PORT MAITLAND—After 20 years in the military and another 28 years in policing, Jo-Ann Savoie figured retirement would finally mean slowing down. Instead, she bought some bees – and then realized she needed somewhere to put them.
Savoie, owner of Awesome Sauce Bee Emporium, retired from policing in January 2024 after a career that included time with Hamilton Police. She had considered continuing to teach after retirement, but her growing fascination with bees led her in an entirely different direction.
PORT MAITLAND—Jo-Ann Savoie, owner of Awesome Sauce Bee Emporium, shows off a bee-covered frame from one of her hives at her property near Port Maitland. Savoie, now in her third season of beekeeping, has 22 hives across three locations. —Haldimand Press photos by Nick Fearns. 
PORT MAITLAND—Jo-Ann Savoie, owner of Awesome Sauce Bee Emporium, pictured without her beekeeping suit. —Haldimand Press photos by Nick fearns. 
“Plan B was to keep bees, much to the surprise of my husband,” Savoie said.
Originally from Montreal and without a farming background, Savoie said she had never considered herself particularly outdoorsy.
Still, she began taking courses, researching beekeeping, and eventually purchased her first bees.
The next question was where they would live.
“That’s an excellent question. I think I better find a place,” Savoie recalled telling her husband.
Living near Port Maitland, she found a small piece of agricultural land about 10 minutes from home. The property, just under an acre, required several months of clearing and drainage work because of its high water table.
Today, it includes pollinator gardens, a marsh, and habitat for birds, turtles, monarch butterflies, and other pollinators.
“In a roundabout way, this is my retirement project,” she said.
Savoie is now in her third season of beekeeping and has 22 hives spread across three locations. Ten are on her property, another 10 are at Purple Haven Lavender Farm in Canfield, and two are at Roosts and Roots flower farm in Hagersville.
Savoie harvests in small batches, keeping honey from individual hives separate rather than blending everything together. Because honeybees can travel several kilometres while foraging, she does not label honey from the lavender farm as lavender honey, but differences in colour and flavour are evident across the three locations.
“I find that having the slight different tastes kind of gives it more of a unique experience for people that enjoy local honeys,” she said.
Once honey is ready, Savoie removes the wax capping from the frames before placing them in an extractor. Centrifugal force spins the honey out, after which it passes through strainers before being transferred into jars.
“Ours is unpasteurized, so we don’t heat the honey,” she said.
The wax does not go to waste either. Savoie renders the cappings removed during extraction and uses the beeswax to make other products.
Of course, producing honey and beeswax is only one part of beekeeping. Much of Savoie’s time is spent monitoring colonies and trying to keep them healthy.
She generally checks each hive every seven to 10 days, watching for adequate space, the condition of the queen, and threats including varroa mites, wax moths, and small hive beetles.
Weather adds another variable.
“They don’t like windy days. They don’t like overcast. They don’t like rain. They like nice, sunny days,” Savoie said, adding with a laugh, “They are sort of bougie.”
Rain can keep bees inside their hives and wash pollen from plants, while unpredictable spring temperatures can also cause problems if bees become active before enough food is available.
Winter presents another challenge. Savoie leaves about 90 pounds of honey for each colony and reduces the size of the hive to help the bees conserve heat in cold weather.
Rather than opening the hives during winter, she uses a stethoscope to check in on them from outside.
“I do kind of listen to hear the hum of the bees, and that kind of puts me a little bit at ease that they’re still viable in their hives,” she said.
Of the 20 hives Savoie had going into last winter, nine were lost. Her first winter, however, produced a 100% survival rate. She said weather, pests, food stores, and hive management can all influence whether a colony survives.
Beyond honey production, Savoie said bees play an important role on agricultural properties.
Some crops can pollinate themselves, but she said visits from honeybees can still improve yields. Other fruits, vegetables, berries, squash, and pumpkins depend much more heavily on pollinators.
Savoie encourages homeowners and farmers to provide habitat and food throughout the growing season for native pollinators, including wildflowers and plants that flower at different times.
She also cautioned against removing some of the earliest spring food sources too quickly.
“The first thing that comes out in the spring, the very first thing, is clover and the dandelions,” she said. “But the bees have been in a box for possibly five months, and they’re starving.”
Despite her research, courses, workshops, and seminars, Savoie said beekeeping continues to surprise her.
“There is a lot to learn with beekeeping,” she said. “Every now and then, I’ll open up the hive and I’ll be like, ‘What’s going on?’”
For someone who originally intended to simply retire, those unanswered questions have become part of the attraction.
“There’s always challenges,” Savoie said. “There’s still lots to learn, that’s for sure.”
