastes.
