It’s been in the works for a little over a year now and I’m beyond excited to debut our the new My Honey Crate, the internet’s most complete local honey directory!
A little about our history… My Honey Crate was started as a honey and bee subscription box in 2016. While we had a good 2.5 year run, we were only able to feature as many as five beekeepers and small businesses each month. This had always bothered me because the honey and beekeeping community is vast and there are a lot of good people doing amazing things with honey bees that we need to recognize. In early 2019 we closed the subscription box and spent more time focusing on our own apiary business, Astor Apiaries. What became very clear is that the general public, even in our own neighborhood, had no good way to find us and there was no good place online to feature our products and services outside of our own website.
About a year ago in the summer of 2019, I was able to spend some time with other beekeepers across the country at some honey events, and the EAS Conference in South Carolina. In speaking with fellow beekeepers at EAS, I was hearing a lot of the same problems being found online. I went back to my AirBNB and started doing some searches, which were not very helpful. I could find some beekeepers on a club list and some others on a different list that hadn’t been updated for years, and then a precious few that actually had websites with decent rankings. It brought me back to the very laborious tasks when we researched and sourced products for the subscription box. We often had to do crazy deep dives into other platforms or websites to hope to find some internet-savvy beekeepers.
With all these broken up lists of beekeepers and apiaries (we are not always known for being on the cutting edge of technology, lol), there needed to be a solution. A single place where anyone could find their local beekeeper. My Honey Crate was the answer. We already had a large list of vendors and followers from our subscription box days so I went to work to see if I could cobble something together. Since then, we have been scouring the internet to find all the US beekeepers we can. While there are still plenty out there, we have done a fairly good job of covering almost all of the country. The general public can now search our directory and find beekeepers within 50 miles, the standard radius most people consider honey to be ‘local’.
I am very proud of our new platform and can’t wait to further develop it. We have a lot of ideas to bring new features to our vendors, as well as new tools and general honey/bee/pollinator education for users who just want to support local. I am also excited about the possibility of filling out the My Honey Crate team so we can make the features happen sooner and connect more people with their local beekeeper.
New Features
Now it’s not only possible to find your local beekeeper. You can also search for specific types or varietals of honey. Want creamed blueberry blossom honey? Just search on our Listings Page. Our beekeepers can upload product photos and give you a look at what they have.
Not Just Honey
Are you looking for beekeeping services? No matter if you need a swarm removed, need a beekeeping consultant, or looking for someone to teach a beekeeping class, we have beekeepers ready to help you.
Hey Beekeepers, We’ve Got You Covered Too!
Our directory includes equipment suppliers and distributors, as well as other apiaries who specialize in containers, hive equipment, harvesting equipment and much more.
I Want To hear From You…
Just like the honey bee colony, the My Honey Crate directory cannot exist on the efforts of an individual. We need you to check out the site and find your local honey. If you’re a beekeeper, take a few minutes to create your Free Listing. Help us help you connect. If you have any thoughts on feature requests, notes about something that’s not working, or just have a question about honey and/or honey bees I want to hear from you! Email me directly at nick [at] myhoneycrate.com. Seriously, that’s my direct email. Reach out, I’d love to chat!
-Nick Hoefly
Start your My Honey Crate experience…
I’m Looking For Honey
You’re in the right place! Start your search for the best local raw honey, most times right in your own neighborhood. Honey tastes best when it’s from where you live.
I’m Selling Honey
If you are a beekeeper, apiary, or bee-related business… I’d like to invite you to create a free listing in the internet’s most complete Local Honey Directory. Easy as that.
About the Author
Nick Hoefly is a full-time Master Beekeeper based in Queens, NY. He and his wife, Ashley, run Astor Apiaries, taking care of hives across NYC. They produce delicious local honey, work to educate about the plight of honey bees and pollinators, alike, and provide beekeeping services and consultation to new beekeepers and anyone who wants to host a hive.