About Us
We are a family run operation with 3 generations of beekeepers. We are located in the Bushkill valley area of the Catskill Mountains which is within the Catskill Park boundaries.
The Catskill Park is a mountainous region of public and private lands in Ulster, Green, Delaware and Sullivan Counties. 98 peaks over 3,000 feet form an impressive skyline. The Catskill Park consists of 700,000 acres of which 41 percent is owned by the state of New York as part of a “forever wild” Forest Preserve and managed by the Department of Environmental Conversation (DEC). Another 5% is owned by New York City to protect four of the city’s reservoirs in the region that lie partially within the park and their respective watersheds.
This special and often remote mountain landscape was only occasionally used by native Americans. Later it was settled and heavily exploited by the Dutch, English, Irish and Germans. Its rich history includes logging, blue stone quarrying, leather tinning, wintergreen and blueberry harvesting, trapping, fishing, mountain house tourism, railroads, and even World War II pilot training.
The Bushkill creek is a tributary to the Ashokan reservoir, one of the six reservoirs that provide water to New York City. The Ashokan reservoir covers 8,300 acres of land and has a capacity of 123 billion gallons. Nine villages were either removed or obliterated forever to construct the reservoir. Three-quarters of the land needed for the project was obtained by condemnation proceedings. Residents of the area to be flooded did not take kindly to the idea, and fought eminent domain proceedings bitterly. To this day, there is a certain disdain towards New York City in the area, since they try to dictate additional laws on area residence and patrol our highways with their own cops, affectionately referred to as “fish cops” by the locals. Eleven miles of the Ulster & Delaware Railroad tracks were taken up and relocated. Sixty-four miles of highway were discontinued. The removal from thirty-two cemeteries of two thousand eight hundred bodies or skeletons, including those of many soldiers of the Revolution, and their re interment in new pine boxes in neighboring graveyards.
The water enters the Catskill aqueduct from the Ashokan reservoir, for a 92 mile trip to the Kensico Reservoir just north of the Bronx. The aqueduct tunnel is partially above ground level, for most of the run, having been constructed using a “cut and cover” technique. The aqueduct has an operational capacity of about 580 million gallons per day.
So, as you can see, our area provides an abundance of wild resources for our bees to forage and allows us the bring you a truly “Mountain Wildflower” honey.
