Sarasota Honey Company: Spring Honey Report

I want to start out by apologizing for not adding our spring honey report to this month’s newsletter…which you can now find on our website blog, “News from the hive”

It feels like it’s a whole new world for us in the beekeeping community. The term we hear quite a bit is every month it’s a “crapshoot” Mother Nature is giving us. The beekeepers that have been in the business for over 30 years I have never experienced the unpredictability that the last 2 years have given us.

2022 was the hardest year yet for all Florida Beekeeper’s. Most commercial beekeepers count on getting 14 plus barrels of orange blossom honey. But in 2022 most only got 10 buckets at best. At Sarasota Honey Co were hoping that the storm would be mother nature’s way of pruning the orange trees, and that it would promote new abundant growth in the spring time.

Unfortunately, it looks like the 2023 Florida orange blossom honey is going to be worst than 2022. So far we were only able to get two buckets. The groves are just not producing, some think it’s due to the storm others think it has been due to the lack of rain. Rain makes nectar… nectar makes honey. We reached out to other Beekeepers to see what their experience has been with the groves, and it’s all the same news nothing is really happening.

One Beekeeper friend told us that the bayfront and inner coastal areas is starting to open up. “What!?” Alma said in disbelief. “We don’t move the bees to the coastal areas until May! Late April at the earliest”

The days that followed she started to see that the bees were starting to eat everything that they collected from the orange groves. She knew that if she left them in that area, they would eat everything and then start to start starve. To test her friend’s advice she decided to do a “deep” inspection on our hives in the bay/intercoastal areas. Sure enough, the beach front was opening up and bees were bringing in nectar.  Alma threw her arms in the air and said, “Ok let’s move them to the coast.”

So the good news is that the bees are bringing in nectar…it now a waiting game to see how fast they can turn that nectar into honey.

Recently we had a customer ask us, “What can we do to help?” Our reply was keep us and all those in agriculture in your prayers.

The customer’s reply was to specifically provide them with a list, not be shy. “We serve a Bold God so we should pray Boldly. For nothing is impossible for our God.”

We discussed it as family and on Holy Week this is our prayers: First may God’s will be done. We are asking for wisdom, discernment, physical and mental health and strength to do what is needed, favor. May the Lord open and close doors according to his plan so that we have peace, balance and abundance to bless others in a mighty way!

Psalm 86:12

I give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, and I will glorify your name forever. (Alma’s notes: Forever… not just when things are going my way, when the honey flows, or I’m feeling good. I will glorify you when it is dark, in the fire, when it hurts, when I’m confused. I will remind myself through this experience you are maturing me so that I can experience Freedom, wisdom, gratitude, joy. New life grows and blooms come after the storm. Lord, you love me enough, believe in me enough, you find me worthy enough to strengthen me to grow to the next level. So yes I will glorify your name forever and always through all circumstance.)