About Us
Located 45 minutes northeast of Saskatoon, our apiary runs 200 hives producing approximately 50,000 lbs of honey annually. The extracting and packing facility we have is CFIA registered ensuring we meet some of the highest standards there is worldwide for safe food production.
Our bees are located on alfalfa pastures, surrounded by fields of canola. This provides us with excellent floral nectar for the bees. We extract honey at different times in the year to better control the type of honey.
Why the name Blue Heron Gardens? Our farm is on a lake called Lac Lezard, where every summer a nesting colony of Great Blue Herons come and stay at their rookery. Our products also include haskap berries and some small garden produce, making us more than just an ordinary apiary.
Story
Our Mission
Our mission is to provide the highest quality honey and produce from our apiary and farm, while improving the natural wildlife environment around us.
We do not use pesticides or herbicides in our garden or fruit operations, and we strive to provide the local wildlife with a sanctuary on our land. There are over 4000 trees we have planted to provide natural habitat and food including pincherry, larch, pine, spruce, hawthorn, saskatoons, sour cherries, dogwood, apple, pear, hazelnut, polar, ash, willow and more.
Our land is seeded with alfalfa which provides a quality honey and food source for the elk, deer, and moose that frequent the property. In the summer the alfalfa is a premium source of nectar for our bees.
Picture: Jeff and Nathan Shirley, beside a hive with about 300lbs of honey in it.
Our Team
Julie Shirley
Owner
Founder and controlling owner, Julie is the head beekeeper managing day to day operations and quality of the apiary and farm. Julie raises her own queen bees, cares for the bees, and ensures the product is only the best quality conforming with our high standards. When not tending to the bees, Julie manages the orchard and garden and enjoys her flock of free range chickens and our two Great Pyrenees guardian dogs.
Jeff Shirley
Owner
Also an experienced beekeeper, Jeff happily provides casual IT and physical labor requirements during peak season. Blue Heron Gardens is a test bed for innovation and ag-tech solutions created by Jeff at his other company Rivercity Innovations Ltd. In 2021 Julie assumed full management and control of Blue Heron Gardens as a proud Woman Entrepreneur.
Rick Shirley
Extraction and Operations Supervisor
Rick (dad) volunteers time all summer to keep the facility running and help operate the business. From yard management to planning, to extraction, Rick helps wherever there is a need. This is his idea of retirement.
LINDA SHIRLEY AND FAMILY
FARM OPERATIONS SUPPORT
Linda (mom), our immediate family and children all help during the summer where they can. From labor to prep, cooking to bee suit repair, they all help. We are a true family business.
For all pricing and general inquiries please call us or send a message!
MAILING ADDRESS
P.O. BOX 38
Cudworth, SK, Canada