Available Farm Land in Bluemont for Bee Keepers

[OW Farm]

Please contact me if you are interested in leasing for a reasonable fee any of our land in Bluemont for bees.  Several hundred acres of farmland and forests available.  We also would be glad to barter land usage for honey.  

FarmManagement2016@yahoo.com 

Thanks 

[Matt Gaillardetz]

In 15 years of keeping bees in Loudoun County, and on multiple properties, I've never heard of a hobby or side-liner beekeeper having to pay a land owner for placing hives on their property. In fact, if monies are exchanged, it is the land owner paying a reasonable fee, depending on the use of the bees (pollination services as an example). As I kind gesture, the beekeeper may offer a few jars of honey. There are plenty of land owners who are simply happy to offer to host hives for free for the good of the environment and helping pollinator populations. In some cases, land owners are looking to host hives as a means of applying for tax breaks via the county's Lan Use program. 

Regardless, hosting honeybee colonies is as much, if not more, a benefit to the land owner than to the beekeeper looking to setup an apiary out-yard. 

[OW Farm]

Well, I did say “reasonable” and happy to barter for some honey.   I am a cow and pig farmer who is brand new to bees, so forgive my ignorance and let me revise so I don’t offend anyone else…. 

“…. in exchange for a ‘kind gesture’ of ‘a few jars of honey.’”   

[Matt Gaillardetz]

No offense taken. My response is a matter of educating our local beekeepers as much as the land owners. The terms of which a beekeeper and landowner agree upon to host colonies is between the two parties. As one of the larger experienced beekeepers in the area, as well as an educating committee member to our local club, informing the new generation of beekeepers and the community at large is what we do.

Many thanks for reaching out with your desires to host bees on your farm. We feel they are an important contributor to our environment.