美国 Always Summer Herbs 夏季香草苗圃 – 宾州西部草本茶与抗螨蜜蜂家族企业

“美国 夏季香草苗圃 Always Summer Herbs”是一家位于宾夕法尼亚州西部 Slippery Rock 地区的女性拥有的家族企业，主营手工混合草本茶、当地原蜜与抗螨蜜蜂种群的繁育与销售。创始人 Jeff Berta 长期从事蜜蜂育种与授粉保护工作，2014 年起以 Always Summer Herb, LLC 名义持续承接美国农业部（USDA）可持续农业研究与教育（SARE）项目，至今已累计获得 8 项 USDA SARE 资助，是宾州本地为数不多专攻蜜蜂抗螨性状的家族苗圃。

核心定位：茶、蜂蜜与蜜蜂三位一体

Always Summer Herbs 把草本茶、本地原蜜与蜜蜂种群放在同一个产品线里经营。茶系列按照基底分成黑茶、白茶、绿茶、乌龙茶与路易波士／草本茶五条线，单品价格在 3.85 美元左右，SKU 涵盖 Chai Tea Spice Black Tea、Red Sails Black Tea、Yorkshire Harrogate English Breakfast、Twelve Monkey Oolong、Garden Party Black Tea & Green Tea、White Tiger White Tea、Cherry Blossom Green Tea 等经典拼配，另有 Sleepy Fields、Pineapple Punch、Peach Punch、Honeybush Vanilla、Berry Blast 等无咖啡因草本茶与果茶。本地原蜜系列则包括 Wildflower、Spring Fruit Tree、Linden、Fall Dark Red（Red Bamboo）、Buckwheat 等单花源蜜，强调不加热巴氏杀菌、不超滤，保留花粉与蜂胶。

蜜蜂育种与 USDA 抗螨研究合作

Always Summer Herbs 的另一个核心业务是与普渡大学（Purdue）和宾州州立大学（Penn State）等高校合作的蜜蜂抗螨育种项目，专注于美国蜂群近十年来遭受的大规模蜂群崩溃（Bee Die-Off）问题。苗圃引入了由普渡大学 Greg Hunt 教授团队开发的”Purdue Leg-Chewers”（咬腿螨）品系，以及 Mite Mauler（螨粉碎机）意大利蜂品系，并通过人工授精（Artificial Insemination）技术与宾州 EPIQ（Pennsylvania Queen Improvement Project）、Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop（HHBBC，跨 8 州的蜜蜂育种者合作社）联合扩繁。Jeff Berta 同时在佛罗里达大学攻读昆虫学硕士，主持 USDA Southern SARE FS24-364 资助的标记辅助选择（Marker Assisted Selection）项目，对 500 个蜂群的 DNA 样本进行抗病基因筛选。

产品销售与本地零售网络

苗圃采取”小规模直营 + 本地零售”的混合销售模式。茶与蜂蜜通过 Shopify 在线商店直接发货，蜜蜂产品（蜂王与核群 Nuc Colony）则按”先付款先发货”（First in – First out）原则排队预订，蜂群不出售运输，客户需在宾州 Slippery Rock 当地自取或自行安排送达。每年 10 月苗圃会参加俄亥俄州 Shaker Woods 举办的”Christmas in the Woods”艺术节，在 18 世纪主题的户外集市上向周边消费者推广产品。其蜂蜜与茶系列还进入了匹兹堡都会区的 Whole Foods（East Liberty 与 Wexford 门店）、Willies Smokehouse（Aspinwall 与 Harrisville）、Giant Eagle（Slippery Rock）、County Market（Grove City）以及 Till Top Creamery（Corry）等六家本地零售门店。

经营宗旨与社区参与

Always Summer Herbs 自述其使命是”为客户提供最优质的蜂蜜、蜜蜂与茶，以及一对一客户服务”，希望客户能把更多时间放在养蜂、园艺与享受慢生活上，而不是在复杂的电商流程里打转。苗圃在自己的蜂场周边保留休耕地与湿地作为本地授粉昆虫与蝴蝶的栖息地，并通过 USDA SARE 与 Partnership for Sustainable Pollinators and Bees（PFSPB）等项目资金持续扩种 Phacelia、薰衣草、Butterfly Bush、百里香、牛至、辣薄荷、Artemesia 等蜜源与香草植物。同时也通过 NPR、WTAE 等主流媒体报道，以及宾州 EPIQ 公开课、HHBBC 年度人工授精活动等方式向公众普及蜜蜂育种与抗螨遗传学知识。

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Always Summer Herbs is a woman-owned, family-run herb nursery based in the Slippery Rock area of western Pennsylvania, founded by Jeff Berta, who breeds and sells herb teas, locally sourced raw honey, and varroa-resistant honey bee stock. The business has been operating under the name Always Summer Herb, LLC since at least 2014 and has received eight USDA SARE grants to date for marker-assisted selection of hygienic, mite-biting honey bee genetics, making it one of the few Pennsylvania family operations focused on integrated tea, honey, and bee breeding.

Core Identity: Tea, Honey and Bees Under One Roof

Always Summer Herbs combines herb tea blends, single-source raw honeys, and nucleus honey bee colonies in a single product line. The tea catalogue is organised by base type into Black, White, Green, Oolong, and Rooibos/Herb categories, with single-tin pricing around USD 3.85; named blends include Chai Tea Spice Black Tea, Red Sails Black Tea, Yorkshire Harrogate English Breakfast, Twelve Monkey Oolong, Garden Party Black Tea and Green Tea, White Tiger White Tea, and Cherry Blossom Green Tea, plus caffeine-free herb and fruit blends such as Sleepy Fields, Pineapple Punch, Peach Punch, Honeybush Vanilla, and Berry Blast. The raw honey line covers Wildflower, Spring Fruit Tree, Linden, Fall Dark Red (Red Bamboo), and Buckwheat varieties, all of which are uncapped, spun out in an extractor, and strained through a coarse screen without heat pasteurisation or ultra-filtration, so local pollen and propolis remain in the jar.

Mite-Resistant Bee Breeding and USDA Research Ties

The second pillar of the business is varroa-resistant honey bee breeding, carried out in collaboration with Purdue University and Penn State University. Always Summer Herbs works with the Purdue Leg-Chewer line developed by Professor Greg Hunt, the Mite Mauler Italian line, and the EPIQ (Pennsylvania Queen Improvement Project) and HHBBC (Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Coop, an eight-state breeders cooperative) networks, using artificial insemination to combine survivor stock from hundreds of hives. Jeff Berta is currently pursuing an MS in Entomology at the University of Florida under USDA Southern SARE grant FS24-364, applying marker-assisted selection across 500 colonies in partnership with Purdue’s Harpur Lab to identify hygienic, virus-resistant breeder queens in the wake of the 2024 to 2025 nationwide bee die-off.

Sales Channels and Local Retail Footprint

The nursery runs a hybrid direct-to-consumer and local-retail model. Teas and honey ship directly from the Shopify storefront, while queen bees and nucleus colonies are reserved on a first-paid, first-served basis with no shipping, requiring on-site pickup in Slippery Rock, PA, or customer-arranged delivery. Each October the operation attends the Christmas in the Woods festival at Shaker Woods in Columbiana, Ohio, an 18th-century-themed artisan show held over the second and third weekends. Honey and tea are also stocked at six regional retailers in the greater Pittsburgh area, including Whole Foods (East Liberty and Wexford), Willies Smokehouse (Aspinwall and Harrisville), Giant Eagle (Slippery Rock), County Market (Grove City), and Till Top Creamery (Corry).

Mission, Pollinator Habitat and Community Outreach

Always Summer Herbs states its mission as providing the highest quality honey, bees and teas, plus personal one-on-one customer service, so that customers can spend less time navigating online stores and more time tending their hives and gardens. The nursery maintains fallow meadows and wetlands around its apiaries as pollinator habitat and, with funding from USDA SARE and the Partnership for Sustainable Pollinators and Bees (PFSPB), has expanded plantings of Phacelia, Lavender, Butterfly Bush, Thyme, Oregano, Savory, Mints, and Artemesia next to its bee yards. Outreach efforts include coverage by NPR and WTAE-TV, hands-on Penn State EPIQ training, and the annual HHBBC Insemination Fest in Slippery Rock, all of which aim to make hygienic, mite-biting bee genetics more accessible to small-scale beekeepers.