Mission:

Hillside Honey, LLC. hopes to serve the Duluth community by providing a local source of regional honey for the boutique drink industry and providing a range of beekeeping experiences. If you've had Duluth Cider's Glensheen Gold, you've already enjoyed some of Hillside Honey!

Beyond the act of beekeeping as a form of agriculture, the practice of taking care of bees generates and nurtures a connection to nature. Hillside Honey wants to open their apiaries (bee yards) to folks looking to learn not only the skills required to keep bees, but want to foster this connection through mindfulness practices. Being mindful and connection to nature have been proven to reduce stress, anxiety, depression, and improve overall health and well-being. More information can be found under Recreational Therapy.

Hillside Honey started as a backyard beekeeping hobby in the central hillside neighborhood of Duluth, MN. Check out more about urban beekeeping by following the link (external site).

Who knows, one day Hillside Honey may be able to introduce beekeeping to the students of Duluth through school district ISD709! 

Recreational Therapy, or Therapeutic Recreation, is the purposeful use and enhancement of leisure as a way to maximize a person's overall health, well-being, or quality of life (Long & Robinson, 2020). 

Examples: Fishing, horseback riding, hiking, etc., typically offered by nonprofits such as Strong Compass, 7 Stars Ranch, Wounded Warrior Project and other established programs. 

EcoTherapy, Green Care, Animal-Assisted Activities, Animal-Assisted Therapy, Outdoor Behavioral Healthcare, etc.

Currently, there is a lot of terminology and practices that can be used in recreational therapy programming. Some fit better than others, and all seek to benefit a person's overall health, well-being, and quality of life. 

Similar to equine therapy, beekeeping can help with depression, anxiety, stress, Post Traumatic Stress (PTS), substance abuse, trauma, & behavior disorders. "Building an increased sense of trust, building your self-esteem, managing impulses, improving verbal and non-verbal communications, and much more can all be addressed by learning to respect, trust, and nurture another creature" (Strong Compass, 2023).

Strong Compass is a non-profit organization focusing on helping veterans find therapeutic ways to navigate civilian life.

"We believe in building better relationships. Our relationship with ourselves, our families, and nature. We strive to help veterans find direction, purpose, and hope. We are an organization founded by veterans for veterans. We know there are many roads to recovery and we want to give our fellow brothers and sisters access to tools that have helped us on our journey. Together we can form bonds with each other and our environment that help us find our footing and direction to a better life."

7 Stars Ranch, hosted by the Northern Lights Cutting Center, offers equine therapy through Strong Compass. 

"Equine therapy has proven to be an excellent therapeutic approach to dealing with many conditions. Depression, anxiety, stress, PTSD, substance abuse, trauma, & behavior disorders are just a few of the many conditions that can be helped through equine therapy. Building an increased sense of trust, building your self-esteem, managing impulses, improving verbal and non-verbal communications, and much more can all be addressed by learning to respect, trust, and nurture another creature (Strong Compass website, 2023)."