We really didn’t fare well with the weather this trip. We were told that in the weeks leading up to the last two days, it has been hot and humid, reaching record high temperatures and giving this part of Canada endless sunny skies, yet today, it was mostly stormy and rainy weather; the sun could not be seen even a bit. The gorgeous green I was greatly anticipating in Prince Edward Island was an unfortunate blur today.

Luckily for us, a number of things on our to-do list included indoor activities, such as a visit to Island Honey Wine, a husband-and-wife owned self-sustaining farm, which makes use of everything they farm, from plants, animals, to honey. They just opened in 2017 and already have quite the local following. They make mead, which is a type of wine made from fermented honey, they grow lavender, they farm sheep, they use the wool from the sheep to make yarn and knit scarves and clothing; they really do everything here.

I think this was the very first time I tried mead, and I loved it immediately. We tried five types: wildflower, haskap (a “super berry” from Hokkaido with five times the amount of antioxidants as a wild blueberry), lavender, apple cider, and nectar sweet mead. They were all sweet, but not to the same level of ice wine, which Canada is also famous for. They all have just the right amount of sweetness where it’s somewhere between having a sip of something delightful, but not quite at the level of “dessert” that would make me think of ice wine.

We had a really fun chat with the husband of the duo, Charles. We talked about haskap berries, running a farm and making wine, food and flavors, what flavors and scents pair well with one another, travel, among other topics. He seemed to enjoy the questions we were asking him and a couple times, commented on our levels of curiosity and asked if we worked in marketing (which, we actually do) to raise questions such as, potential use cases for these fermented wines – in cocktails, in cooking, in what other applications? “I just love talking to the two of you! I could go on all day — you’re so curious!” he exclaimed.

We laughed, and Chris said, “It’s good to be curious; shows you want to learn more about the world. There’s always new things out there to learn that you don’t know about.”

I suppose that’s the way you gauge if someone is really interested; if they ask you questions to demonstrate their curiosity about a given topic. If someone asks questions, it probably means they’re actively thinking about it and want to know more and more.

And if someone doesn’t ask any questions, they’re probably not curious at all and are probably boring… or just bored of you, both of which would be a problem. This applies to far more than just honey wine tasting. 

We ended up buying three bottles, plus a jar of haskap jam. Clearly, we were impressed. And now we have to deal with checking a bag. But it will all be worth it in the end.