Wildcat Farm, Ellensburg Bee Co. enjoy mutually beneficial partnership

ELLENSBURG — In just a few short months, the Wildcat Farm at Central Washington University will be bustling with activity once again.

But, in many ways, Farm Manager Kaitlyn Flesher and her team are still buzzing about their enormously successful 2024 season — and for good reason. 

For the first time since it opened in 2019, The Farm was home to thousands of local honeybees during last year’s growing season, thanks to a new community partnership that materialized over the past year.

“We have had bees on The Farm before, but it had been a few years,” Flesher said. “One of our goals is to have an on-site pollinator, and when Ellensburg Bee Company offered to loan us some hives, we jumped at the opportunity.”

Owner Brian Bodenman had heard that The Farm was looking for an on-site pollination option, and he suggested a potential partnership with CWU Auxiliary Enterprises, which oversees The Farm.

If their first year working together is any indication, the Ellensburg Bee Company and the Wildcat Farm are a perfect match.

“We share a similar mindset and ethos to produce sustainable, locally grown food for our community while giving back to the same community through FISH Food Bank, and we agreed that working together just made sense,” said Bodenman, who has been beekeeping for about 10 years. “I provide pollinators for The Farm to increases crop production, the bees produce honey that is sold in the Wildcat Shop, and I have a new location in Ellensburg to place my hives.” 

Once the 2024 growing season concluded in late October, Bodenman retrieved the hives to care for them during the winter months. He explained that one of unique aspects of Ellensburg Bee Company hives is that they stay in the Kittitas Valley throughout the year, ensuring every drop of honey is truly local instead of transporting them outside the area in the winter like many migratory Washington beekeepers do.

“There’s a huge demand for locally sourced honey and it has historically been very difficult for our community members to find a consistent supply of it,” Bodenman said. “While there are unique challenges in keeping bees through the long winters in our valley, our customers really appreciate the hyper-local aspect of our honey. They know exactly where it comes from.”

Ellensburg Bee Company honey can be purchased locally at Daily Bread and Mercantile, Better Life Natural Foods, Green Bow Farm, Vinman’s Bakery, Jerrol’s, and The Grazing Table on Fourth Avenue. It’s also sold at the Teanaway Country Store and, as of November, it can be found at the Wildcat Shop in the SURC.

The honey sold through the Wildcat Shop is sourced from The Farm, and the first batch hit the shelves in November. It didn’t take long for the maiden batch of honey to sell out at the annual Employee Appreciation Night event. 

“There’s been a lot of excitement so far,” Flesher said of the new product, which declares “Proudly harvested at the CWU Wildcat Farm” on the label. “We haven’t promoted it much yet, but a lot of people were asking about it during our campus tours in the fall. We think it’s going to become pretty popular.”

Flesher’s four student employees helped harvest the honey last fall, and she looks forward to working with a new group of students this spring and summer. She also sees tremendous potential for community education.

“There’s a huge education component that goes along with this partnership,” Flesher said. “We would like to offer workshops to people in the community — opportunities for them to both learn and do.”

Bodenman said he plans to bring the bees back this spring to pollinate the first blooms at The Farm and he plans to meet with Flesher soon to discuss what this year’s growing season will look like.

“We are excited to partner with The Farm,” Bodenman said. “Things have worked out really well for both of us, and we look forward to seeing where this next season takes us.”