Hello there, my name is Matt and I want to welcome you to Honey and the Hive. This is a website about beekeeping and for beekeepers. A native Washingtonian, I got started in beekeeping several years ago after attending a local presentation about beekeeping. That meeting led me to becoming a charter member of the Lewis County Beekeepers Association and the start of my personal journey into keeping honeybees.
I started that first year with two packages of bees and a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies. Since that time I have learned a lot, failed a lot, and had a few successes. My number of hives has grown to 17 and then suddenly crashed back down to two. 2012 saw an increase back up to 8 hives, which I hope to increase over the next few years. 2012 was also a good honey year, with about 210 pounds of honey harvested from four hives.
You might have noticed this is an “About Us” page. Assisting me with this site is my wife Jodi. She is the baker, recipe tester, and all around great source of support. She has been testing out various recipes using honey produced by out bees for the last couple of years. Most of the recipes so far have been centered on her love of baking. She has been baking since she was a kid and continues to enjoy baking delicious treats for her family and friends. This love of baking and cooking has led to her start her own website, mysugarcoatedlife.com, where she will be sharing her baking and cooking adventures. Jodi will also give recipe ideas and products using products from our bees to this site as well.
So why this website?
Whether it was serving as the Training Officer at the local volunteer fire department, mentoring new employees at my current engineering position, or coaching my kid’s youth sports teams, I enjoy teaching and helping people learn new skills. So the primary reason I started this blog is to provide a resource for those just getting into beekeeping and for those who have been in the hobby for a while. Not only a how to guide but also news and information about beekeeping and honey production. Hopefully through this blog we can share ideas and learning from both our successes and failures. Successes are great, but learning what not to do sometimes is a bigger benefit. I am hoping that by sharing what I have done right and what has not gone so well, I can help other beekeepers and myself to be a better stewards of the honeybee. So I look forward to continuing on this journey of beekeeping and hope you follow along.
Thank you for checking us out and please check out the site,
Matt and Jodi
