Garden Tour participants visit Paradis Valley Honey
Last week, volunteers from the Eaglesham & District Agricultural Society organized the 5th annual Garden Tour which brought visitors to explore yards and homes in the Watino area (the community we are located in!). We were honoured to be part of the host line-up for this year’s tour, as it meant opening up some fresh eyes to the world of bees and honey.
We had three groups and were allotted 40 minutes per group to show them around our yard as we thought best. Challenge accepted! With several shops and types of machinery, it was a bit tricky to squeeze everything in, but overall the day went extremely well and we saw lots of intrigued faces!
Some highlights included:
- Our “cell-fie” station for a photo opportunity
- Showing our guests the different stages of the hive
- A gift bag draw (full of honey, pollen, and other goodies)
- Debuting our new tote bags and coffee mugs
We also received some feedback from a few of the participants and organizers which will aid in designing future tours. We were pleased to hear that the audience was captivated all the way through our tour, and responded well to the hands-on approach we try to use when giving tours of our facility.
One of the organizers, Andrea, noted that she just wished that the tour had been longer because she would have loved even more information. That is a huge compliment to us, but also to the entire honey producer community. There is a lot to learn about the fascinating little creatures and we are always grateful to help educate as many people as we can.
A couple of the most interesting parts of the tour cited were learning about the pollen harvest and processing, as well as winterizing and cooling the bees — both of which are somewhat unique at Paradis Valley Honey!
Another organizer, Cristi, mentioned that even a novice could instantly tell that Paradis Valley Raw Honey looks and tastes different from many of the honeys found in larger grocery stores. She noted that the continuous testing and sampling we do is a sign of guarantee that our products remain high quality.
Perhaps our favorite piece of feedback yet came from a visitor who said she recognized the passion we have for our work. We absolutely love what we do! From educating about honey bees, to providing quality raw honey and pollen products to consumers, we have found our calling.
We look forward to welcoming more curious visitors to our apiary during the Alberta Open Farm Days on August 18th. And even more exciting… there will be a live honey extraction demonstration – you won’t want to miss out! We will provide more details on the event in the coming weeks, but for now, mark your calendars and check out: https://albertafarmdays.ca/
