Page County Grown Farm Tour: Paw Paw's Honey



Honey and beeswax from Paw Paw's.



Paw Paw's bees.

This is the fourth of six posts that will reprise the inaugural Page County Grown Farm Tour, which took place on Saturday, August 27, 2011. There were more than 40 of us on the tour, always looking cautiously at darkening skies, threatening rain, as hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast. We visited several of our local farms: Khimaira Farm, Skyline Premium Meats, Willow Grove Farm Market, Wisteria Farm and Vineyard, Paw Paw’s Honey, and Public House Produce, and luckily the hurricane held off until after the Farm-to-Table Dinner at the Mimslyn on Saturday evening. All of the posts on this topic include the label “2011 Farm Tour” at the end, so a simple click will pull them all up, including some posts I put up in advance of the tour, and the one I made about the Farm-to-Table Dinner.


While the tour made its stop at Public House Produce, we were able to take in a visit with Paw Paw’s Honey, where the proprietor, Paul Kinsler, keeps a few hives on the property, as well as other locations around Page County. Here’s the write-up on Paw Paw’s from the tour handout:

This visit also takes place at Public House Produce. Paw Paw’s Honey is a blend of what is naturally available to the bees in Page County, so there are slight variations in taste and color from bottle to bottle – but the honey is always sweet and good. Paw Paw’s also raises and sells queen bees and beeswax.

Paul took some time with me looking at the hive he had brought with him, pointing out the queen, who was very busy on this morning laying eggs in the honeycomb. He pointed out that since the honey he sells is raw and unprocessed, it can actually be helpful to people with allergies (the Hawksbill Cabin recommends that readers check with their allergists first on this one!).

We’ve spoken before at the Farmers Market, and at the Page County Heritage Festival, about the bees. The industrious insects have to cover impressive territory to gather the pollen they need for just a pound of honey – it’s hard to fathom how far they must have flown to gather the goods that Paul had on display. Another point of interest, for me at least, was the news that from his home base along Business 340, Paw Paw’s bees may actually range as far as my place in Stanley to gather pollen!

Friday’s post will be about Public House Produce, and that will be my final post about the Page County Grown Farm Tour event.