West Seattle beekeeper installs new hives at Salish Lodge | Business

Local beekeeper Daniel Sullivan, of Shipwreck Honey, has helped install new hives at Salish Lodge so that the hotel and spa can begin producing its own fresh honey! Here is the press release from Salish Lodge:

Salish Lodge & Spa and beekeeper Daniel Sullivan, proprietor of Shipwreck Honey in West Seattle, announce the successful installation of a four-hive, 120,000 honeybee apiary, located  on the hillside overlooking the hotel and Snoqualmie Falls.The Lodge anticipates the new hives will yield between 650 and 800 pounds of a light, classic honey to be collected and integrated into its indigenous Northwest cuisine, signature treatments in The Spa and in retail outlets throughout the Lodge in 2012.

“We have been searching for the perfect opportunity and partnership to bring honeybees to Salish for a long time.When we met Daniel and learned about the passion and care that goes into his work, we knew it was a match made in heaven,”said John Murphy, general manager at Salish Lodge. “With his dedication to ensuring that our hives flourish and produce, we expect to share our truly local, sustainable, signature Salish honey with our guests within one year. It doesn’t get more local than this and our excitement simply cannot be contained.”

The busy colonies will spend the next eight months building honeycomb, nurturing their brood in various stages of development, collecting pollen and producing enough honey to sustain the colony through the winter. Sullivan, whose own private label Shipwreck Honey-producing hives are tucked away in an undisclosed oasis in West Seattle, will visit to check on the Salish honeybees every seven to ten days.

“Salish Lodge is to be commended for taking steps to develop a program for an onsite apiary in a region that has largely yet to do so,” said Sullivan. “They have embraced the importance of sustaining the honeybee population and will create a unique, organic, artisan honey in the process. I’m very proud to be partnering with the lodge on this venture.”

As the honeybees busy themselves building their new homes, the team at Salish Lodge is crafting a comprehensive program for their soon-to-be Salish honey reserves. Murphy confirms that one intended use for the final product will be in the “Honey from Heaven” dining experience, served as part of the legendary four-course Country Breakfast, a lodge favorite since 1916.  The “Honey from Heaven” tradition requires a server to stand atop a stool, while pouring honey from four feet above the table in long, golden strands to the fresh biscuits and oatmeal below. 

A  lineup of new honey-based treatments in The Spa are also in development, including a Salish Milk and Honey Bath, Salish Oatmeal and Honey Body Treatment, and Honey from Heaven for the Hands and Feet. 

“The beauty benefits of honey have long been recognized,” says Melanie Silver, spa director at Salish Lodge. “Honey moisturizes, is rich in anti-oxidants and protects the skin from damage caused by UV rays, and is also known to possess an excellent anti-aging essence. The new honey-based offerings will be an ideal complement to our treatment menu featuring indigenous Pacific Northwest ingredients.”

The Salish honeybee apiary will not be accessible to the public. To learn more about Salish Lodge & Spa, call 1.800.2.SALISH.