Cait Ride’s passion for gardening and love for good food found an outlet in beekeeping. After being introduced to beekeeping while working at a farm in South Carolina, Cait was hooked, and she wants to share her passion through her new project Honey By The People, a community focused beekeeping venture.
By Emily Kao. April 30, 2015. Starting off this project with 21 hives hand built by her father, Cait’s plan is to place these hives around the Gorge creating ‘micro-apiaries.’
“Beekeeping is a labor of love for everyone involved, and it requires a lot of patience,” says Cait Ride, founder and chief beekeeper. “While a hive can generate 50 to 200 pounds of honey a year, it takes a full year before the honey can be harvested.”
Local farmers are working with Cait to host the hives on their property. She maintains the hives, extracts the honey, and sells it to consumers. Farmers benefit from having thousands of pollinating bees on their farms and consumers get to enjoy the excellent taste of small-batch, locally produced honey.
Cait hopes to raise $6,000 through a Kickstarter campaign, which would allowher to increase honey production. So far eleven hives have been placed this spring. Through her Kickstarter she hopes to raise the funds to place the last ten.
Honey By The People is hosting a launch party on Friday, May 1st, at the Butler Bank Building in downtown Hood River. You can learn more about the Kickstarter at www.honeybythepeople.com
