To celebrate a sweet new year, we spoke to Beekeeper and Founder of Stickeys, Chris Holmes, who tells us about the honey-making process and why buying local is always better.
Meet Chris Holmes, the passionate Beekeeper behind Stickeys, a Leeds based honey manufacturer. What began with just two hives on his smallholding after a career in the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs has grown into a thriving network of around 200 hives, each managed with an unwavering commitment to bee welfare and environmental harmony.
Chris’ approach to beekeeping is guided by nature, not mass production – resulting in honey that is as unique as the seasons and as rich in character as the countryside it comes from.
Chris walks us through the pollen to honey process: “Bees collect nectar from plants, take it back to the hive, and drive off the moisture. When the moisture gets down to around 20%, we put a piece of wax over it to keep it condensed and then it turns into honey nectar.”
“Pollen for bees is protein,” Chris explains. “They’re driven to collect protein to make baby bees so in the spring, they’re keen to get lots of it as there’s less in the autumn and winter.”
For Chris, his priority is the bees’ health and wellbeing, social structure, behaviour, and the buzz and feeling of satisfaction he gets every day he spends working with them: “Primarily, I’m a beekeeper so I might do my job a little bit different to larger scale beekeepers. If the weather is poor in the spring, I’ll leave all the honey for the bees – I’ll only take it off if there’s a big enough surplus and I’m confident the bees will stay well fed.”
Honey from Stickeys and the honey we see on supermarket shelves are entirely different: “We choose locations for the hives that are clean, don’t have many roads, and have a low population as this is where produces the best honey. We keep all honey grown in different areas separate, so nothing is mixed. From a business perspective, this has positives and negatives as when you buy honey from the supermarket, it always tastes the same but buying from us, for example, if you buy a jar of Stickeys honey in late summer, you might find that you like it but when you come next time, it might be different.
“Bigger businesses don’t want to take that risk, so they collect honey from many sources and mix it all together to give an outcome that always tastes the same. I refer to it as blending for blandness!” Chris jokes.
Chris loves connecting with customers through personal interaction: “If you come and see us at a farmer’s market, I’ll talk to you about what we’ve got and how and why it’s different from last time. We don’t need honey from South America or China; for 1000s of years, honey has been collected and sold in Leeds, we have an amazing source of honey right here on our doorstep.
“I view honey a little bit like wine; it’s all about the year, weather, and location. I really enjoy educating the people of North Leeds about it and building brand awareness that way – I’m all about provenance.”
If you’re looking to get your hands on some tasty honey, you can find Stickeys at Oakwood and Headingley Farmer’s Markets.
