Hays County Honey Harvest Festival will ‘bee’ educational

Beekeeping education, harvest demos and honey tastings will keep visitors buzzing as Vista Brewing, a West Driftwood business, partners with the Hays County Beekeepers Association.

The event is from noon to 4 p.m. at 13551 Farm to Market Road 150.

According to organizers, this is a free and family- friendly community event, and also a fundraising opportunity for the HCBA’s Youth Scholarship & Mentoring Program, which is a multiyear progressive program to teach youth ages 10-18 about natural and sustainable beekeeping.

According to a press release, Vista Brewing is a 21acre ranch that boasts of a 16-hive apiary on site. The bees at the location assist in the pollination that takes place at the vegetable farm also located on the acreage. Approximately 7+ acres of wildflowers are grown here in an effort to sustain Vista’s honeybees.

Those making a beeline to the festival will get a mini-education in honeybees, that includes an observation hive: a frame of live and active honeybees in a fully enclosed box with a viewing window.

There will be honey tastings from Hays County-area apiaries, providing a sampling of what local experts say is the natural variance in honey flavors that comes from specific plants that bees make use of in this area.

In addition, there will be demonstrations of how honey is extracted and spun. Using a solar melter, a demonstration will focus on how to render beeswax into a pure state.

The Vista Grill will offer honey food specialties. Children may take part in a scavenger hunt and coloring sheets with bee illustrations will be available.

Some may wish to take a hosted walk through the Vista apiary.

For the brewery, the day will feature sampling of a new Hive Mind Honey Ale, the third iteration of what is an award-winning and unique brew, made in collaboration with Hays County beekeepers and a specific wild yeast that is taken from a Vista-based honeybee.

A highlight of the day will be the release of the 2023 harvest from the onsite apiary, which will include all natural comb honey and raw honey.

HCBA members will be on hand to answer questions about beekeeping and its value to Hays County. The organization cites as its mission, the encouragement of nature-centered best practices for managing honey bee colonies, seeking to offer a chemically free, sustainable process both for beekeeping and the production of honey. Other businesses that will be represented include Sister Creek Hives, a local education and apiary management company, BeeMindful, a local business with over 60 years beekeeping experience, Saint Abi’s Bee Supply, Hunter's Hive Candles, a family-owned and operated business that sells scented beeswax candles.