16 Summer 2025 | edibleseattle.com That’s not a bee earring that Peter Nolte is wearing as he tends the Rainy Day Bees’ hives. Compared to some pollinator species, honeybees are known for being relatively docile, acting aggressively only in defense of their hives. the bees pull pollen and nectar from, which ultimately informs the flavor of the finished honey. “Our favorite honey we ever produced was I think in our second year of beekeeping,” says Amy Beth. “It was in one of our hives in Phinney, and it got some crazy, late-season Mediterranean herb flow. It was this dark, complex, amazing honey. And with the backyard hives, you get surprises like that.” Over the years, the Noltes have slowly grown their operation. They took on a couple employees, and added to their equipment. This year, they were able to purchase vehicles for beekeeping staff to use. A recent Washington State Department of Agriculture grant allowed them to get a new labeling machine, honey harvesting equipment, and equipment to freeze-dry bee pollen. “We’ve been selling it frozen, but we’ve bought a ton of pollen traps, and it will be freeze-dried now, so it’s shelf stable. Pollen isn’t as reliant on the weather, meaning if there’s a lot of rain, or if it’s super dry, it’s another way we can stay stable.” Stability can be a hard thing to find. Peter remembered that in 2016, the spring and summer were unusually hot and dry, meaning less nectar, meaning less honey. He had just moved to working full time with the bees, and they had made a large investment in scaling up to around 60 hives. The reduced honey crop was a hard pill to swallow. “People said, ‘Well, that was a weird year, but it’s your first one,’” says Peter. He’s installing a nucleus hive in the teaching apiary as he talks, inspecting frames of bees as they go about their work before installing them in a full Peter installs a nucleus hive. “We feel more strongly about giving people more context and connection to bees and pollinators. To us, what’s good for honeybees is good for native bees, is good for honeybees, is good for native bees, right? We should all be planting more flowers.” —Amy Beth Nolte
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MTcxMjMwNg==