Honey Harvest: All the Buzz at Castro Valley Marketplace
High atop the roof of the Castro Valley Marketplace are four active beehives that supply the Natural Grocery store below with its CV-specific and locally produced honey.
The hives were installed there last year under the vision of store owner Donna Layburn and managed by beekeeper Mike Vigo. Layburn made it a priority to include the bees as part of her agreement to open up the Natural Grocery store at the Castro Valley Boulevard location. The boxes stacked four or five high apiece were installed last year and produced its first bounty this past Thursday of 250 pounds of deep gold-colored honey.
“The response we get from the people when we tell them we have our own local honey, is, ‘where can I buy it?’,” says Layburn. “We sell several types of honey at the Grocery, but the local stuff goes fast.”
As part of the harvest last week, beekeeper Mike Vigo demonstrated the process of collection for a crowd gathered in the Marketplace common area. The procedure includes carving off a protective layer of beeswax with a hot knife from a wooden frame measuring about 12 by 4 inches. The frame is then put into a centrifuge that spins around and pushes the honey out of the honeycomb to a spigot at the bottom. The honey is then drained into buckets and prepared for bottling.
Layburn says the Castro Valley site has its own prep kitchen in the basement of the Marketplace that allows the Grocery to put the honey into 8-ounce jars and onto store shelves quickly. This is the Grocery’s second year of harvesting.
“Usually there is a spring honey and a fall honey, and each has its own unique flavor,” Layburn said. “The color and taste come from different types of flowers and trees, such as the abundant eucalyptus trees here in Castro Valley.”
Layburn and Vigo started their honey-making operation about 11 years ago, which Layburn lovingly refers to as her “Earth momma” phase. A friend insisted she try beekeeping and one hive increased to two. Layburn then went on to establish the Natural Grocery at the Alameda Marketplace on Park Street and called on Vigo to help her with managing four hives on that building’s rooftop about four years ago.
The Alameda and Castro Valley stores keep their own supply separate from the other to ensure the honey is hyper-local. In addition to the 250 pounds of honey harvested in Castro Valley, the Alameda store harvested 300 pounds also last week.
“Most people have heard that local honey is good for you. When you eat local honey what you are doing is helping your body boost your immune system, which provides health benefits for people, especially anyone with allergies or hay fever. Local honey also means that the local bee population is working in the area, which is very important for the health of the local landscape.”
In addition to the four hives on the top of the Marketplace, Layburn and Vigo also work with other Castro Valley beekeepers. Vigo collects from five hives near Lake Chabot and two other hives in the area.