Our Bee-ginning
Nestled in the foothills of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, the Bearberry Bee Farm produces one of the purest and best tasting clover honeys found anywhere. Proprietors Richard and Donna Kuzmiski purchased the land in Bearberry, Alberta in 2013. Once living in this beautiful mountain area, it became clear that we wanted to use our land to enhance nature. After long discussions over wine and campfires we decided that raising bees and producing honey (if viable) would make the best use of the land while adding to Nature’s recent decline in bee population.
Being in the foothills the weather can be extreme and the growing season short, making it a poor area to grow cereal crops. However, the clay rich soils make for ideal conditions for growing grasses and clover. Without any cereal crops within several miles, there are no pesticides or herbicides and so any honey produced is chemical free. With the help of family and friends we began our endeavors by first building a shop from which we could work. In 2015 about 5 acres of the hay field was tilled. The following spring the tilled land was replanted to clover. We began with 4 new hives. In our first year the bees produced about 100 lbs of excess honey. Slowly, we continue to grow each year, tilling more land into clover and growing our number of hives.