We're staying in Ohio!

-Posted by Isaac

Sorry for the confusion.

You don’t need to hoard. It’s not Honeyrun Farm that’s leaving for California.

It’s just the bees of Honeyrun Farm!

We’re getting them rounded up, to be shipped out.

The almond trees in the central valley of California bloom in February. The flowers need to be pollinated to make a nut.

And that’s where we come in.

Beekeepers. The heroes of agriculture.

But it’s no small task to get the girls out there. They refuse to just fly…

…insisting instead, that we drive them.

It's been a while

-Posted by Isaac

Or… It’s been a minute. As the cool kids say these days.

To tell you the truth, I’ve enjoyed the break. And I think I’ll be taking longer intervals. That’s the thing about laziness— it grows on you.

As you may have guessed, I quit the blogging routine because of politics. Correction— Jayne quit me of the blogging routine. Because of politics. So blame her. Or thank her. (Not throwing Jayne under the bus. It was for my own good. And your’s.)

But now, an entire month out from the big day, we’re safe aren’t we? Surely I couldn’t put my foot in my mouth at this point??

Bye Don.

Let’s talk about bees.

The holding yard is complete. 800 hives, all sitting within one acre.

I try to tell my children how special this is. ‘Walk out there and look!’, I say. Man, you won’t see a sight like that anywhere!… in Ohio, anyway. Do they detect my brag?

They ignore me. Sponge Bob dominates the dinner conversation.

We beat the snow. It’s been three beautiful weeks gathering up the girls from 42 out-yards.

And this year, my beekeeper friend Dan Williams chipped in about a hundred hives. Happy to have him along!

We’re California bound in one week.

Bye Bees.

As you already know, this is the time of year where the focus shifts from bees, to product:

This is Jayne’s time of year. That’s why she’ll be doing the next three months of blog posts.

Whew! I’m ready for a break.

Until next time,

Bye Guys.

Still here and kicking

-posted by Jayne

We’ve had a few customers reach out to us via email over the past month to make sure all was well in the Honeyrun world. After several years of weekly blogs, we have fallen out of the routine and have left you all hanging. I realize in today’s world of covid troubles, this can be worrisome when you suddenly don’t hear from folks for a while. I blog today to let you know we are doing well over here in the Honeyrun world.

Isaac has been busy pulling Fall honey supers and feeding the bees protein. We haven’t had a huge Fall harvest this year, mostly due to colder temperatures (we think).

Over what is typically the “Pumpkin Show break” (the Show was cancelled this year) we took a trip to Davis West Virginia and spent some time hiking in the Dolly Sods. The kids were champs and hiked 5 hard miles each day. We packed plenty of sweets and treats to make it more fun. (Or as Eden says, “to bribe us.”) She is correct. We also took a horseback riding trip on the 3rd day, which was the highlight of the trip.

On Monday the folks from the Pickaway County Soil and Water Conservation District came out to shoot some footage to create a video about local agriculture for the annual “Ag Day” field trip for fourth graders. Typically all 4th graders in the county go to the Pickaway County Fairgrounds to learn about agriculture in the Spring. This year it will have to be virtual, so we helped get some footage about bees and honey production.

There is one more Outdoor Worthington Farmer’s market on October 31st, 8-12. On November 7th we’ll move back indoors to the Shops at Worthington Place from 9-12. For more information check out the website: https://www.worthingtonfarmersmarket.com/

We are happy to announce you can now find a wide variety of our honey, soap, beeswax candles, salves, lip balms, and honeysticks, at the Red Stable in German Village. Located at 223 E Kossuth St, Columbus, OH 43206, they also offer Curbside Pickup. But who could resist going into this adorable store? The front door alone begs attention.

We hope this blog finds you all happy, healthy, and safe. Thank you to those who have checked in on us, and we promise to continue to blog when time allows.

New Worthington Market Location for Saturday

-posted by Jayne

-The Saturday after Labor Day traditionally marks the annual Lithopolis Honeyfest- however this year it was cancelled for obvious reason. You can still see us at the Worthington Farmer’s Market, although we continue to move to new spots as the need arises to find a parking lot willing to host us.

This Saturday, we will move once again up the street, this time to 200 W. Old Wilson Bridge Road in Worthington at Worthington Industries. You'll find our new location behind the Shops at Worthington Place. Customer parking is conveniently located in the adjacent lot at the 100 building. 

Open Hours: 8am-12pm*

*8am-9am: Reserved for customers in high-risk populations (senior citizens, immune compromised, expectant mothers and other vulnerable people).

​9am-12pm We welcome all shoppers.

Or, come on down to the farm. Spend some time watching the kids play on the goat playground.

Isaac just reported that this Summer has been the best honey harvest in Honeyrun history. This makes sense, as we have more hives than we’ve ever had. The weather and bee health seemed to cooperate as well. This week Isaac is visiting each of the hives to treat for mites and to feed them protein. I’ve added a few new candle molds and am working on adding them to our line-up as well as our online store. The cats love a good photobomb.

Isaac has found another use for our new barn. After the honey supers are extracted, he puts them on a trailer and pulls it into the barn. Some of the bees can find the sweet smelling honey residue left on the comb and they help us clean out the supers, getting them ready to store for the winter. Since it isn’t too close to our honey house, it keeps the bees from bothering us as we continue to extract (although I’m glad to say we are finally done with Summer extraction).

As we watch the foragers entering the hive, we’ve noticed an abundance of bee pollen coming in. Ragweed and Goldenrod are coming on strong, and the bees come in with legs weighed down with pollen.

Those are your “notes from the farm” for the week. We hope you make it out to a Worthington market here in the next month or two. We’ll be outdoors until the end of October, and then hope to have a plan for a new location once winter is here.

Garfield the Cat

-posted by Jayne

We all need a feel good story every now and then. Particularly in this day and age. Today, I bring you the story of Garfield the Cat.

In June I messaged my sister Teresa Hoxworth, DVM (Danville Veterinary Clinic) and told her to keep her eye out for a kitten. Every now and then she comes along a customer with barn cats looking for a home. Our oldest daughter Maizy was going to turn 11 in early August and I thought it would be a fun birthday gift. I had the idea to get her a cute basket for her bike, put the kitten in the basket with some pretty flowers, and ride the bike up the driveway to present her with the kitten on her birthday. Sounds magical, right? Something like this:

A few weeks later, my sister sends me a text, with the following photo, with the caption: “I got something for you.”

…not exactly the image I had in mind. 🙀

She was driving down a country road and saw this little guy sitting on the side of the road. If she left him there, he certainly wouldn’t have made it. She picked him up and brought him home.

My sister has over 20 dogs, and they don’t take to cats very well- so after she helped nurse him to health she needed to find a new home for him. And I had asked for a kitten, right?!?

Fast forward 3 months: “Garfield” has made a comfortable home here at Honeyrun Farm.

I never did achieve the “cute kitten riding up in a bike basket” like I imagined, but he’s pretty cute nonetheless. Welcome to the Honeyrun family, Garfield.