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As the winter winds down, the world hums a slower tune – a rhythm echoed by us beekeepers and our fuzzy little friends. As we prepare for the upcoming season and reflect on the previous one, we are reminded of how lives seem to parallel our bees. Right now, our bees are taking a well-deserved break, tucked away in their hives, getting ready for the next honey season.  It’s their downtime, but it’s not a time they fully relax. They’re preparing their hive, looking after their queen, keeping their energy up to get through the winter and keeping warm. They don’t venture too far from the hive on the chiller days. It’s a bit like us – we’re also using this period to get things ready for the year ahead. Instead of buzzing around the

There’s snow on the hills! That means our beekeepers are busy doing the final checks on our bees, making sure they have everything they need to stay safe and warm. With the sticky business of extraction all finished, we’re reflecting on another successful harvest.  Just like last year our Honeydew and Autumn Gold had another great season. Together with our Native Bush and Kāmahi honeys they made up for quite a small harvest of Mānuka and Kānuka.  Will monitors the drumming of the honey. Unfortunately, all that wet weather was not good for Mānuka and Kānuka varieties. Our bees must have been wondering where all the flowers were! Wet weather can prove quite a challenge for beekeepers, and not just because our bees don’t get enough ‘fly time.’ Apart from

The Kānuka honey has been collected and all of the honey harvests are now complete, with the sticky business of extraction in full swing. We’re feeling very grateful for another beautiful harvest. And what better time than the golden days of Autumn to announce our new gift vouchers?  While our Six Honey Gift Box is a great option to send overseas, or for a ‘honey novice,’ it can be difficult to know which honey to buy.  Everyone has their favourite — not everyone enjoys strong-flavoured honeys like Mānuka, Kānuka or Honeydew. Foodies, in particular, have a habit of falling in love with a particular honey. And when it comes to culinary uses, every chef has their own preferences. Our gift vouchers now make it easy to send the perfect gift to somebody special. Avai

With the honey season in full swing, now is the perfect time to introduce you to one of our beekeepers. Pete has been with Mountain Valley Honey since the early days. Over the years he’s shared some of our most challenging times, as well as our funniest moments. Being a senior beekeeper, with a wealth of experience, Pete works closely with Murray when it comes to decision-making. His innovative thinking and ability to motivate the team are really appreciated  — especially when things get tough. When he’s not beekeeping, Pete loves mountain biking, 4W driving, tramping (hiking) and generally enjoying the outdoors. On weekends Pete, his wife Steph and their dog Juno are often out and about enjoying what our region has to offer. Pete’s not a bad photographer either

The sun is shining and our bees are doing what they do best — making delicious honey. We’re so happy that things are humming along as they should. Now seems like the perfect time to say a big thank you to everyone who helped us rise to the challenges that 2022 threw our way. We knew the Nelson and Marlborough floods were going to test our team to the very limit. It was such a relief to find that our bees had weathered the storms so well, with very little damage to their hives. Our biggest problem was getting to them!  Road closures caused absolute havoc in the top of the South Island after the floods. The chaos continued for many months as road workers raced to fix road damage, including the main route. Our normal 90-minute drive from Nelson to Marlborough became a thre

Christmas is such a busy time for our bees – right now they’re happily foraging Kāmahi Honey. For our little team at Mountain Valley Honey, this is a happy time too, as we look back on the year and treasure all the little things that make life good. 2022 certainly had a habit of throwing bad weather at us, beginning with last summer’s unpredictable conditions. The start of the honey season was quite a tricky time for honey producers, but our clever bees presented us with a wonderful surprise — lots and lots of Beech Honeydew Honey. There was such a golden hoard the bees had to build their honeycomb on the outside of the hives. There wasn’t any room left inside! Mountain Valley Honey welcomed some new members in 2022. Jessie, Jonatan and Will joined the beekeeping

Christmas is such a special time. Here at Mountain Valley Honey, the Christmas spirit is all about gratitude, giving and of course, cherishing the little things. Every year, it’s a chance for us to be thankful for all the blessings of the year and the wonderful people we have shared it with. This year, to get into the festive spirit we’re having a 12 Days of Christmas Promotion Starting 1st of December, we’ll have a new great deal every day that lasts for ONE DAY ONLY. DEC 1ST: Free 500g Jar of Beech Honeydew Honey when you spend over $150 DEC 2ND: 20% off our 6 Honey Gift Box DEC 3RD: Free 500g Jar of Native Bush Honey when you spend over $150 DEC 4TH: 15% off Baker’s Honey DEC 5TH: Free 500g Jar of Kānuka Honey when you spend over $150 DEC 6T

If you hadn’t heard, we’ve recently launched our United States website,  offering fast delivery (usually 2 to 3 days) anywhere in the States.  The honey is shipped direct from warehouses throughout the US, making shipping much faster and cheaper than having to send it all the way from New Zealand! What does this mean? If you have friends and family in the USA, now it is so much easier to send them a taste of New Zealand. Our honey gift sets are super popular right now. They’re a great way to introduce somebody to the special taste of New Zealand’s honeys, or send a sweet reminder of home to someone you miss.  People in the States really appreciate Manuka Honey, too — whether it’s our Manuka Honey MGO 83, for a daily wellness boost, o

This month we’re excited to introduce you to our new team member, Clare. Some of our lovely customers will have already met Clare over the phone or via email. Clare is the wonderful person who picks, packs and dispatches your honey orders. Alongside this, she helps with packing honey, labeling jars and keeping stock levels up to date. She also prepares the market vehicle, ready for the Nelson Saturday Market. Clare ran our stall at the market for the first time a few weeks ago. She really enjoyed the vibrant buzz and meeting some of our lovely customers. We asked Clare to answer a few questions about herself. What’s the best part of your role at MVH? The small hard-working team and the variation in my role. No two days are the same. What is your favourite MVH ho

Spring is a very busy time in the world of bees, especially if you happen to be a queen. With the warmer weather, our queens are working hard to repopulate their hives, ready to enjoy the bountiful summer flowers. A healthy, happy queen makes for a healthy and happy hive. That’s why we always take special care of our queens, especially at this time of the year.  The queen bee is one of the first things we check on in the spring, as soon as it’s warm enough to inspect the hives properly. The queen is slightly different to other bees and quite easy to identify. Caramel in colour, she has a longer abdomen and shorter wings. You’re highly unlikely to spot her in your garden though — she lives in the hive and does not leave to forage for food. Although she’s more l

Spring has arrived in Nelson, bringing with it an air of excitement. As our bees get more active and we begin to anticipate a brand new season, we can’t help reflecting on the challenges of last summer. It certainly was a season of many unforeseeable obstacles and hiccups. As a result, our team was tired. Our bees also had minimal flying time due to poor weather. Despite these complications, it wasn’t all bad. Our team gave it their all, and our wonderful bees worked from dusk till dawn. In particular, the season came through with a mass of one of our favourite kinds of honey: Beech Honeydew Honey. Last season’s tough conditions meant less flowering across many areas resulting in less honey flow for our Kāmahi, Mānuka, and Kānuka honey. But, to our surprise, the bees d

Bees hate heavy rain, and right now most people in the Nelson Marlborough region will probably agree with them. The August deluge that lashed the Top of the South, caused severe flooding and slips, threatening homes and livelihoods. It’s been an extremely worrying time for us here at Mountain Valley Honey. Our bees are part of our family — it’s gut-wrenching to be cut off from our hives, unable to check if they are okay. Many of our hives are located in remote places — that’s what makes our honey so special.  The downside is that these hideaway places can be difficult to access when bad weather strikes. But the recent weather has taken things to a whole new level.  The main Nelson Marlborough road over the Wangamoas was completely cut off, as was the alternat