The Last Best Place

-posted by Jayne

Montana is known as "The Last Best Place."  I agree.  Sorry, Ohio.  You're pretty nice and all but Montana still wins my heart.  If it weren't for all the wonderful people who live in Ohio (our family and friends, and all our great customers), we would be living near Missoula, MT.  You may remember some past posts about our time spent living in Montana.  This one, about Isaac's job with a commercial beekeeper, and this one, about my time spent at the PEAS Farm (Program in Ecological Agriculture and Sustainability) while studying at the University of Montana.  If you have been following our blog, you know Montana is near and dear to our hearts, and will understand why we took a vacation to the last best place.  So I apologize if this post looks more like a family photo album than a beekeeping blog, but who doesn't love looking at pictures of the mountains? 

Isaac and Bridger (our very own cabbage patch kid) at the PEAS farm in Missoula.

Bridger's first hike to the top of Mt. Sentinal.  It was very smokey
in Missoula, due to wildfires in Idaho.

Bridger spent most of his hiking time asleep on Isaac's back.

Little Bridger posing in front of a sign about his namesake, Jim Bridger.

Just before he begins his ascent up Mt. Sentinal.
We always knew he'd be a little mountain man.

 If you're wondering why the pictures are so focused on our youngest child, it's because Mason and Maizy spent the week with Grandma and Grandpa, up in Holmes County.  When we returned home and asked Mason if he would rather go along with us next time, or stay at Grandma's again he said, "Both!"  I explained you just couldn't do both, but he couldn't quite wrap his head around why that wouldn't work.  Maizy didn't hesitate:  "Go to Grandma's!"

Sunshine Apiary in Columbus, MT

No vacation is complete without some touring of other beekeeping operations and sampling of the local honey.  We stumbled upon Sunshine Apiary, a large operation in Columbus Montana.  Judging from the amount of flatbed trucks on their lot, we assume they have 1,000's of hives and do a great deal of pollination work.  We bought some honey from them back in 2007 and still have a few jars left to enjoy.  We also purchased some Prairie Sunshine honey from Victor, MT.  We are pretty sure it was knapweed honey, also known as star thistle honey, which is an invasive weed in Montana.  It creates such a delightful honey, I can't imagine many beekeepers mind it too much.  We packed this honey in our suitcase and brought it home, and after just 3 days, there was only an inch left. 

Our souvenir honey from MT, only 3 days after
we returned and almost gone!

 So we have been busy playing "catch-up" after our 5 days away (too short!).  Fall is one of our busiest seasons and I'm not sure how we managed a vacation... but I'm sure glad we did.  Now there is a lot of Fall honey to start pulling from the hives and extracting.  We also notice customers like to "stock-up" for winter, and seem to eat more honey as the cold weather approaches.  So it's back to work... bottling honey for your evening tea!