Did you know, honey bees must gather nectar from 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey?! On top of that, honey bees are a female dominated society with 95% of bees being female. Local honey is packed with nutrients and antioxidants that are beneficial to health. As a rule of thumb, the darker the honey, the higher the antioxidants!

New Partnerships

The UMass Lowell Sustainability Farm Share team is excited to start it’s partnership with Carlisle Honey and New England Beekeeping. Carlisle Honey and New England Beekeeping recently moved to their new location located in Tyngsboro, MA which they call The Colony.

In the early 1700’s, the land of where the Colony is now located, was used for farming by the Thompson family. The Richardson Dairy Farm operated on the property from the 1940’s until the 1980’s. Now, the land area has a beautiful facility, The Colony, which has numerous bee hives used for extraction and bee pollination. The Colony also has a store for purchasing all different flavors of honey along with beekeeping equipment.

It is the start of an amazing partnership with new plans ahead!

How the Magic Happens

Honeybees are located on the grounds of The Colony along with 60 other locations in Massachusetts and Southern New Hampshire. Now let’s talk about how they make their delicious honey. We asked Rick Reault, owner of Carlisle Honey, about the process. Rick stated, “honey supers are removed from their hives starting in mid June through October. The honey is then extracted from the comb at our home facility which we call ‘The Colony’”. They also produce mead, an alcoholic beverage created by fermenting honey with water, at The Colony. Rick then went on to state, “mead is a type of honey wine produced by putting honey water and yeast in a fermentation tank for 4 weeks then aged in oak barrels.” The Colony produces cyser, a blend of apple cider and mead, as well!

To keep things fun and interesting, seasonal flavors of honey are produced and available year round!

Sustainable Practices

The Colony has 124 solar panels on their roof top to power their operation. Their long-term goals include not only continuing to expand and form partnerships, but also create a walking path on their property and community that is lined with 50 different types of plants for their bees to pollinate. Carlisle Honey and New England Beekeeping is committed to sustainability and shares our understanding of the importance of bees in a healthy environment. This makes them a great partner for UMass Lowell Sustainability. There’s more to come, stay tuned!

The Colony is located on 7 Locust Ave, Tyngsboro, MA, 01879. They are open 7 days a week! Please click here to find out more information and store hours!