Cultivating Honey in Alberta
Our Meadery, Stolen Harvest, is located in Grovedale, Alberta. On our acreage we grow the majority of the flowers and a lot of the fruits that are incorporated into our mead. The rest we wild harvest from the forest and glean from regional spray-free farms. But before we can even make mead we begin with the honey.
Bees need flowers to collect pollen from in order to make honey. We work with beekeepers that understand the importance of variety when it comes to feeding the bees. The beekeepers we work with select locations for their hives to best feed their bees a nutritious fodder blend; instead of monocrop fields. This means, not only are the bees healthier for the micronutrients they are able to source but also our honey reflects this nutrient profile. And, more importantly from the Mazer standpoint (think Vintner but for honey), we have a variety of flavour profiles to choose from. A very important point when building mead recipes!
We first got our bees in the spring of 2016. I really had no idea what I was doing but read everything I could get my hands on about beekeeping. Most notably, anything about natural beekeeping methods. As with all my agricultural ventures, I was not wanting to use chemicals, antibiotics, or other intrusive methods. The bees managed to thrive that first summer So much so half the hive decided to swarm one summer day right before my very eyes. Sadly, unprepared, all I could do was watch with fascination as they prepared for the mass exodus.
Despite this set-back, I managed to harvest nearly 80 pounds of honey from the one hive that year. The following year I had two hives and was prepared and learned to deal with swarm prevention. By the end of the summer I had several hundred pounds of honey laying about the place and not a lot of idea about what to do with it besides give it away to friends and family. Depending on the year, we can produce anywhere from 40 - 100 pounds of honey per hive. More if we set them up differently!
That fall, I began looking for ways of utilizing the bounty and entered the realm of our ancestors. Down a fascinating rabbit hole and reaching back to more than 10,000 years ago where someone discovered the magical world of fermentation and our love affair with alcohol commenced, most likely with the glorious beverage of mead.
And this is where my fascination with the ancient brew began … on Christmas Day 2017 with snow melted water and frozen Saskatoon berries from the freezer and an over abundance of forest flower honey from our farm.
