Four years ago, I was working as an urban agriculture researcher and led a project titled “sustainable rooftop beekeeping for culinary honey,” through this and a number of other projects my team and I took on, I learned all about beekeeping, the honey industry and why it is so important to support local farmers and entrepreneurs. I learned some wonderful things like how resilient, hardworking, caring and of course cute, honey bees are. I also learned some not so great things like how honey was being adulterated and beekeepers and bee populations weren’t thriving. I saw a huge gap in the market for a beautiful product that showcased REAL raw honey’s unique qualities, while also being bee-friendly and 100% supporting Canadian beekeepers – so I started Drizzle!
When Drizzle first started I was an avid beekeeper in urban Calgary, our honey came from backyards and small plots around the city that I harvested and cared for myself. At the end of Summer 2016, Drizzle was quickly outgrowing our urban honey supply and I became allergic to bees. I had been stung before but something about this one put my body into complete shock, I now carry around an EpiPen at all times. At this time, I had just resigned from my full-time job and I remember thinking that everything I had worked towards was a giant failure at the hands of mother nature and that I would have to sheepishly beg for my job back! It is then that it struck me as to why I had started Drizzle in the first place. It was about empowering and creating sustainable honey. My love for real, raw honey and all of its beautiful colours and floral flavours combined with the urgent need for supporting the enormous effort it takes to be a local farmer, making responsible changes in our food industry and grocery store shelves and contributing to pollinator research. I wanted to build something that mattered, so I forged on and turned to my beekeeping network to continue Drizzle.
Fast forward to today and A LOT of work, long nights and tearful days later and I am happy to announce we have just accepted an investment from Arlene Dickinson and District Ventures Capital! I am so excited for Drizzle’s next chapter and all the amazing things that this investment will bring to the beekeeping industry in Canada. It is going to help us grow, get our products onto more and more shelves, provide me with the mentorship that I need as an entrepreneur and most of all it is going to help spread the word about sustainable beekeeping.
I can’t thank you all enough for your continued support of Drizzle. When you purchase Drizzle, you are helping create a shift in the food industry by telling retailers you want to consume environmentally and socially responsible products, while also creating jobs for lots of busy bees (both human and insect) and giving me the opportunity to serve a cause that is so important.
Sweetly yours,
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