A taste of honey in Wine Country

Did you know that Canada is home to over 800 native bee species, and in the Okanagan-Similkameen alone, over 400? “This is a mecca for native bees,” says Tim Bouwmeester of Desert Flower Honey. With names such as mason bees, carpenter bees, sweat bees, and bumblebees, all are solitary pollinating soldiers. While they don’t produce honey, they’re critical for pollinating crops. And bees are critical for biodiversity, and as Bouwmeester notes, “no bees, no fruit.”

The master beekeeper, instructor, and apiary inspector for the Ministry of Agriculture knows a thing or two about bees, especially honey bees.

He started out in forestry in the ‘bug lab’ before a Bachelor of Science degree, studying apiculture and entomology, but it was a beekeeping course that decided his fate. In 1995 he moved with his wife and family from Ontario and set up shop on a modest acreage on the Naramata Bench. Perhaps you’ve noticed a collection of beehives out of the corner of your eye while meandering along the Bench road just before Hillside Winery? This is ground zero for his Desert Flower Honey farm, along with a bee buffet of organically-grown fruit trees.

The bees are busy this time of year, and the hives during my visit were just, well, buzzing. The queens, the drones, the hives bees and the fields bees – from cleaning the hives to feeding the larvae to producing wax combs to guarding the hives and foraging for nectar – there’s a lot going on in the field and behind the hives.

Currently they’re feeding on the nectar from dandelions and fruit trees. (A shout-out for dandelions is in order. They are a huge protein source for bees and should be celebrated instead of desecrated.) And the combination of the two make for the best honey – one of Bouwmeester’s favourites. This is a true taste of terroir.

He explains how the hives have scout bees that will seek out the best pollen and do something called a “waggle dance”. It’s an astonishing performance, like a figure eight, to communicate to the field or forager bees where, how far and the abundance of pollen at a location.

Bees are not only seeking out pollen and making honey but also swarming. Swarming is a natural and non-threatening behaviour, a way to reproduce and form new colonies, but it is Bouwmeester’s job to safely collect the swarm and either relocate it to a new hive or otherwise prevent future swarming. His job has him travelling to hives of all sizes in OK Falls, Vaseux Lake, Willowbrook and the Naramata Bench, but as a bee inspector, he handles all the South Okanagan, Similkameen and Western Boundary.

Major nectar flow is set for June when bees will be feasting on wild rose and clover, and the farm will increase the amount of hives from 80 to 110. “You can open the hives, and smell the concentration of aromas,” says Bouwmeester, adding, “I love honey! Honey on toast – peanut butter and honey for lunch.” He claims to eat a kilo of honey every week. Last year he extracted 5.000 pounds of the liquid gold – meaning there is some for us!

After major nectar flow comes honey extraction and filtration. And this is done in the farm’s honey house that Bouwmeester built himself. (It also acts as an education centre in the winter months, a warming house for supers of the hives, and a showcase for his collection of vintage honey and beekeeping artifacts and recent prizes for Best Honey.) Besides a few interns – he’s very particular on who can assist with the bees – it’s a one-man operation.

But it’s not all fun and games for a beekeeper and inspector. There are serious issues with pesticide use, and with the Varroa mite that causes colony collapse, and Bouwmeester must always be vigilant in monitoring for mites, not only in his own hives but those in the area. At one time there were 2,000 hives in the area, now there are 20,000. That includes those hives that are raised to travel by transport truck to other regions and pollinate crops such as blueberries. That’s a lot of inspecting.

Closer to home, local ingredients and terroir are a chef’s best friend, especially for chef Evan Robertson of The Bistro at Hillside Winery, neighbouring the honey farm. “Tim’s honey is a true representation of the Naramata Bench,” says Robertson, a firm advocate for local ingredients. You’ll find the honey featured in the Bistro’s signature pork belly and scallop dish. He spikes the honey with truffles and “drowns the pork belly in it”. Roberston also uses it in the Bistro’s kohlrabi slaw dressing . “I like to honour Tim by creating a mid-summer dessert,” says the chef. “Last year it was a mille-feuille with vanilla-honey pastry cream. But my favourite thing comes on the fall menu when I create a Naramata Bench salad using only the bounty my neighbours have harvested.” The wow factor added to the plate is the honeycomb from Tim’s beehives.

For me, I like to celebrate honey at the cocktail hour with a Bee’s Knees, a simple and refreshing Prohibition-era gin libation that sees honey and lemon juice as companions.

How can we all contribute to the continued life of bees and biodiversity? While the springtime is good, as there’s so much to forage, it’s the summer, advises Bouwmeester, that needs amending. Sunflowers and herbs, letting them go to flower, is the best food. You’ll not only see honey bees on the flowers but a raft of native bees in all shapes and sizes, some incredibly minuscule. It’s easy to be part of the solution, part of the hive mind. And stop using pesticides!

You can get sweet on Desert Flower Honey directly from the farmgate, at 1250 Naramata Road, from 8 AM to 8 PM – or walk down the steps from the KVR Trail access. You can also find it at the Naramata Farmers Market, and select retailers. At the farmgate you may notice that the hives are surrounded by electric fencing. This is not to only to keep you out but keep out the bears that can destroy the hives in minutes. And strangely, it’s not the honey they want; they eat the brood or egg larvae. “Winnie the Pooh didn’t quite get it right,” says Bouwmeester.