Honeyrun Happenings

-Posted by Isaac

About 10 days ago we had a beautiful fall wedding.

 Mrs. Becky and Mr. Justin Tilley with help from a slew of flower children.

Everyone jumped on hay wagons and rode down to the stream. The ceremony was held under the yawning limbs of a giant sycamore.

And guess who presided?

That's right. My lovely wife. Her talents reach far beyond simply keeping a honey business afloat. If the need arises, she can marry you off!

No sooner were the "I do's" said, and off she went.

Now I follow her west coast adventures on Facebook.

She's in Oregon at the moment. "Wine hopping" with friends. Sounds fun doesn't it?

And here I sit. Left to push this here plow by myself. Four hungry kids and a crop in the field. Overlooked, underappreciated. 

Like a trounced old workhorse.

Like a beatdown mule.

A plodding old donkey.

Or maybe just a jackass...

"VOTE for JACKASS!"

Yes, politics have taken the day here in Pickaway county. I'm not sure it's good for our business, but some folks just seem to live for this.

Facebook fighting is way up. And so are family arguments. And non-family arguments.

Liquor sales are through the roof. Right along with firearms and ammunition.

I hear appointments with divorce lawyers need to be reserved months in advance.

Yes, the once sleepy town of Circleville has become a bastion of unruly and mutinous political propaganda. Signs everywhere you look, threats, warnings and insults. Cluttering your mailbox, your streets, your eyes, your ears... riotous elementary kids pedaling around to campaign signs, seek and destroy, debasing, vandalizing... 

Absolute lawlessness!

(Hilarious or ominous?)        No more whistling in Mayberry.

Thankfully, out in the county we can remove ourselves from all that. Turn off the radio! We've got work to do.

The fall honey pull began two weeks ago and will continue right on into November. It's not like last year where every super was caked with beautiful goldenrod honey, but it's not bad either. I can't complain. Just about the time we least needed it, we had a solid week of rain. But still, the bees found a way. Not all, but enough boxes look like this...

Goldenrod honey = bright yellow wax 

...to make for some happy days in the bees.

In the evenings we prepare ourselves for winter...

Look at those muscles!

...but more importantly, we've got to get our girls ready for winter. 

And most are looking pretty darn ready.

A few hives need to put on some weight before it gets too cold. Not many warm days remain where the bees can take down syrup. Eat up girls!

Speaking of few days remaining, you've only got one more weekend to get to an outdoor market. Worthington moves inside in November, and the North Market just plain ends. (For us.) We're becoming soft. We used to go into December.

Without my lovely wife, I set up both markets this last weekend. It was quite the early start. We beat everybody! Here's the Honeyrun tent at 6:30 AM:

Take that James Barr!

It's funny, I always get asked this. At least three or four times a year, especially in the fall. People seem to like the honey that corresponds with the season we're in. They start sampling, taste the spring, summer, fall, then look around a bit confused, and ask (straight faced) if they can try some winter honey.

Because I'm a nice guy, I respond (straight faced) with the proper answer: We're sold out.

"Yeah, it's in high demand right now. Can't keep it in stock."

"Really! What's it like??"

"Well, it's really dark. And tastes a bit like black licorice."

"I can bring some next week if you want. But it's a bit pricy...

...you know how it is, such high demand and very limited production... at $20 an ounce we're practically giving it away. Consider that a steal!"

Is this too much? The answer, I mean, not the price. A little wily perhaps; not fulfilling my role as honey ambassador?

Instead, a crafty clown?

A sly coyote?

A slick Willy?

Or maybe just a con...

"SHOW ME the MONEY!"

Pollen season

-Posted by Isaac

Bee pollen: Oh, so good!

And good for you too!

Although it would make an interesting blog post, I'm not going to filibuster about the marvelous benefits of pollen. If you are buying pollen, you probably already know.

This is a post to show how we collect it. The pollen traps finally came off today, so it's at the forefront of my mind. Looking through my phone, I was able to scrape together several good pollen images from the last two months.

Back in August, I put the pollen traps on.

It's a real pain. As you can see, the hives have to be taken all the way down, then the trap goes on top of the bottom board. It takes a day to place seventy some traps. Not a day I look forward to.

The bees don't like it much either. They'll search for any possible hole or crack to avoid going through that trap.

The first few trips around, following the placement of the traps, we plug holes. It helps to have a veil for this. (Lesson learned the hard way.)

When the bees collect flower pollen, they carry it back to the hive on their two back legs. (pollen sacs) The pollen trap has a couple screens that the bees navigate. In doing so, some of the pollen gets rubbed off and falls into a tray. This tray is then pulled out from the back of the trap.

We don't take all their pollen. A trap is not the most efficient tool. An estimated third to half the pollen still gets through. Plus, the traps are only on for about two months, August through mid-October.

Like milking the cows, pollen collection is a job that needs done every day. Or at the very least, every other in the humid climate we have in mid-Ohio. If left out there too long, it starts to mold. 

Just like honey, the pollen colors and tastes change as the season rolls on. When the traps are placed in August, everything is yellow and brown from the ragweed and various clovers.

The days go by and it changes. The yellow fades out, the orange comes in-- Goldenrod!

Once the bees are used to the traps and they're happily on a honey flow, you can pretty much do the pollen route in a t-shirt.

Pretty much.... but not always.

Maizy was my pro photographer for the above shot. Everything was fine until I accidentally pinched a bee. The alarm pheromone was out! By the time I made it back to the truck, I had taken five stings. And Maizy had locked the doors.

Jayne helped with a pollen run every so often. Unlike me, she learns from past experience, and decided that this year she wasn't taking chances. 

Only one person gets to wear a pearly white bee suit-- the boss.

It's takes about an hour and a half to make it through a pollen run. Some yards are back long lanes, some are behind locked gates. And if you forget the key, well...

When the goldenrod was really kicking, we could collect about a third of a bucket per bee yard.

Over two months, it really adds up.

Which is good, because a couple of the juice bars (Zest, Alchemy) are really making some big orders. Bee pollen- Oh, so metro!

And oh, so delish!

Pumpkins and Bees

-Posted by Isaac

We sure love pumpkins.

And we love our bees too.

Around here, both become a business. 

We need lots of pumpkins and lots of bees. And they need each other. 

In the late summer, our job is to bring them together.

We pollinate for four different pumpkin farms. Circle S, near West Jeff is the most demanding. Because they run more of an agritourism business, the time that the bees spend in the pumpkin patch is constricted. (They've found that hayrides with free bee stings is not a top seller.)

So when we get the call, the clock is ticking. 

But we've done this long enough, we know we're going to get the call. Our clock starts ticking in June. I start about 50 nucs in early June after pulling the spring honey. By August, with a little love, they have built up to pollination strength.

Working bees in the daylight is just a tad different than bee work at night.

And pollination work is almost all done at night.

Moving bees fast and efficiently requires some equipment. 

Or if you prefer strapping hives and hand lifting, it requires a chiropractor. We have done both. I tend to go with the forklift whenever possible.

Back in the daylight, a couple weeks later, it's time to work bees again.

Morning Glorious!

All the pumpkin bees get fed. There are plenty of flowers out there in all that pumpkin acreage, but the monoculture diet with a side dish of chemicals just doesn't suit. We have learned this the hard way. A little supplemental protein and syrup can work wonders. The love continues...

Because we sure love our bees.

And we sure love our pumpkins.

Classic New Albany

-Posted by Isaac

While we're on the subject of festivals...

Last weekend while Jayne camped with friends in Kentucky, I was left to my own devices on what to do with four kids. Almost by accident, we ended up here:

The New Albany Classic.

It was mostly a Maizy idea. I mentioned a festival with horses.

Horses to pet, horses to ride, horses to feed and kiss and cuddle...

And would you believe, someone as cultured and highly refined as I, had never actually watched equestrian?

Well, check that off the list. We filled our cup last Sunday. 

As you would imagine, a New Albany festival held on the grounds of one Les Wexner, is not your ordinary little shin dig.

Your Mountain Dew, snuff-lipped spit-cupper crowd is nowhere to be seen. New Albany holds a different flavor... 

Not that you couldn't find your bloomin' onion. There were at least 20 food trucks there, and I assume that one or two would sell you some grease.... but it wasn't the norm. The longest lines were for Asian cuisine, burritos and Graeters ice cream. 

A little different on the recreation side also.

Ice skating on an 80 degree day? In New Albany, why not?

We spent some time in Hollywood...

Bridger finds an old friend.

...and ran from bouncy house to bouncy house.

There were six! (All with a different theme.)

Our kids love face boards. And at this festival, there were more than a couple.

But four kids and only three holes means a screaming fight.

Fortunately we had all afternoon to get things right.

Of course there were rides. Many rides. Mostly for the big kids... but big kid rides don't make for cute pictures.

And guess what? The rides were free! Well, sort of...

Unlike most festivals which nickel and dime you with every Tea Cup and Tilt-a-whirl, at New Albany once you pay to get in, you're in! Everything's included. You can ride and bounce and skate and zip-line all day long.

How much to get in? Well, I haven't the slightest. You'll have to find out when you go next year.

We were comped... it's been an offered perk of keeping bees up there for the past three years. (Given a VIB pass. Very Important Beekeepers) 

We have 20 mightily productive hives on the Les Wexner property. The deal is, I take care of the bees like any normal bee yard, but separate that honey from those hives during extraction so that they can buy back their own honey. That is, bottled and sold at our own wholesale prices of course. It works out pretty well. They buy 400-500 lbs each year and sell it at the New Albany Classic. 

The New Albany Classic among other Wexner functions.

Of the 30 some landowners who have a bee yard on their property, there is only one with whom I have never spoken. Hmmm. When we began this little arrangement, I had delusions of delivering rent honey to the Wexner estate, getting invited to hang out with Les and his buddies, talking bees, talking politics...

But it has yet to happen. I have never met the man. Maybe I will someday, but I'm not holding my breath.

All I know is, at least once a year, he throws one heck of a play date!

Ohio's Pawpaw Festival

-Posted by Jayne

Do you know about Pawpaws?  If not, and you live in Ohio... you really should visit Ohio's very own Pawpaw festival at Lake Snowden in September.   The pawpaw is a wonderful, little-known fruit that grows throughout central and southeastern Ohio.  Many folks think it tastes like a mixture between a banana and a mango.  I did a blog post two years ago when pawpaws were abundant and we had visited the festival to hear Joel Salatin speak.  That post includes a recipe for Pawpaw Ice Cream, as well as several pictures of the pawpaws we foraged- so if you need a reference for what they look like, check it out here: http://www.honeyrunfarm.com/honeyrunfarm/2014/09/pawpaw-fun-with-pawpaw-ice-cream-recipe.html

When you enter the festival, you are greeted with the sign pictured below:  We didn't end up opting for the "rowdy camping," but maybe next year...

There are many demonstrations and vendor booths, including this one making sorghum syrup.

We purchased pawpaw pancakes and pawpaw ice cream, as well as a burrito filled with rice, chicken, veggies, and pawpaw sauce.  The kids, in typical fashion, also ate pizza (no pawpaws included).  We also met the giant pawpaw man.

And this guy.. dressed up like a giant tree.

There were horse drawn wagon rides.... and random fairies walking around.

And a geo-dome for swinging...

...As well as many other kid-friendly activities such as arts and crafts, bouncy houses, educational displays, electric-tractor rides, and more.  

We met up with my friend Angie from Cinagro Farm.  Here she is sporting one of her hair falls.  Before I met her I didn't know what a hair fall was, but in the past few years she has opened my world to all sorts of artistic inclinations that have made my life more interesting.

Today is technically the last day of summer, so it is time to introduce these beauties...  3 little pumpkins, sitting on a gate... the first one said.... Well, if you have a toddler you know the rest of the story.  They will be available in our Etsy store soon!  Happy fall y'all!