What all the buzz is about... Aldergrove honey bee farmers are brewing up an age-old elixir

By Kristyl Clark
Times Reporter

The clouds part slightly on a Monday afternoon, allowing the sun to shine down on a lush green pasture in Aldergrove — a property that is home to thousands of hard-working honey bees.

All is serene and quiet for miles, aside from a faint lulling buzz they emit while circling about their hives in a dutiful manner.

Standing in the midst of the swarm, Mike Campbell doesn’t flinch.

Even when one flutters its tiny, frail wings against his bare cheek, he doesn’t bat an eye.

“It’s all about being calm,” the Aldergrove beekeeper says, with a twinkle in his eye.

Humans aren’t the only species who enjoy basking in the sunshine.

“I start to worry when it’s cold and rainy for a long time because the bees cannot fly at certain temperatures,”Campbell said. “And when they can’t fly, they can’t pollinate.”

Throughout the world, bees have been disappearing at an alarming rate, threatening the production of numerous crops.

“Bees are under a lot of stress these days,” he says. “Some of the stresses are that people are using long-lasting pesticides that can kill bees for up to three years. It’s dreadful.”

Campbell tries to be as organic as possible in his practice.

“I’ve found that you can be particularly successful in bee keeping but that there is no magic bullet that cures everything. You definitely have to work harder than you did 10 years ago,” he says.

Taking a steady hand, he reaches into a hive and pulls out a honeycomb— a staple ingredient in the products he makes and sells inside a quaint shop on his farm called Campbell’s Gold.

The store is a treasure trove of bee beauty products, decorations and specialty honeys, which one can taste on request.

But it is his featured fare that has put the store on the map.

That’s his mead—an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation of three simple ingredients: honey, water and yeast.

The drink’s origins can be traced back over 8,000 years, pre-dating both beer and wine.

In adjusting the different types of honey, the flavour and aroma can range from semi-sweet to dry.

Campbell prefers his on the dry side, he says.

Adjacent to the hives is a field where row upon row of currants, elderberries and blackberries have been planted, all of which will be harvested and blended into the mead for a variation of flavour.

When fruit is used to flavour the beverage, the drink becomes melomel.

Although it may have been popular long ago, one would be hard pressed to find both mead or melomel anywhere else in the Lower Mainland.

When Campbell had his very first taste of the ancient elixir in the early ’60s, it was love at first sip.

“I just loved it, so I tried making my own. It’s really hard to get, you can’t buy it at any of the liquor stores,” he says.

Little did he know that almost 50 years later, he’d be making his own commercially.

Campbell’s mead making is the newest chapter in his life, which he is quick to admit to stumbling upon accidently in the mid ’90s.

Shortly before retiring from his teaching career, a new door opened for him that he couldn’t ignore.

“A friend from church had a hive she could no longer care for and asked my wife Judy and I if we’d like to have it,” he says.

Living on an acreage, they had plenty of room but minimal experience keeping bees.

“I had an allergic reaction to a bee sting when I was a kid so I never bothered much with them,” he says.

The lady from church had kept the hive for B-venom therapy. According to various medical studies, the venom from the honeybee stings can unleash the body’s healing power.

Campbell has found it beneficial for his own arthritis, hence his lack of fear in being stung.

When they first took the hive, they realized upon inspection that it was in dire condition as it had lost its queen.

In an attempt to revive their hive, the couple enrolled in the Ministry of Agriculture’s bee keeping course where they were instructed to buy a small number of bees and a queen for the hive.

In no time it came back to life.

Ever since, Campbell has been hooked on bee keeping.

Both he and his wife Judy are members in good standing of the B.C. Honey Producers Association, the Surrey Bee Keepers Association, and the South Fraser Valley Bee Keepers Association.

But most of the bee keeping is left up to Mike, as Judy works full time at a government office.

“I don’t mind at all. I love doing this, it’s very relaxing and peaceful,” he said.

Although he has been making honey and various bee products for several years now, he is yet to release his first batch of commercial mead and melomel.

He anticipates the mead to be ready for Valentine’s Day, a perfect occasion for a beverage known as the ‘drink of love.’

“Customers keep coming in and asking for it but I tell them they have to wait just a little bit longer. If I had it ready by now I’m sure I would have sold over a 100 batches,” he said.