We have 40 acres of avocado orchards on the Stepladder Ranch & Creamery property where we grow seven varietals of avocado.
Most of the 40 acres contains the Hass variety, although we have a few acres of other varieties including Nabal, Queen, Fuerte, Bacon, GEM and Sir Prize. The avocado season goes from March through November. We use no herbicides on the farm ever, and hand cultivate and mow all of our weeds.
Stepladder is one of the most Northern avocado growers in California, so our fruit has a lot of time to mature and have a lot of oil!
A mature avocado tree may produce in excess of a million flowers during the flowering period, most of which fall without producing fruit. The purpose behind the mass flowering is to encourage visits by pollen vectors (aka bees).
Sitting among the avocado trees are 120 of bee hives that remain on the property year-round. During avocado blossoming season, the farm is buzzing, literally, with swarms of honey bees eager for sips of the delicious pollen from the avocado flowers. We're averaging 6 million bees throughout the season!
This is truly what sets our avocado blossom honey apart from other raw honey.
We're fortunate to partner with some amazing Central Coast companies to bring our avocado blossom honey to life. Ben Hernandez is a local bee expert who visits the farm to tend to the 120 of hives on site.
When it's time, he transfers the surplus boxes of combs from the hives to his facility where the honey is extracted using a centrifuge. After collecting the honey, we then take it to Bennett's Honey farm in Santa Paula to be bottled and labeled.
Since we only make one batch of honey each year, it always sells out and remains one of our most sought after products. With the upcoming release of this year's batch, we wanted to provide a few answers to your frequently asked questions regarding our honey.
Frequently Asked Questions, Answered.
Where can we buy the honey?
We sell honey at select farmer's markets throughout California including Cambria, and the Bay Area. We also work with a few select retailers such as Soto's on Main Street in Cambria and General Store in Paso Robles where you can buy jars.
Smaller jars of honey are also available in our limited Holiday Cheese Bundle! This is the first time we've sold our honey online. We will sell out of these bundles so buy yours early!
Why did you get rid of the old glass jars?
Although the previously used jars were very cute, they weren't all that practical. You could only use a certain sized (small) spoon to get out the honey and usually couldn't access the very bottom.
We're very excited about the new jars. It's the same amount of honey, but easier to store and open with the sealed metal lid.
What do we do with the jar when done?
The jars and lids are 100% recyclable. You could also keep to store other goods or use as a glass Tupperware for lunches.
Do you recycle or accept jars back?
No. We are not a licensed bottling plant and do not have the storage or equipment to clean and recycle these jars.
Is your honey organic?
This is some of the most delicious raw honey you'll ever taste. Even though it's bottled in an organic processing area, it's technically not organic.
