ABOUT OKANAGAN HONEY CO
Our farm is a bee breeding and honey producing farm in the Okanagan Valley. We raise and mate queen honey bees and spring nuclei for sale to various regions in BC and Alberta. We also produce a beautiful Okanagan wildflower honey each year in the later summer. The honey bee colonies are placed on 20 different locations around the region, with an emphasis on organic farms or areas full of wild flowers.
Our home farmland itself was originally cleared in the early 1900’s by Doug’s great grandfather and great grandmother, who farmed and lived on the land until their 102nd and 97th birthday respectively. It has 27 acres of organic alfalfa which produces organic alfalfa seed. It also has an old growth fruit orchard with cherries, apples, and plums that we like to share with friends and family and preserve for our own winter stores.
About the apprenticeship:
The seasonal rhythm of our bee operation begins in late February / Early March, as the bees begin to wake up from their winter dormancy. March / April / May is when our colonies experience their most intense growth period, and we manage them for swarming and multiply them into many new colonies. We begin mating queen bees and are able to produce new colonies for sale in May. After all the nucleus sales are completed, we continue to raise queen bees for the rest of the summer, and set up our colonies to collect the summer honey flows in their various regions. It is in summer that we may move some colonies to the mountains to produce some wilder honey varietals. After the honey flow we pull in and extract the honey boxes, and begin to prepare for winter. All our colonies are wrapped and ready for winter by the middle of September ideally!
Day by day you will ride along beside Doug as he demonstrates and trains you on the many jobs . There is lots to know!
About the farm mentor:
Doug Gordon has been running is own beekeeping business for 8 years, but has been passionate about the trade since 2011. He loves the unique challenges that each season brings.
“With beekeeping you are playing with many factors outside of your control, and many within your control. Each season is so different and you have to be in tune with what is going on inside your hives as well as what is happening out in the world around them. Temperatures, flowering dates, brood development… us beekeepers pay attention to all those little details and it’s so fun to watch. Every year is another chance to do it better, but we will always make mistakes. Thankfully the bees fix most of them! Bugs in a box. After all these years it’s still hard to believe I get to play with bugs all day.”
His enthusiasm for the industry led him to New Zealand where he continued to learn and apprentice with Alpine Honey Specialties Ltd. in the Otago region of the South Island. He got to embed himself in a large commercial beekeeping operation and get a better understanding of what is required to raise queen bees at scale.
His high energy and good communication skills makes him an excellent teacher and anyone who wants to really nerd out about bees will love having Doug to talk to!
Doug and his wife Katie have three children 5 and under, so home life is full and busy. Sunday is their rest day where they try their best to attend Church and spend time with friends and family.
Skills this farm has to teach:
The following skills are being offered by this farm. Throughout the season as a apprentice you will learn to :
- assess honey bee colonies
- feed and manage them
- split hives to create new colonies
- raise queen cells
- cage mated queens
- set up queen banks
- ship queen bees,
- pull and extract honey
- prepare units for winter
Skill required of the apprentice
- Ability to lift 50 lbs.
- A valid class 5 drivers license with a clean drivers abstract and a criminal record check.
- An apprentice will need their own vehicle for off-farm travel
- Work boots, essentially waterproof or water resistant high ankle hiking boots are preferred. You want a boot that has a high enough ankle that the elastic from the bee suit pant leg can go around the top of the boot, to avoid bees crawling up your legs.
- Someone who is interested in bees and is keen to learn and immerse themselves in the apiary experience and learn as much as possible during the apprenticeship.
Housing, Wage, and Duration
- The apprentice will be responsible for finding their own housing. Though there is a possibility, for the right candidate and if it is a suitable match for both parties, to rent a room in the mentor’s family home. Details to be discussed.
- Pay will start at $20/hr.
- We try our best to work standard work hours, with weekends off. Doug often works Saturdays but would not necessarily expect that of the apprentice.
- Ideally start in March or April and end at the middle of September
About the Community and Land
The Okanagan Honey Co is located in Armstrong, BC, a rural agriculture based community filled with farmers and food lovers. It has a quaint and growing downtown filled with small businesses, thrift shops and coffee houses and is proudly home to B.C.’s longest continuously running farmer’s market. It is located amidst the dairy and farmlands of the Spallumcheen Valley (a name derived from a Shuswap language word with multiple meanings: “beautiful valley”, “flat meadow”, “meeting of the waters”, and “prairie-banked river”. The river in Enderby is the nearest swimming hole.
The city is also well known for hosting the Interior Provincial Exhibition and Stampede, IPE, which has been in annual operation since 1899 and has a genuine county fair vibe. It even has a local ploughing competition! So if you want to immerse yourself in the culture of farming, Armstrong is a great place to be!
Be sure to check out The Okanagan Honey Co online.
More Details about this Apprenticeship and How to Apply
Application deadline January 31, 2025.
Interested in an Apprenticeship but this isn’t quite the right one? Check out other Young Agrarians Apprenticeships being offered in 2025 here.