California Orange Blossom Honey

It was a glorious day in April and we were in the middle of a sunny orange grove in the heart of California’s citrus belt tending our bees. Life could not be sweeter for a beekeeper. The heady scent of orange blossoms made us weak in the knees as we moved from hive to hive, peeking inside, making sure our honey bees were healthy, happy, and bringing in nectar. The beauty of bees in an orange grove is they can fly for miles and miles and just bring back nectar from the waxy white blossoms. This way we know our honey is 100% pure California orange blossom honey. 

The season is short, only four weeks, then orange pollination is over until next year. One evening around dusk, after all the foragers returned to the hive, we loaded up our truck to bring our honey bees home. We’ve been coming up to Lindsay, California for years so our bees could be part of orange pollination and so we could reap the bounty of pure California orange blossom honey. It was a beautiful bittersweet evening, always is when you say goodbye until next year, and we got to reflecting on how the citrus industry all got started. We thought you might like to know a little bit of the story. “The History of Citrus in California” by Ching Lee originally appeared in the California Farm Bureau Federation's California Country magazine. We hope you enjoy the read!

Oh, by the way, the New Harvest of Bill’s Bees Orange Blossom Honey straight from the citrus belt of California will be ready for you at the Farmers Markets and here on our website on April 30, 2015. We hope you enjoy this year’s bounty!

Thank you,
Bill & Clyde
Bill’s Bees