As summer winds down, thick stands of goldenrod and aster appear in just about every corner of the state to signal an end to the summer. This is one of a typical year's biggest flows, but because fall honey is often a bit darker and stronger flavored than earlier honeys, most beekeepers leave it in the hive. It's going to be about six months before the bees will be able to dine out in field and forest again, and each hive will need from 60 to 90 pounds of honey stores to make it through the winter.
So ends a chronicle of one honey season. The average honey crop in Vermont is about 50 to 60 pounds (five gallons per hive). Many small beekeepers prefer to remove and extract parts of the crop periodically, as various specialty honeys appear in the hive. The larger commercial operators, who keep their bees in the heavily farmed valleys where the clovers predominate, generally remove the crop all at once and call it "clover honey". Beekeepers in higher elevations often blend their honey in the same way and refer to it as "wildflower honey". It is characteristically a darker amber color and more robust tasting than the clover. We, the members of the Vermont Beekeepers Association, one of the oldest agricultural groups in Vermont, take a great deal of pride in the honey we harvest. It has rightfully come to be known as a gourmet product.
