ABOUT US
I became interested in beekeeping many years ago in Halifax, Nova Scotia, when an extraordinary woman and friend from university gave me a jar of creamed honey. It was beautifully silky and unlike any honey I had ever purchased in a store. When I asked her where she got it from, she told me with a smile, "From my back garden." I had no idea that people could keep bees in a small city back yard! Milo Stenning-Riding, a proud Swedish Finn, told me it was common practice back home to keep bees. Fascinated from that moment on, I dreamed of one day doing the same thing.
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Today, my apiary, Love My Bees, sits in a small glade on rolling farmland in Leskard, Ontario, Canada, which is owned by a family who has become like my own and dear to my heart. The bee yard is surrounded by wild and woodland flowers, fields, cedars and pine, and the beautiful rambling Wilmot Creek. I feel blessed to enjoy the beauty around me as I work.
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Some flowers the bees visit include Queen Anne's Lace, clover, white silk lilac, ox-eyed daisies, dandelions, goldenrod, asters, and many other plants that blossom throughout the countryside. Bees will travel up to 10 kilometers to find the forage they need.
I truly love and respect my winged friends, and do my best to treat them with careful respect. Each queen is named on behalf of a woman who has been important to my life. My first queen was called "Milo".
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After getting my first hives (Milo, Marci, and Cleopatra) through their first winter, they became a meal for a young, gorgeous black bear. I'm glad I fed him, because that moment led me to people who would become my mentors in beekeeping, starting with an electric fence, growing with many more hives, and ending with a small business that is my joy.​
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I'm just a small beekeeper, but Love My Bees' success so far would not exist without the kindness and friendship of The Garden Path owners Jon and Scott Story and their family, nor would it exist without the knowledge and generosity of retired beekeeper, David Gauthier (Wren Lane Farm), the shop owners who house my products, and my family and friends' love and encouragement.
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Each jar of honey is bottled with gratitude.
I am humbled by bees. A bee will only produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. Isn't that amazing! Something to be savoured and treasured. Please enjoy the honey, and know that I truly do love my bees.
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Rebecca Kress-Ives
Friend and Keeper of Bees​​
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Art Credit: Clara Southern, An Old Bee Farm, circa 1900
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