Raw Alfalfa Honey from Haitt and Sons Honey Company

Haitt and Sons' Alfafa Honey carries the flavors of Washington's sunny, southern alfalfa fields where gentle breezes rustle green blades in fields that stretch to a seemingly endless horizon as hawks ride the thermals in the clear blue skies.

No pesticides are ever used in the hives. Fumadil B is never used when the bees are producing honey which people will eat. Fumadil B is the primary treatment used against both types of Nosema (apis and ceranae): microscopic, fungal parasites that kill many bees throughout the world. To combat varroa mites, Haitt and Sons utilize mint oil and thyme oil.

Lynn Haitt has been a beekeeper for over 33 years. "I'm the son," he explains. His father retired at the age of 86, and has now passed away.

"I grew up on a farm and have always been interested in anything having to with agriculture," says Haitt. The search for something new seems to be in all young people, so his first career took him away from the fields. After earning a sociology degree in college, he worked for 12 years in the Oregon Social Service Department. "Then I decided I didn't want to that kind of work for the rest of my life." He and his brother joined with their father to create Haitt and Sons Honey Company. Haitt now has over 1,000 hives.

He is quick to point out that 1,000 hives is not "big". His uncle's bee business, which is run by Haitt's brother and other family members, manages over 10,000 hives.

Hiatt's bees are given Carniolan queens, "but the reality is that some hives will requeen themselves, then you get hybrids," he explains. "So they can be a hybrid of Carniolan, Italians, or Caucasian bees." These are just a few of the "races" of Apis mellifera - what the western world thinks of as honeybees.

Regardless of their background, Haitt enjoys his bees "The most interesting part for me is probably seeing the queens lay a lot of eggs and reproduce in a vociferous manner. They do that during the time they're making honey. I like taking a frame out and seeing it full of brood."