Charleston Cooks! - eatdrink Magazine

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SPOTLIGHT
issue no. 20
Honey, Honey
A Visit to Ferguson Apiaries, near Hensall
By Jane Antoniak
True fact: bees don’t bite”, jokes beekeeper
Bill Ferguson. Actually, they
sting. Truth is, they don’t even seem
to do that to Bill. Standing with
him next to an active hive, I watch a little
nervously as he calmly inspects the combs
and urges me to get a closer look. “Just don’t
swat at them,” he cautions. “We know how
they are going to react. �ey go after your
motions, and also they are attracted to certain
smells — they don’t like perfumes or
deodorants.” I step back as I realize that I
am wearing at least one of the above.
But there’s no stepping back from enjoying
the Fergusons’ honey, on tap
at the Honey House located
on Highway 84 between
Hensall and Zurich in Huron
County. Velvety smooth
streams of golden goodness
pour from the taps as they
o�er samples of pumpkin
patch, basswood, buckwheat
and clover honey. I long for
a toasted English mu�n and
maybe some peanut butter.
Similar to a wine tasting,
Sherri Ferguson
each honey carries its own aroma and �nish.
No wonder the bees are cross when people
try to harvest their nectars!
Bill Ferguson starting keeping bees while
a high school student in Bay�eld back in the
DECEMBER/JANUARY 2010
early 1960s. He
worked for the
Haberer Brothers
beekeepers
in Zurich before starting his own operation
in 1967. He and wife Rosemary and their
children Sherri and Susan have grown it into
an 800-colony operation with more than 40
locations for their “supers” across Huron,
Perth, Middlesex and Lambton counties.
(Supers are the boxes in which the bees
store their honey. A deep super full of honey
can weigh close to 90 pounds.) “�e crops
grown in the area and the time of year determine
the type of honey
we produce,” says Ferguson.
“For instance, with ‘pumpkin
patch’ honey, the bees
pollinate large �elds of
pumpkins, over 100 acres.
�e farmer gets the pollination
and the bees get
some nectar.” �e result
is a delicious, mild, lightcoloured
honey. For those
of us who are used to buying
commercial honey,
this is huge positive jump in �avour and
texture. Some of the Fergusons’ honey runs
sweetly and some is creamed, so choose your
weapon: honey dipper or spreader.
Renting out bees to the farmers for