More barns on the move

A little less than a year ago Isaac shared the story of how his brother Justin and his wife Adrienne moved a neighbor’s old barn through the fields about a mile away to rest in a field next to their house. That blog post with videos can be found here. They plan to restore it and turn it into an airbnb vacation getaway. They had moved another old barn in a similar fashion in 2011, about 3/4 of a mile through a field and over dry run creek, and spent the next decade restoring it and turning it into an airbnb. You can view the airbnb listing here. While Williamsport, Ohio has never been a hot spot for vacationers, many people from out of town love the peaceful scenery and pastoral landscape. There is a herd of friendly belted galloway cattle in the neighboring pasture, a hot tub and swimming pool, and spacious rooms to gather with family and friends.

Here we are, less than a year later, and they’ve managed to move yet another, bigger barn 3.3 miles down the road, across fields and 3 different roads. They will begin restoring it to give it a new life, potentially as a location for small weddings or family gatherings. Watch their Facebook page for updates on progress and to find out when it will be available to rent.  

While Justin and Adrienne are busy being industrious and moving barns, we’ve enjoyed a few winter getaways to ski and snowboard on the weekends. For the month of January, the Worthington Farmer’s Market is closed due to lack of an indoor location willing to host the market. We are awaiting news of a new venue for the indoor location from February-April, and as soon as we find out where it will be, we’ll share it here. Our next Worthington Market will be February 5th. Until then- we’re going to spend as much time as possible on the slopes! 

As always, our farmstand is open year round during daylight hours. Cash or check accepted in the drop box at the farmstead, and larger orders can be preordered by emailing us (click the little envelope button at the top right of this page.)

Solar Open House at Honeyrun Farm

We are hosting an open house here at the farm for those interested in learning more about solar energy for their own home, farm, or business. Drop by October 29th between the hours of 10 and 2 to speak with representatives from Paradise Energy Solutions, to learn about whether solar might be a good fit for you.

The event is free, however RSVP is requested by registering here: ParadiseEnergy.com/honeyrunopenhouse

RSVP is not required but it will help them know how much food to cook. Hope to see you there!

A friendly reminder- no Worthington Farmer's Market this Saturday

Just a friendly reminder that there is no Worthington Farmer's Market on Saturday October 2nd, as the town makes room for their annual street fair. We look forward to seeing our customers in Worthington again on Saturday October 9th. Until then, you are always welcome to visit our farmstand or shop our online store for direct shipments.

Also, another friendly PSA- we have pollen back in stock! We’ve been out of stock since Spring and finally have a small supply available. We are downsizing our pollen harvesting so we don’t expect it to stay in stock for long.

We’ve also been working on making beeswax food wraps. Made with 100% cotton, beeswax from our farm, jojoba oil, and pine rosin, these are a biodegradable, eco-friendly way to package fresh fruits and vegetables, sandwiches, and other foods. They are great for covering bowls, as they allow your food to breathe, staying fresh longer. Wraps will last for many months, and can be cleaned using cool or lukewarm water and dish soap. Wraps can be air dried after washing.

We’re back in Fall candle-making mode again. Pumpkin candles are in full production. Are there any style of candles you would like to see us make in the coming year? We’re always open to suggestions. Leave a comment below. We love to hear from you.

I found about 100 pictures of our animals wearing hats on the computer, so I figured the world needed to see a few of them. 🐐

Have a great weekend!

The 14th Annual Lithopolis Honeyfest

Another Honeyfest has come and gone. Isaac and I took some time to reminisce about some differences between our first Honeyfest and this one: the 14th annual Lithopolis Honeyfest.

The first Honeyfest took place in 2007. I was pregnant with our oldest son Mason. Neither Isaac nor I had smart phones, and we were resistant to get them. For this reason, we could not process credit cards and we took in quite a few personal checks. This year, we had no personal checks (the times, they are a changin’ I guess)

During the first Honeyfest- every single beekeeper at the festival sold out of every single honey jar they bought. We even had customers begging us to buy our sample jars. (We sold them for a few dollars off). All the beekeepers were originally skeptical that we could sell much honey at a festival where so many other beekeepers were there selling honey. We were all proven wrong!

This year, we had the privilege of spending the Wednesday prior to the Honeyfest with the American Honey Princess, Virginia Allen. Her job duties as Honey Princess are to travel throughout the United States on behalf of the American Beekeeping Federation and promote honey, encourage beekeepers to work together on efforts to benefit the industry, and to teach children and communities about the important work of honeybees and other pollinators. She spoke to the entire 2nd and 4th grade classes as Westfall Elementary and we were very grateful for her time.

Probably the best thing we’ve learned since the 1st Honeyfest is the importance of hiring good help to staff our booth, so we can walk around and enjoy the Honeyfest ourselves. Pictured here are Hannah (left) and Petyn (right). Both have worked for Honeyrun for several years and we are so grateful for their help!

Today I leave you with a fun video our kids made, featuring the mascots of Honeyrun Farm- our animals. They worked very hard on this and we are proud of their efforts. Enjoy!

What have we been up to?

-posted by Jayne

When I start getting emails asking, “Are you guys okay? What happened to the blog?” I know it’s time to jump on here and give you all an update. We’ve had a great summer and it’s not over yet. We’re still pulling the summer honey, and even with this latest bout of rain, it’s still coming in strong. Spring, however, was something special to talk about. The best Spring honey harvest we’ve ever had!

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Our family took quite a few trips this summer- beginning with a trip to Washington DC to tour the monuments and visit some friends.

…We really came for the ice cream.

And ended with a trip to Washington State, where we dove into cold lakes to beat the 110 degree heat wave.

Lake Crescent in Olympic National Park

In the middle of the summer we enjoyed the Pickaway County Fair, our new horse Winnie, and our youngest daughter learned to ride a bike.

There are definitely more stories to share in the coming weeks, but for now I will leave you with 2 important dates:

# 1 : The Lithopolis Honeyfest! Friday, SEPTEMBER 10TH, 3PM - 7PM and Saturday SEPTEMBER 11TH 10AM TO 7 PM. Find all the details here: http://centralohiobeekeeper.com/ It’s always a good time- come on out and see us at the honeyfest.

#2 We’ll be hosting a “Solar Energy Open House” in conjunction with Paradise Energy Solutions, who installed solar panels on our barn. This will be on October 29th. More information and exact time will follow. Anyone interested in learning about the potential to install solar panels on your own home or barn is welcome to attend. (something was mentioned about free food, too)

Thanks for checking in and we promise it won’t be 3 months until our next blog post. The kids are in school, which means I have a little more free time to write and connect.