Almost There!
This past month has us feeling all the excitement!
We are right on the brink of the honey flow which means we have about a month before we need the honey house to be extraction ready… eek! Our bees are killing it with no signs of swarming yet, and our field is blooming with all the gorgeous shades of spring. All in the nick of time too as we have basically sold out of honey! In between all the items on our to-do lists we have been celebrating birthdays, I went to my last competition of the season with my students, and Lucas and I made a reaction video to Meghan Markle’s new TV show, ha! You can find it on our YouTube channel whenever you feel like being entertained.
Here is what we have been up to this past month:
Honey House
Between birthdays and travel for work, we have been busyyyyy. Part of that busyness has been with this new build. The honey house has had some major work done! Drywall is up on the walls, in the closets and on the ceilings. This took quite a bit of time but was made much easier on everyone’s backs with a lift we bought. Hoping to reuse that if we ever get to add on to our own house haha. Mudding has also begun on all those nooks and crannies. We also have been cutting and planing wood to use for shelving and designing all the storage that is going to be built for inside. This includes a rolling work station for me! I will have cubbies for all my wax and color blocks built in and I can’t stop dreaming about it!! We also cleaned up the vintage family-owned extractor we will be using in the future. We just have a few pieces to clean up and attach and then we will be able to bolt it into the floor!
All the mudding so far as of April 6, 2025
Skincare
With sandal weather approaching, people have figured out how great our beeswax skincare line works! We have been processing more orders for our lotion bars and whipped beeswax cream than usual and I am so excited to help people with those dry skin/eczema/cracked heels issues this season! I also have been playing with a lavender scent from essential oils, and I have been loving it. If the shea butter smell is not for you, be on the lookout for our lavender scented lotion bars out oh so soon!
Candles
We had a very large order go out and I can NOT wait to share it with you all! It was a custom order for a friend and the colors she picked are simply stunning. You will be able to purchase through her on her website and I will share it when it’s available!
New Products
We have been working so hard to get these beeswax wraps out to you!! The packaging process has been way more involved than I ever imagined. We are getting a custom box made for us as well as a design to be printed on it. This process is just taking more time as there are so many moving parts. The things that are important to us for this packaging are:
biodegradable materials
ability to see the patterns of the wraps before you buy
enough coverage that your food wraps aren’t sitting out in the environment ( that just seems gross to me that the material you are using to cover your food will be out where anyone and anything can touch it??)
it has all the information you need to use and care for them printed on them
We still are in the final stages so as you have figured out, we are not releasing these at the time we thought. They should still be ready to go for spring and summer picnic/garden harvesting/berry picking season though!
We also have begun to lightly plan our next product, but know we can’t start creating and testing until we can get more return on what we are already offering. This crushes my creative heart haha but cash flow is the name of the game. So until the wraps go out and they start doing well and we finish up the honey house, we are stuck in a waiting game. But I know you all will LOVE the wraps and I think be even more excited about what we have coming down the pipeline next.
Events
So far we are signed up for several events this summer and officially have a spot at the Bedford Farmer’s Market this year! Our first date will be May 3. We really hope to see you locals there this summer and fall. We also are going to be returning to the Blue Ridge Bee Festival this September, and it’s going to be even bigger and better than last year. Amazingly talented musicians and awesome speakers will be coming to this event along with the return of all the kid fun! We will be sponsoring this year and will be getting a bigger space to help accommodate you all a bit better haha. Hopefully no melting product and crowded tents this year! We will also have our honey taste testing still available so you can taste the difference between batches/harvests from this year. Mark your calendars for September 13!
What’s Next
We will be completing mudding, installing HVAC, finishing the floor with an epoxy finish, putting in plywood in the warming room, and a few other details to get this honey house ready. We are also at the point where we need to start checking our hives weekly so you will see plenty of updates with that. Catch you up more soon!