Get to Know the Market: Shipwreck Honey

We might have found the safest job during covid: being a beekeeper! Everyone wants to social distance from the bees. But after I tried Shipwreck Honey, I’m not sure I want to stay far from this vendor. His honey is so tasty! I caught up with Daniel Sullivan to learn more about his farm. 

Q: How is your business doing given covid?

A: I'm a beekeeper so I work by myself a lot. And anytime we go around people, we use gloves. I even have a backup mask. So, we're really, really careful when we're around people, but typically when you're around honey bees you are not around too many folks because we work in the woods.

Q: You sell a mix of food and skin products. We love your beeswax lotion bar, but we’re wondering what’s your best selling honey?

A: Probably the wildflower. It's cherry maple plum blossom. It’s nice and sweet.

Q: Why do you like the QAFM?

A: I like the community. I like the families here. We've been here for a couple of years and I really like the people that run it. It's just an excellent celebration. It's a place for us to come as farmers and support our community and have our community support us. It’s full circle up here.

Q: Where is your farm based?

A: My farm is based about 20 miles east of Seattle in the woods near Snoqualmie Valley. 

Q: How did you get started? 

A: That's a tough question. My great grandfather was a beekeeper. So when I was your age I helped him with his honeybees and in a lot of ways, this is what I’m supposed to do. So I left my roots but eventually as I got older my roots came back to me.

Q: Of course we want to know how often you are stung by the bees?

A: Every day. Every day. Sometimes at night too. You don’t get used to it. You don’t build immunity to bee stings.  

Q: Could you give me a recipe or something you make with your honey?

A: I’m reading a book called “How to Cook with Fire”. And we’ve been eating a lot of pineapple chard with our honey over an open flame this week.

Q: That sounds really good. What’s the most challenging part of your job other than being stung?

A: The most challenging part is the fact that it’s agriculture. There can be colossal failures and colossal successes and it’s trying to walk that tightrope in between. Honeybees are delicate but also strong. I need to put them in the right places to succeed. It’s important what’s next to that spot. We need to know everything going on in our ecology that’s surrounding our honeybees. 

Interview by Max at the QAFM, August 2020.