Hanlon Hill Honey Farm
(Page 4 of 4)
November/December 1977
By the Mother Earth News editors
As a result of this experience, we resolved never to put ourselves at the mercy of fastbuck bee artists again. Shortly thereafter, we spent a little time studying woodworking equipment and came to the realization that we could produce our own beekeeping frames, boxes, etc., at a fraction of the price that commercial manufacturers charge. Now we're in the process of turning out 700 hive bodies and 7,000 frames ... and we're beginning to find a lucrative market for our woodenware among local beekeepers, to boot.
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Today-as we begin our fourth year of homesteading-we can't honestly say that we've successfully completed the transition "back to the land" just yet ... but we feel we're 75% of the way there. Every year, our honey yield increases as we continue to learn more about apiculture and refine our techniques. And every season, more satisfied customers return-along with their friends-to purchase our honey. (We feel they're drawn to the honey's full-flavored quality—a quality that's made possible by the stainless steel extracting equipment we paid dearly for-and by the fact that we personally extract, process, and bottle the honey ourselves.) Also, our first efforts at setting up a honey-by-mail business have brought encouraging results.
No, we're not all the way there yet ... but it's been a long time since red rashes ravaged my back. We don't keep big supplies of booze (or prune juice) on hand anymore, either. And it's been many, many months since I've needed a Valium "to help me through the day".
I might add that after five "fruitless" years of marriage and three opera. tions between the two of us, Jeanne and I now have little Levi Neal (the only 10-monthold beekeeper in these parts) around to help us. If we'd been reincarnated as royalty, we couldn't be more pleased (or surprised)!
And to think, it all started with that one sentence: "What would you like to do more than anything else?"
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