Hello, honey lovers!
We hope this finds you all well, and enjoying the last few weeks of August as summer starts to wind down.
Val got a little long-winded, so in an attempt to help you sort through your reading, we split this communication down in sections. We believe they are all important :), but you can pick and choose your reading material.
It's that time of year again, and our bees have been very busy from April - July, and have done us proud again this year. We have beelicious honey available, with several different varietals from five locations around the central Iowa locality, including the our newest location, the Blank Park Zoo. The Linden and Black Locust trees had a fairly good bloom period this year, and provided great nectar for Linden/Basswood and Acacia honey.
LOWER 2024 HONEY PRODUCTION
Most beekeepers will tell you that Mother Nature was not as generous this year - beekeepers are experiencing lower than normal honey production, and we had this same experience this year. We had substantial rain this year, which is awesome and we absolutely welcomed the rain, but it does slow down honey production - every time it rains, the nectar is washed off from the plants, and it takes at least 24 hours for the plant to regenerate nectar for the pollinators. In addition, for unknown reasons, our rural colonies decided to requeen the colony, sometimes several times, which causes a severe reduction in the worker bee labor force, with a final outcome of lower honey production for that hive.
BUT, we had a couple of colonies in Des Moines North and Indianola that produced over 200 pounds of honey each, which is amazing!
OUR BUSINESS MODEL
We produce hyper-local honey, which is nectar that is a limited batch, and gathered by our bees in specific geographic areas in central Iowa. Each honey has been produced by the bees in micro-climates, and the taste of the honey varies each year based on conditions in the environment controlled by Mother Nature herself, within a 3-mile radius of the apiary, and collected at the whimsy of the bees! These honeys allow you to taste the local flora of each beeyard, which is unique to that particular neighborhood, . We label our honey based on the the geographic area (urban Des Moines, rural Indianola and rural Runnells with a new apiary at the Blank Park Zoo) that the nectar was collected by our bees as well as the PRIMARY nectar source.
All of our honey is pure, raw and unfiltered. Raw, unfiltered honey is the best form of honey, with the pollen intact within the nectar. The pasteurization of honey through excessive heat destroys all of the beneficial properties of the honey - you can be assured our honey is not pasteurized - we don't even use a heated knife to extract our honey!
CUSTOMER PRIORITY: QUALITY ASSURANCE
As a consumer, it's important to know how your honey is being produced and extracted, because the FDA does not regulate honey production. John has worked in the food industry since 1977 in various roles, but primarily as a Quality Assurance and Research director - his role ensures superior quality in the manufacturing of food products. John's experience in the food industry ensures our extraction and packaging process has been developed from a stellar quality-assurance-based food industry process - you can be assured that quality control is our number one priority. We employ a food-industry quality assurance process to deliver on our commitment to a safe and consistent product for you and your family.
OUR APIARIES
You can read more about our apiaries here. As a brief summary, we have two urban apiaries, including one at the Blank Park Zoo, and three rural apiaries.
HONEY VARIETALS
We have honey with great taste profiles to offer you this year! See OUR BUSINESS MODEL section for more information.
Des Moines Wildflower: Our most robust wildflower honey, and many folks' favorite honey! We have agastache and tall ironweed native plants on our property, which provide the robust taste profile.
Des Moines Linden/Basswood: Basswood/linden honey is said to have natural antibacterial properties, which can actively fight off inflammation and respiratory infections and have a detoxifying effect that supports a healthy liver. The flavor is medium sweet and pleasantly fruity, with a hint of citrus or mint at the end.
Des Moines Black Locust: With vanilla notes and a luminous pale hue, our premium acacia honey touches the palate with delicate perfection.
Runnells West Wildflower: Mild, nice and sweet, with a clover influence – just a lovely wildflower nectar.
Runnells North Wildflower: More robust wildflower with an alfalfa influence. The landowner planted native agastache, so this honey is similar to the Des Moines wildflower.
Indianola Wildflower: Fairly mild and sweet - land is on CRP!
Blank Park Zoo Wildflower: A mild wildflower with a Black Locust influence.
2024 HONEYCOMB
The honey production this year was hardest hit in our honeycomb offerings. The bees absolutely refused to produce Ross Round comb honey - and we tried everything to influence our bees. We have a limited inventory of cut comb honey. The honeycomb is available in several different sizes - we added half-size cut comb containers to our inventory - we will be offering 4x4 squares and 2x4 rectangles of cut comb this year.
Comb honey is so impressive, and absolutely beautiful to look at! It is the most raw form of honey, and the manner in which honey was consumed prior to the invention of the extractor. It is gorgeous to look at and just as delicious to eat. Honestly, if you have never tried it, well, you are missing out!
Honeycomb typically sells out quickly - and with our limited inventory, you don't want to miss out!
HONEY TASTING EXPERIENCE
We offer a taste test at our home of our various honey varietals! You can sign-up for a taste test by contacting us via our contact page on the website. When contacting us, please indicate several days of the week and times that you would be available, and how many people would be coming. This honey experience is free, and we look forward to spending some time with you!
OFFLINE PAYMENTS
For local customers, the SHOP page allows a person to choose HOME BUSINESS PICKUP, as well as an OFFLINE PAYMENT option under the PAYMENT SECTION on the CHECKOUT PAGE. You can continue to pay for your products using Apple Pay, Venmo as friends, or Cash as you pick up your products. When doing so, if we are able to offer a lower price (some packaging is very expensive and we are unable to offer a discount), you will get about a 3% discount. You can use the site to place your order, and I will reach out and let you know what your total purchase price is - just like in the past, but made easier by choosing your products online!
POLLINATOR EDUCATIONAL PRESENTATIONS
Val retired in 2023, and in 2024 created presentations to help educate future pollinator ambassadors. She had the opportunity to work with some second-grade classes in Des Moines and Ames, and these events were the most joyful experiences! At the end of the presentation, we play Jeopardy, and it is heartwarming to hear the teams screaming (yes, screaming!) when they get the answer correct. It was amazing how much they absorbed in a 45-minute period.
She also has an adult presentation, and has been to several nursing homes, and has an event scheduled at the Nevada Public Library in September.
Why are we telling you this? Just in case you know of someone looking for a presenter, and interested in educating folks on what they can do to help our pollinators. The Monarch butterfly is one of our favorite pollinators, and we have only seen two Monarchs so far this year, and we have large landscaped areas with all of the plants the Monarchs love. In reading articles on the Internet, we are sad to relay that the Monarch population is down 60% this year due to habitat loss in Mexico. Folks, we need to start paying attention to what is happening in our environment, and doing all we can to make a difference, or we will continue to see a decline in our wildlife populations, and extinction of our species. In this instance, Mexico is deforesting the areas that the Monarchs use to overwinter - we need to put pressure on government officials to elicit changes.
If you or someone you know is interested in scheduling an educational event, please reach out to Val via our contact page.
THANK YOU!
We sincerely thank you for your patronage. Please reach out to us if you have any questions or need any assistance! We are here to help! Our contact information is at the bottom of this communication.
John and Val
Just Iowa Honey
