The roots of Honey Gardens started in 1965 when Todd started keeping bees with his brother Tom on the top field of their parents’ farm. The journey continued with studies of entomology & agricultural sciences at Cornell, working for beekeepers in the Finger Lakes of New York after this, and inspecting bees for the State of Vermont.
Then, working with around 180 colonies, raw, farm style honey was introduced to the Vermont and Boston market. Todd would fill the little pick-up each month, make deliveries along the way to Boston and stay with his grandparents. This product was unusual, as people were used to the liquid heated honey found on most supermarket shelves. Raw honey was the traditional way honey was eaten 100 years earlier, before production outweighed good taste and nutrition in the honey market. Todd saw the value in the raw, unfiltered honey and knew that with a growing interest in healthy foods and agriculture, people were ready for it. A few years later the elderberry syrup was developed, also inspired by tradition and homebred health. Lewis Hill, well know as an orchardist and elderberry specialist in Vermont, inspired Todd for years to develop it. When the time was right, he brought a team of herbalists together to make it happen. This led to the development of the wild cherry bark syrup, propolis spray, salve and Rejuvenation Tonic. Our newest product is the mead, also grown from years of contemplation and testing. Mead, or honey wine, is the oldest fermented beverage known, and harkens to Honey Gardens’ connection to tradition.
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