Two years ago I was invited to my dear friend Annie Cooper's baby shower in South Park, Seattle. I had been keeping bees in Annie's backyard since 2008, and while she is completely terrified of the beehives, has been an amazing babysitter and advocate for keeping bees.
So I was feeling really lame because I should have been the one to throw Annie a baby shower, but I lived two hours away in a tiny house in the middle of nowhere. To make up for it, I gifted 24 little honey jars with a custom labels just for Annie's shower guests (actually, Noa O'Hare did all the label work, I just got all the credit!) that were a big hit!
One of the guests was Annie's other dear friend, Carolyn Boyle. Carolyn is the owner/operator of a local food delivery business called New Roots Organics, located in Ballard. Carolyn didn't waste a minute in asking me all about beekeeping, honey, and whether or not I'd be interested in selling honey to New Roots for their bins. It was a lovely shower, lovely day with friends, and I drove home thinking of new opportunities!
It took me almost two more months after meeting Carolyn to get enough honey ready for her order, but we have been going strong ever since! Every couple months I get an order from her, and any honey that I have is fine to sell!
Over the past two years Carolyn has offered so much flexibility, understanding, and easy communication. She has let me drop off honey on weekends, before and after markets, in the middle of the night, at her home as well as office, has warmed up crystallized honey for us, and has been so understanding of the seasonal pressures that coming with any farming endeavor. So, thank you Carolyn and the New Roots crew, for being awesome! And thank you to the New Roots members, for being such great honey lovers!!!
Oh, and thanks Annie for having a baby. Without Ferne coming into the world, we would all be so bored;)