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Do you love honey? I mean really love honey? Then you’re going to be happy to learn about Kingsburg Honey, which is located in Reedley and is operated by Daren and Yuliya Hess. I had the pleasure of meeting Daren last week and learning all about their honey operation.
Daren and his wife have been producing honey since 2008, but honey is a long-time family business. Yuliya’s father taught Daren all about bees, and their family story dates back more than 90 years (read about it here).
Learning about bees from Daren was fascinating! My big question was, How do you take care of the bees? And the answer is simple: bees take care of themselves. You can check on the bees, provide them resources—like planting the flowers they are attracted to, providing a queen for the hive, and providing honey if they are low on it (which seems contradictory)—but truly, bees take care of themselves.
Left: Sampling the honey. Top right: a centrifuge that extracts the honey. Bottom right: a Kingsburg Honey hive.
There are 50 colonies at Kingsburg Honey; each colony consists of twenty to fifty thousand bees! The bees are placed near orange orchards, pomegranate trees, alfalfa, and wildflowers, which allows them to produce different flavors of honey.
We enjoyed the opportunity to meet Daren and his family. The kids are involved in the process also. Daren carefully oversees his son as they light the smoker, which calms the bees and encourages them to fill their bellies. This slows them down and allows the beekeeper to open the hives to check on their process.
Daren and the kids lighting the smoker.
There are so many amazing ways to enjoy honey! Daren recalls sitting in the field on a hot, hot summer day with his father-in-law sipping hot tea sweetened with honey. Allergy sufferers can benefit from eating local raw honey as it helps desensitize them to local allergens.
Another favorite way to enjoy Kingsburg Honey? Peanut butter honey sandwich.
Kingsburg Honey products are available in Fresno at Hye Market and several other local locations (just click here). They are also available online. In addition to their amazing honey, I want to share one of their products that I think is quite brilliant!
The lid and honey drizzle stick is a product they offer. If you’re a honey person, you know sometimes it ends up being a bit of a mess. The screw-on lid has a hole in it perfect for the drizzle stick. No fuss and no mess—I love that!
If you have a swarm of bees near your home that you want to get rid of, call Kingsburg Honey first. They offer free swarm removal services in Fresno, Kings, and Tulare counties (in addition to trapping or cut-out services).
Why call Kingsburg Honey first instead of the exterminator? Because if bees weren’t available for pollination, our orchards would produce up to 90% less fruit. Bees are a vital part of our Valley agriculture.
I enjoyed taking a tour of Kingsburg Honey and recommend you learn more about this fantastic local business.
