About UsCatskill Mountain Mamas Sweet Retreat is the all-encompassing name for what we grow, create, dream about and plan for on our little homestead at the feet of the Catskill Mountains. The name represents our love and care for this place we call home. The bees who grace us with the honey for Lemon Drop Honey are regarded and tended with respect and care; their welfare comes first, honey second. We only harvest the extra honey, leaving enough honey in the hives to feed them through the longest of winters. Our pet chickens, Izzy, Ophelia, Gertie and Sophie, are free range and fed organically. Everything we grow, from tomatoes to elderberries, purple coneflower to grapes, is raised organically with care and dedication to preserving this special place.
Who We AreLinda is the beekeeper of the family. What started as a fascination with the 'secret life of bees' and two hives seven years ago has blossomed into a full-time passion and nearly a dozen hives. In addition to caring for her own bees, Linda teaches introductory beekeeping classes and has mentored a few new beekeepers. Ashling is the supportive-from-a-distance half of the family. She helps with the extraction, preparation and marketing of Lemon Drop Honey, as well as planting and writing about it all. Together we plan to begin planting bee pastures, creating a healthy diversity of high nectar and pollen plants not only for the honeybees, but for other important pollinators as well.
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