Roslyn Local Honey

Our Roslyn local honey comes from an apiary sitting high on a sunny hillside, giving our bees access to a diverse mix of gardens, mature trees, wild growth, and restored meadow. From the flowering trees of late spring through the final blooms of summer, the bees follow a changing landscape of trees, hedges, brambles, and meadow flowers.

The result is a light-to-medium golden honey with a bright, floral character and plenty of depth, shaped by the variety of blooms surrounding the hives.

Roslyn Local Honey Through the Seasons

• Late Spring in the Trees: As the season gets underway, towering native tulip trees (Liriodendron tulipifera) come into bloom. Mature linden trees (Tilia) follow as spring moves toward summer, providing another abundant source of nectar.
• Early Summer on the Hillside: Privet hedges bloom around the hillside as milkweed begins to flower in the open areas. Along the edges, the small white blossoms of wild wineberry (Rubus phoenicolasius) give the bees another early-summer source of forage.
• Midsummer in the Meadow: As summer progresses, porcelain berry flowers along the edges of the hillside. Nearby meadow restoration adds echinacea, other summer wildflowers, and a growing variety of native meadow plants to the bees’ flight range.
• Late Summer Blooms: As many earlier flowers begin to fade, knotweed comes into bloom alongside late-summer asters and other meadow flowers, extending the available forage toward the end of the season.
• The Honey: Bright, floral, and complex, with a gentle sweetness and layers of flavor that reflect Roslyn’s sunny hillside and changing summer blooms.

Honey Terroir: A Taste of Time and Place

Terroir describes how a food reflects where and when it was produced. Honey has terroir, too. A wet spring, hot summer, or cool fall affects which plants bloom, when they bloom, and how long those flowers remain available to the bees. Each harvest reflects what was blooming within the bees’ flight range at that particular time.

That means our Roslyn local honey will not look or taste exactly the same from season to season. One harvest may be light and floral; another may be darker, richer, or more earthy. Those natural differences are part of what makes local raw honey unique.

Read A Walk With a Beekeeper: Tulip Tree Nectar and Rain Delays to learn more about one of the flowering trees within the Roslyn bees’ flight range—and how spring weather can affect the nectar available to them.

For information about storing and caring for your honey, visit our Raw Honey Guide.