Producers
Bear Creek Honey Farm
diversified organic farm · honey producer · beekeeping operation · farm-market retailer
Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Bear Creek Organic Farm is a diversified, direct-market organic farm in Petoskey, Michigan. It produces raw honey alongside produce, plants, and prepared farm-market foods. Its honey offerings include a limited-release Boyne Raw Honey from the forest-preserve forage landscape of Boyne Country, and a 2018 whiskey-barrel-aged honey made with honey from its northern Michigan bees.
About the Producer
A little history
Anne Morningstar and Brian Bates bought the farm property near Petoskey in December 2012 and developed Bear Creek Organic Farm. The farm has been USDA certified organic since its start in 2013. In 2022, Brian described it as a first-generation farm that he and Anne own and operate.
How They Work
Beekeeping in practice
A hyper-local mixed farm producing organic plants, produce, and raw honey. It operates an on-farm market and sells directly to consumers, as well as through independent grocers and local retail channels.
Where They Work
Location and reach
Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Petoskey, Michigan, United States
Official contact page identifies the farm as Bear Creek Organic Farm, Petoskey, Michigan.
Petoskey, Michigan, United States
The producer states that its bees live in Petoskey year-round and are not shipped.
Boyne Country, Northern Michigan, United States
For the historical Boyne Raw Honey, the producer identifies a 1,000-acre forest preserve in Boyne Country as the forage landscape; the preserve is not named in the available public source.
Petoskey, Michigan, United States
The producer operates an on-farm market; its official FAQ says it has operated since 2020 and is open year-round.
Products & Specimens
What connects to this producer
Products listed by the Producer are kept separate from specimens held in the Collection.
Boyne Raw Honey
Floral source: Diverse woodland flora; producer describes a forest landscape and gives tasting notes of oak, pine, walnut, grass, and mint. This is not a single-flower varietal claim.
Documented origin: A 1,000-acre forest preserve in “Boyne Country,” Northern Michigan.
Origin detail: Region
In its November 2016 announcement, the producer calls this a limited-release honey from bees placed at a 1,000-acre forest preserve in Boyne Country for a native-habitat restoration project. It describes the honey as unfiltered, unheated, and never blended. The post identifies it as a 2017 Good Food Award finalist, so this record should be treated as historical unless current availability is independently confirmed.
Whiskey Barrel-Aged Honey (limited edition, 2018)
Documented origin: Northern Michigan bees; aged in charred American-oak barrels that had held Texas single-malt whiskey.
Origin detail: Region
A 2018 Northern Express feature reports that Bear Creek honey from its year-round northern Michigan bees was put into freshly emptied whiskey barrels for this 300-jar limited edition. The barrel provenance is distinct from honey origin.
People
People connected to the work
- Brian Bates Co-owner; farm manager
- Anne Morningstar Co-owner; designer and brand manager
Practices
How they work
- The farm states that its beehives are never treated with fungicides, insecticides, or pesticides.
- The producer describes its honey as raw, meaning it is not pasteurized or filtered.
- The farm explicitly says its honey is not certified organic because it cannot control where bees forage, despite the farm itself being USDA certified organic.
- The farm participated in a SARE-supported overwintering project and reported a plan to move all hives into its pole barn each winter after the project’s findings.
Curator Note
Honey and mead.