Since U.P. honey is harvested just once per year in August, the beehives yield on average 60-80 pounds of honey each. The raw honey has not been over heated or filtered so that the honey retains its unique and complex flavors and beneficial nutrients. The honey itself is spun on a 20 frame extractor. It is then filtered and bottled by hand in the church kitchen. Our beeswax candles and natural soaps are also made in the church kitchen. Mead is the most sustainable alcoholic beverage and perhaps the first one enjoyed by humans. Wine has been part of human culture for 6,000 years, but the history of mead dates back much farther, to 20,000 to 40,000 years ago, and has its origins on the African continent. Vineyards have had to mechanize to survive, but apiaries require lots of hand labor. And apiaries do not need irrigation, fertilizers or toxic pesticides.