Mid-July has our hives humming at full capacity, and this week gave us the chance to answer one of our most-asked questions, introduce you to everyone who lives inside a hive, and celebrate the summer essentials (for people and pups alike) that keep our community coming back to the market. If you missed anything along the way, here’s the whole week in one place.

The Honest Answer About Honey Prices

We kicked off the week tackling a question that probes mainstream honey production vs. local honey. 

“Why does local honey cost more than the grocery store variety?”

The short answer is that they’re FAR from the same product. Mass-produced honey is typically blended from many sources, pasteurized, and ultra-filtered until the pollen, enzymes, and regional character are stripped away. Sometimes they use buzz-words (pun intended) to loophole their “honey” that’s actually just a “sugar spread” made with high fructose corn syrup. 

Can you find raw honey at grocery stores? YES, absolutely. We simply recommend reading the ingredient label before a purchase so you don’t get bamboozled! 

Our honey is harvested in small batches straight from the frames of our own Duluth hives and bottled raw and unfiltered, so every jar carries the flavor of the exact flowers our bees visited this season. Those few extra dollars also stay right here in the community, supporting local beekeepers and the pollinators your own garden depends on. Regardless of the quality and price difference, we work hard to keep our prices fair AND competitive. 

Who’s Who in the Hive

We introduced the three residents of every colony. The queen, nearly twice the length of her daughters, is the only egg-layer and can live for years while her colony organizes itself around her. A true royal treatment! The workers handle everything else, progressing through careers as nurses, comb builders, guards, and finally foragers. Their whole working life is compressed into four to six weeks. And the drones, the hive’s stingerless males, exist for one purpose and one purpose only. They mate with queens from other colonies before the workers usher them out in fall. We like to joke around and call them freeloaders, but their role is equally important to the meticulous life cycle of honeybees. 

Summer Essentials at the Market

Market days leaned into peak Duluth summer. We featured our Bug Balm, with lavender to calm mosquito bites and peppermint for cooling relief and our Paw Protector, which uses just beeswax, jojoba oil, and vitamin E to shield paw pads from hot pavement and rocky trails.

Every product we featured this week is available on our website on our “Merchandise & More” page, and orders over $65 always ship free. Local friends can also arrange pick-up at 128 East Locust Street on Mondays and Thursdays (please call or text ahead to arrange to make sure we’re at the hive!). 

One in… THREE?!

Here’s a thought to carry into your next meal. 

Roughly one in every three bites of food you eat exists because of pollinators like our bees. The list of crops that depend on bee pollination is staggering. Without pollinators, plants simply can’t reproduce, and our food supply would look drastically different. Bees support the plants behind everyday materials like avocado, coconut, and olive oils. The encouraging news is that helping is simple. Plant pollinator-friendly flowers (natives are best) and skip the chemical sprays. 

This brings us right back to where the week started. How much do you think a jar of local honey is worth when it holds such an impactful share in the global ecosystem? 👀💛🐝

This week reminded us that everything is connected. The bees in the hive, the honey in the jar, the food on your table, and the community at the market. Thank you for reading, for asking great questions at our booth, and for supporting local, sustainable beekeeping in Duluth. 

Stay sweet and we’ll see you at the market! 🍯 

With gratitude,
Miel Duluth