Tewksbury Honey: A Taste of Summer, Straight from the Hive

July 2026

The holiday has passed, leaving a peaceful calm in its wake.

The summer ruckus of fireworks, loud music, and blaring car horns has given way to the gentle rhythm of sprinklers sweeping across neighborhood lawns and the familiar buzz of bees drifting from blossom to blossom.

These are the days made for bare feet on the porch, a good book, a glass of cold local fruit wine, and slowing down long enough to appreciate the season.

For one of our original Salem NH Farmers Market vendors, however, July is anything but quiet.

While many of us are settling into the slower pace of midsummer, Julie and Mike Kelley of Tewksbury Honey are beginning one of the busiest times of their year — the first honey harvest of the season.

What started as a simple “Save the Bees” school project for their daughter with just two hives has blossomed into a thriving family-owned apiary managing approximately 125 hives — home to nearly eight million honeybees — throughout Tewksbury, Wilmington, Andover, and Bradford, Massachusetts.

Every jar of honey they bring to Market begins with bees they raise themselves. Every harvest reflects the blossoms growing in our own backyards, making local honey one of the truest expressions of place you’ll find at the Market.

Twice each year — once in early July and again in early September — the Kelleys harvest their honey directly from the hive. Their honey is never heavily processed or heated beyond natural hive temperatures, allowing it to retain the enzymes, antioxidants, and delicate flavors that make raw honey so special. The result is honey whose flavor changes with the seasons, reflecting the flowers the bees have visited.

Spring Honey: Light, Floral, and Bright

Freshly harvested, their spring honey captures the flavors of clover, dandelions, apple blossoms, and other early blooms. The result is a light, delicate honey with gentle floral notes that tastes like early summer in New England.

It’s delicious stirred into tea, herbal tea, or light-roast coffee, drizzled over pancakes, or paired with creamy local yogurt from Abbot Hill Creamery or Brookford Farm.

Fall Honey: Rich New England Flavor

If you prefer a darker, more robust honey, you’ll want to watch for their September harvest.

Deep amber in color, this seasonal favorite reflects the nectar of goldenrod, purple loosestrife, knotweed, and asters that blanket New England landscapes as summer fades into autumn. Its richer flavor pairs beautifully with bold teas like Earl Grey or Russian Caravan and shines in autumn baking, marinades, and roasted vegetables.

More Than Just Honey

While their raw honey is the star of the table, Tewksbury Honey offers several other favorites that Market shoppers have come to love.

Honey Sticks

Perfect for lunch boxes, party favors, holiday baskets, or simply tucked into your purse for those restaurants that never seem to have honey for your evening tea. They’re portable, naturally sweet, and fun for kids and adults alike.

Creamed Honey

One of Julie’s most popular products, creamed honey is made by carefully controlling the honey’s natural crystallization process, creating a smooth, spreadable texture while keeping the honey raw.

The result is a rich, velvety honey that won’t drip off your toast. Spread it over cultured butter on a loaf of Woody’s Artisan Bread, and you’ll quickly understand why customers come back for more.

Bee Pollen

Collected from the same local flowers the bees visit, bee pollen is a remarkable blend of flower pollen, nectar, enzymes, honey, wax, and beneficial bee compounds.

It contains more than 250 naturally occurring compounds, including proteins, carbohydrates, healthy fats, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and antioxidants. Long appreciated as a nutrient-dense natural food, bee pollen has been enjoyed for generations as part of a balanced diet.

A Challenging Season

We caught up with our Queen Bee, Julie Kelley, to see how this year’s season has been unfolding.

Like many small businesses, rising costs continue to be one of the biggest challenges.

“Our glass alone has increased 18% since our last order,” Julie shared. “That’s a huge increase to absorb.”

This year’s unusually dry weather has also affected the bees.

“We expect our spring harvest to be lower because it has been so dry,” she explained. “The lack of rain has thrown the bloom cycle off its normal schedule.”

Fortunately, the bees themselves continue to thrive. Tewksbury Honey maintains its trusted Italian and Carniolan honeybee colonies—both known for their productive, gentle nature.

The product line continues to grow as well. Alongside their two signature seasonal honeys, you’ll often find bee pollen, beautiful cut comb honey when available, and — if they’re lucky enough to source it again this fall — a limited supply of cranberry honey from a fellow Cape Cod beekeeper.

Outside the apiary, Julie is also an accomplished cyclist and hopes to once again ride in next summer’s Pan-Mass Challenge, supporting cancer research.

Stop by and Say Hello

Be sure to stop by Julie’s table this Sunday to sample her “BEE-utiful” honey, learn about the fascinating world of honeybees, and discover the remarkable flavors that come from the blossoms growing right here in our own region.

There’s nothing that tastes more like a New England summer than honey made from the nectar of Merrimack Valley wildflowers.

Pick up a jar now, and when winter arrives, you’ll have a little taste of sunshine waiting in your cupboard.