Generations Apiary

04/11/2024

🌞🐝 Spring is now fully upon us and the bees are loving it! Hopefully no more below zero nights 🙏

The queen bees are busy laying - here's a couple of active queens from this week, plus a brood frame filling up with fresh pollen which the bees are collecting to feed their little ones.

02/23/2024

I had a truly amazing experience down in Florida last week working the bees, making hundreds of nucleus colonies, with Deeringer Honey, a commercial beekeeper with almost 2,000 hives.

Learned some techniques; met some awesome beekeepers and queen breeders; toured some inspiring operations. Even the drives there and back were educational as I listened to many beekeeping podcasts and a classic book, "The Lives of Bees" by Tom Seeley.

02/05/2024

Just stocked the shelves at Glenburnie Grocery, one of Bob and his father's long-time retailers of Stevenson's honey. I've mixed in the old labels with the new Generations Apiary labels and put up little signs to help with the transition for the customers.

Glenburnie Grocery is an amazing family business to work with and shop at!

02/01/2024

My oldest son Isaac helped turn this little yellow bell into a member of the hive. Using it at the front entrance to my shop, so visitors can ring if I'm back in the bottling room 🐝🍯💗

01/26/2024

Thanks to Jolene for this great pic last weekend at my Memorial Centre Farmers' Market booth, where I sell our delicious unpasteurized honies every Sunday (10am-2pm winter hours).

I won't be there this Sunday, as we are heading north, chasing snow for cross-country skiing en famille, but I am almost every week, and happy to chat bees and offer taste tests of all our flavours:
Wildflower, late-summer dark, buckwheat, creamed, creamed cinnamon, creamed raspberry, with more in development...

01/23/2024

I was out checking in on a few more beeyards yesterday. Beautiful day. Beautiful snow-capped hives!! (Please like this new FB page)

Been doing a lot of homework these past few months on research and varying northern beekeepers practices around "ventilated" vs. "condensing" hives https://bluetoad.com/publication/?i=646365.... This is a huge debate, which basically comes down to whether or not colonies need a top entrance for ventilation. There's a lot to the discussion - no top entrance = less heat loss = less need for bees to eat honey stores and vibrate to stay warm = less need for cleansing flights. BUT no top entrances could be trouble if the bottom entrance freezes shut and fresh air flow/the exit is totally cut off. There's also the question of where moisture condenses inside the hive, which depends on your insulation approach and outdoor temps... the key is not to get the cluster wet, but for them to have access to water to drink.

Curious about the experiences and views of other beekeepers. I took the middle road, after an email exchange and phone chat with Etienne Tardif, the Yukon beekeeper who has researched hive thermodynamics intensely and speaks across North America on the subject https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAjgbQKtcBY - I partly sealed my top entrances, but left room for bees and air to exit/enter.

01/20/2024

First post on this new FB page for Generations Apiary. Excited and honoured to have combined the operations of retiring beekeepers Bob Stevenson (R.C. Stevenson & Father, est 1958) and Elaine Peterson (Bee Happy Honey) on Jan 1st.

Please look for my honey in local stores and at the Memorial Centre Farmers' Market, every Sun, 10am-2pm in the barn beside the M Centre parking lot - many yummy local producers there weekly + live music!

Where to Buy Generations Apiary honey is available in stores and at farmers markets across the region*Please note that our honey may be mixed with R.C. Stevenson & Father labeled stock during the first months of 2024 as the business transitions Retail Stores Amherstview Foodland, 3 Manitou Cres, Amh...