Nicola Valley Grimshire Apiary shares Beekeeping Experiences

MERRITT —Bruce and Diana Grimshire are owners of the Grimshire Apirary. Bruce was born and raised in the Nicola Valley and has lived, worked, and raised his family here for the last 33 years. They had always had a notion to keep bees and when they became empty nesters the two actually had time to take up their hobby.

In 2010 the couple had contacted Meg and Alan Paulson (Nicola Valley Honey) about buying two nucleus colonies but Meg wouldn’t sell the bees until they had taken a beginner beekeeping course; luckily Ian Farber was holding a course in Kamloops beginning the next day.

So for the next 6-8 Tuesday evenings the two travelled to Kamloops to learn about beekeeping, they were immediately hooked before they even got the bees. The two started with the two colonies in the orchard behind the house that they still live in, in the Sunshine Valley where Bruce has worked, on this farm, for the past 18 years.

Diana says “We enjoy learning all there is to learn about keeping bees, and the history of beekeeping.  It’s been fun introducing our families and others to these wonderful insects. We’ve enjoyed working in the beeyard with first our children and now our grandchildren.”

“There have been many opportunities to travel and meet other beekeepers at conventions and tradeshows. We have visited areas we would have never travelled to if there wasn’t a beekeeping conference to entice us there; Hawaii, New Mexico, Montreal, and a few other wonderful places.”

Over the years Bruce and Diana have expanded enough to be able to market the honey in the local Merritt area, to help offset the cost of keeping bees and have a viable small business when the two retire from the farm life.

Diana noted that it “really is a wonderful opportunity for lifelong learning and a great way to keep active and meet people with the same interests.”

Both work with the Nicola Valley Arts Community and as always the Arts Council are looking for more members.

You can purchase or renew your membership here, $20 will get you a year-long membership and enables you to register for art classes and support NVAC’s mission.