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Beekeeper provides all-natural honey at the Tottenham market

July 28, 2023   ·   0 Comments

By Brian Lockhart

It is one of nature’s perfect foods, and beekeeper Larry Zembal of Humbervalley Honey brings his award-winning honey to the Tottenham Artisan and Farmer’s Market every Sunday.

Larry has bees at his property right down by the river in Bolton and other locations in the region.

“The hives have to be 30 metres within your property line,” Larry explained of the rules regulating beekeeping. “If your neighbour have beehives and didn’t tell you, you probably wouldn’t know they are there. Bees spread out over two miles – they’re all working independently. All the beehives in Ontario are supposed to be registered.”

Larry has been beekeeping for 14 years, and it has become his passion. 

He got into it in a roundabout way.

A friend wanted to try beekeeping and asked Larry if he was interested in trying it with her. Larry said he would ‘lend a hand.’

“We stumbled through that first year with one hive,” Larry explained. “The following year we took some courses. She left to go to India, and gave me her hive, and by that time I had two or three of my own, and it took off from there. The longer you’re a beekeeper, the more you learn and the more fascinating it is.”

Over the years, Larry has learned much about the craft. His honey won first place at the Bolton Fall Fair and the Woodbridge Fall Fair.

“In the springtime it all starts off with dandelion,” said Larry. “Beekeepers collectively breath a sigh of relief when we see dandelions in the spring because then we know we don’t have to worry about our bees starving. Up until then, the bees can still starve.”

The flavour and colour of honey depends on what type of flower the bees have been visiting.

“If it’s a white blossom or yellow blossom sweet clover, that’s an excellent honey – people enjoy it – it’s got a hit of cinnamon in it.” Larry explained. “If you get honey in the springtime after the dandelions, you’ll get wild honeysuckle blooming and just as that’s finishing you’ll get Russian Olive, and that makes excellent honey as well. At the beginning of June you get Black Locust that are blooming. They’ll turn white with blossoms and they are alive with pollinating bees. That honey is almost as clear as water. You can get honey made from a flower called Buckwheat, and that’s an almost black honey.”

Larry brings his products to the Artisan and Farmer’s Market every Sunday, and many people enjoy stopping by to see what type of honey he has to offer.

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