"I plan on building hives until it kills me."

-Posted by Isaac

Roll out the red carpet.

Yes, we're movie stars, albeit very short movies.
This appeared on PBS last Wednesday, 7:30 pm. Primetime, naturally! It was a segment on a show called "Broad and High" that profiles local businesses and Ohio happenings.
Hope you can enjoy this glimpse into fall honey production and a little look at life on the bee farm.

We met some wonderful hard working people through this. Many thanks to Jackie Shafer and cameraman Ryan of WOSU who spent two days out here getting that precious seven minutes. Wow!

What else is going on?
Well, we've been doing some construction.

With Captain Bridger at the helm

We've been getting ourselves ready for winter.

And of course we're getting the bees ready for winter.
This is the same yard you saw in the video. The honey came off at 70 degrees. The hive wraps are going on at 30 degrees.
The glory days are over.

Some of the lighter hives are getting fed already.

Most are heavy, but with populations this big I'm giving them a few patties to chew on anyway. This makes me feel better.

It's November. Wow!

I got the big home yard wrapped up on the last warm t shirt day we had. Maybe the last of the year?

It took a while.
Long enough require a pear picking break.

Maizy shows off her No-Hands technique
"Look Mom!"

"I love this job."

If you need us, we'll be climbing trees in India...

-posted by Jayne

 Last week I was making a delivery to Celebrate Local in Easton.  Next door sits a Trader Joe's, and realizing that it had been about 10 years since I had been to Trader Joe's (I don't get out much), I thought I should go check it out.  Meandering into the honey section, I found this:

Wild Collected?  Whaaaat?

Now I am not one to publicly accuse a company of embellishing the truth... but I will say that if the "traditional bee hunters" deep within the forests of Central India are able to gather enough honey to sell it on the world market at 4.50 per 12 oz jar, then we are SERIOUSLY doing something wrong over here in Central Ohio.   

But rest assured all you eco-conscious consumers (such as myself)- the traditional bee hunters climb the trees rather than felling them, so no tree was harmed in the collection of the honey.  Unlike us evil Ohio beekeepers who (gasp) use harvested timber to create our manmade beehives.  If you need us, Isaac and I will be in India researching these traditional bee hunters and their methods, because we would love to be able to make a living by climbing trees, harvesting the honey with our bare hands, and selling it on the world market.  

But for now, we thought we'd introduce this new little fella to our line-up:  The 2 oz honey bear.

I am gonna come right out and say that I don't know who uses only 2 oz of honey.  But hey, it makes a cute little stocking stuffer, an addition to a gift basket, and a nice sample size to determine which kind of honey you like best.  Celebrate Local insisted- so we complied.

In other news, we are making lots and lots of candles this month.  They make great teacher gifts.  One clever customer ordered 55 eggs for some "egg-cellent" teachers for Christmas.  

Got any special requests?  Get them in now, because come December I will be in over my head packing up online orders.  

If anyone knows anything about how to get a hold of these traditional bee hunters in India.. please let me know.  Our kids have declared this honey to be the "best honey in the world."  (Thanks a lot kids)  Like I said, I think Isaac and I could learn a thing or two about this wild honey collection process.