Early in their life together Doug and Nora Crumback couldn’t have imagined owning a large honey-producing operation. But with two years as owners of Swan Valley Honey under their belts, the parents of seven grown children say they couldn’t be happier.
Theirs has been an unlikely journey. Doug, an air traffic controller with the Royal Canadian Air Force and widowed father of four, met Nora, mother of three, at church when he was stationed at Comox. A forced transfer to Cold Lake didn’t hold much appeal for the new couple, though, and soon they were on the move to Summerland, where they bought Doug’s parents’ orchard.
After 15 years as orchardists, they sold the property and started looking for a new opportunity. They had some experience with beekeeping.
“I contacted Ministry of Agriculture people in Victoria and asked if there were any opportunities for commercial beekeeping in B.C.,” Doug recalled as he sat in the dining room of their Lakeview home. “They referred me to Doug Knight, who they said might be thinking of retiring.”
By the time Doug and Nora were ready to start exploring their options, they had a list of other possibilities. They first visited Grand Forks and the next stop was Creston.
“We found this property” — a huge shop that is now their honey production and storage facility being a major selling feature — “talked to Doug Knight and realized the Creston Valley is a great spot for bees,” he said. “And we stopped looking.”
The Crumbacks worked with Knight for a year to learn the business and now are fully engaged as beekeepers and honey producers. Doug has immersed himself in maintaining 300 hives that are distributed at various locations around the Creston Valley. Nora is the marketer and has become a fixture at the Creston Valley Farmers’ Market each Saturday. She also travels the Kootenays to add retailers that will carry Swan Valley Honey products.
“The honey sells itself,” Nora laughs. “People love the flavour and keep coming back for more.”
At the market, her regular customers range from small children who want to sample to teen boys who love the chewy comb honey to food-aware moms who use only natural sweeteners to seniors who are transported to earlier days by the sight of fresh local honey products.
“It’s just so rewarding,” she said. “Connecting with people is really what this is all about.”
With each hive producing about 125 pounds a year, Nora has a lot of product to move. But about 95 per cent is sold right here in the Kootenays, most of it at the market and from their property.
“We could easily sell nothing but comb honey (which includes some bees’ wax) because it is so popular,” she said, but liquid honey production is more efficient and cost-effective.
Doug said that as he learns more about beekeeping his focus has shifted from productivity to colony health. Last winter he saw a 50 per cent loss in colonies. But while much of the news about colony collapse has focused on pesticides, he is convinced the health of bees is reliant on many factors. He has been working with a Vernon producer who has reduced his own losses to under 10 per cent annually.
“Losing half of our bees every year is not sustainable,” he said. “Across the country there is an average 30 per cent loss, which is only marginally sustainable.”
When a colony dies over the winter it means new queen bees and workers have to be purchased, and it takes time and money to rebuild the population. Focusing on colony health is one approach, but another is to breed queen bees locally. It allows him to replenish Swan Valley Honey colonies and also to sell to other smaller producers. He has also moved into the supply business and is selling related products, which helps diversify business income.
Bees are needed not only to produce honey, but to pollinate crops, including fruit trees. Some plant flowers don’t produce much nectar, but bees are needed to pollinate the flowers so they will produce fruit.
“The Creston Valley can probably support about 1,000 colonies,” he estimated.
So there is room for the Crumbacks’ plans to eventually expand their own operation to about 700 hives. To that end, one of their sons (their kids are all adults now, some with families) and his wife are moving to Creston to join in the business.
More than doubling production will involve much more labour, but Nora isn’t concerned about the market becoming saturated.
“The demand is very strong and our honey tastes great — there is such a diversity of plant life in this valley.”
Doug compares honey to wine, where complexities in the taste make for a more desirable product.
“Bees on the prairies are more productive,” he said. “Colonies in canola fields can produce 200 pounds a year. But we have customers who visit from the prairies because they like the flavour of our honey better.”
Beekeeping involves a lot of heavy lifting and hard labour. And it takes a tremendous effort to keep the production facility clean while the honey is being extracted from frames. Otherwise, workers could find themselves with shoes stuck to the floor.
But much of their satisfaction comes from interaction with people, Doug said. As he travels around the valley to tend to his “bee yards” he gets to see first hand the importance of bees in the eyes of others.
“In one bee yard, whenever I visit there are two kids watching everything I do,” he smiled.
Across from their yard are 30 colonies and the boy (about five) and his sister (about three) are fascinated by their fuzzy, flying neighbours.
“They’ve seen it all,” he said. “The boy says he wants to be a beekeeper when he grows up.”
In this agricultural valley, Doug and Nora said they are grateful for the support they receive. Nora speaks of customers who not only purchase products but spread the word about Swan Valley Honey to family and friends. Doug needs space on farms for his bee yards around the valley, and he values the relationships that give him access to the properties.
As they sit in their living room, with its view to the west and north, the Crumbacks show no signs of regret about the life they have created for themselves in the Creston Valley.
“We have some wonderful people who work seasonally for us,” Nora said. “And we are providing pure honey to people who really appreciate its value. We feel blessed to be here.”