Honeyrun Farm

What do Beekeepers Do in the Winter?

2012-02-02T18:10:00.006-05:00

(Posted by Isaac)

The honeymoon is over. The baby honeymoon, that is. Our last post was November 27th, a day before 8 lb 3 oz Bridger Thomas Barnes was born. Although things have continued to be very busy with kids, new baby and the bee business, we realize we need to do a better job with the blog. The new goal is to post at least once a week. We'll do our best. To those out there who like to check in with us, thank you for your patience. Here is Bridger at 7 weeks, happy as can be.

We had our first market day of 2012 last Saturday at Worthington. It went extremely well. Jayne and I are overwhelmed at the support and encouragement coming from you honey lovers. It was fun to see the locavore market crowd and once again get to talk honey, bees, soap and babies. It is sincerely flattering that some of you hold out for Honeyrun Farm honey and seem to put our products on a pedestal. For our part, we'll continue to strive to put out the very best in local raw food. Thank you so much!

As some of you know, I'm no longer teaching. 2012 will mark the first year that Jayne and I have gone "all in" with this business. We realize we've taken somewhat of a risk, but the present tidal wave of support for local farmers in central Ohio has enabled us to take a leap of faith and devote 100% of our energy to Honeyrun Farm. Well... maybe I should clarify. At the end of most days, it feels like 95% of the energy goes into child rearing, as those of you with kids well know.

Jayne will continue to lift the heaviest burden in 2012, chasing three young kids around while marketing soap, honey, pollen, candles, herbs, gift boxes, ect...

Here she is, packing boxes for Etsy customers while Bridger naps, strapped to mommy's chest. We're lucky he's such a calm, content baby.

For my part, I'll continue doing my hobbies, but this year be calling it my "work." -- producing honey and pollen, building things, and providing pollination to local orchards. As in 2011, I'll help my brother and cousins when things get busy on their 2700 acre grain farm.

So what are we doing at present you may wonder... Mainly dreaming of Spring, but yes, the days can be busy for beekeepers even in the winter. I'm using every spare moment in January and February for building hive parts. We hope to be up to 300 hives by the end of this year, and this means a lot of frames, boxes, bottom boards, lids, ect...

In April we'll need plenty of healthy hives for pollination of apple orchards, so that entails feeding and checking hives in February and March. I'll be mixing hundreds of pounds of sugar and protein feed patties for the bees this week. Yum yum...

Check back in next week, hopefully we'll stick to our blog this year and keep you up to date with what is going on around the farm. We appreciate your support and interest!

A Short Video about Our Farm

2011-11-27T07:38:00.002-05:00

This past summer, we welcomed OU film student Gwen Titley to our farm, as she wanted to create a short video about our farm to use for one of her multimedia classes. It helps explain how we got into beekeeping, how we extract our honey, and a little about the seasonal process of keeping bees. Thanks Gwen!

Honeyrun Farm from Gwen Titley on Vimeo.

More Cooking with Honey... Pumpkin Pie!

2011-11-21T22:32:00.004-05:00

Just in time for Thanksgiving... Honey Pumpkin Pie! I made this recipe last week, and I hope to be able to make it again for Thanksgiving. I just need to get to the store and buy some Snowville Creamery whipping cream, as it wouldn't be complete without fresh local cream as an ingredient, as well as whipped up as a topping (I've developed a dislike of cool whip... how can you stomach it after tasting real whipped cream?). My only advice is to be sure to follow the instructions about covering the edges of the pie crust with strips of foil, since baking it at 400 degrees for 50 minutes will thoroughly burn the edges. Since I prefer graham cracker crusts, I made one for this pie and for some reason thought I could forego this step since it was not the traditional pie crust. WRONG! This is why I did not photograph the pie with the ugly edges. Here is the recipe, reprinted below, in case you are lazy like me and don't follow all the links in blogs. If you want a nice printable version, I recommend checking out the allrecipes site.

Pumpkin Honey Pie

Ingredients

3 eggs
2 cups solid pack pumpkin puree
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie

Directions

Beat eggs slightly in a large bowl. Blend in pumpkin, milk, cream, honey, spices, salt. Pour filling into pie shell. Cover edges of shell with strips of foil.
Bake at 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) for 35 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking for 15 more minutes. An inserted knife should come out clean when done. Cool, and serve.

Happy Thanksgiving!

-Jayne

Grocery Store Honey versus Local Honey

2011-11-19T21:40:00.007-05:00

As local beekeepers, we have known for a while the benefits of local honey as compared to honey you see on most grocery store shelves. We try to educate our customers about the benefits of honey with local pollens, which can help build resistance to airborne pollen allergies. The other obvious difference between the two types of honey is the flavor. Until we started beekeeping, I didn't each much honey. This was because I had only really eaten pasteurized honey, and it didn't seem that great. Even the honey you find at many local farm markets will be pasteurized, as smaller honey processors have picked up the practice of pasteurizing and high pressure filtering their honey so that it will stay liquid on the store shelves rather than granulating in time (as seen in the picture above). These packers often sport a label with a local address, so the consumer really has no clue where their honey came from, but only know where the honey was processed.

Over the past two weeks, we have had several customers point out the article: Tests Show Most Store Honey Isn't Honey, published by Food Safety News, and later picked up by the Associated Press, which details the differences between local, unprocessed honey, and honey that is high pressure filtered, thus removing all the pollen, as well as much of the flavor and nutritional benefits of honey. The article is lengthy, but definitely worth reading. We're not trying to convince you to buy more of our honey... but we do feel it is important to always buy honey directly from a beekeeper that you know and trust.

-Jayne

Cooking with Honey at the Edible Columbus Cooking Class

2011-11-19T09:58:00.007-05:00

For the past few weeks we have increased our honey consumption by ten-fold here at the Barnes household. This is pretty impressive, considering we already ate a LOT of honey. Isaac is our chief consumer, as he puts it on everything. But I began to realize that I was not utilizing what a wonderful supply we had on hand, and there really are so many versatile ways to use honey. It is so much more than just a sweet treat.

All of this was spurred on by an invitation to speak at an Edible Columbus cooking class on "Cooking with Local Honey." While I spoke on the benefits, types and varieties of local Ohio honey (shown above, our Spring, Summer, and Fall honey, left to right) I really learned so much more about cooking with honey just by sampling the wide array of offerings chosen by Tricia Wheeler, editor of Edible Columbus magazine. You can follow this link to find all the recipes we sampled in the class, but I am going to post my two favorites here. I cooked them both this past week and received rave reviews from Isaac.

Honey Roasted Root Vegetables

4 pounds root vegetables, like butternut squash, celery root, rutabaga, beets, parsnips, pumpkin and carrots, cleaned and cut into 1/2 inch cubs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons fresh chopped rosemary

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss the vegetables in olive oil, salt and pepper and spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet, or two if needed. Rotate the tray halfway through cooking until vegetables are lightly caramelized and fork tender, about 45 minutes. Toss periodically to make sure they cook evenly. While vegetables are cooking, whisk honey and butter together into well incorporated.

During the last 5-10 minutes of cooking, remove vegetables and brush them with honey butter mixture. Sprinkle with rosemary and return to oven to continue cooking.

Honey Marinated Chicken Breasts
Serves 6

6 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup white wine
1 tablespoon honey
2 cup fine breadcrumbs
1 cup finely grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Flatten each chicken breast half with a meat pounder. For the marinade, put the mustard, wine and honey in a large ziplock bag. Add the chicken breasts, seal the bag and marinate in fridge for an hour. In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix the breadcrumbs and grated cheese. Dip the marinated chicken breasts in the mixture, coating all sides. Place the chicken breasts in a greased baking pan and cook in the preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Our kids liked it too, but they have yet to master the art of comments like, "This is amazing, mom!" I wanted to take beautiful photos of both dishes. But sometimes after working hard on a meal, you just want to sit down and eat it, you know what I mean? So you have to use your imagination... but trust me. They are both delicious. I've included the above picture of our kids, Maizy (2) and Mason (3) after we made homemade spinach ravioli last week. No honey in that recipe, but it is included in the Fall issue of Edible Columbus, mentioned in the previous post. Go check it out!

Thank-you Edible Columbus!

2011-09-09T09:50:00.005-04:00

With great appreciation to Nancy McKibben for taking the time to write a well-researched story about our farm and the issues facing honeybees and beekeepers, here is a link to the article in the latest Fall issue of Edible Columbus! What a great free publication highlighting local food artisans and purveyors. Find it at farmer's markets around Columbus, local food hot spots like The North Market, or look for a complete list of locations to pick up a copy here.

A local choice

2011-08-25T09:55:00.004-04:00

Recently food blogger Nicole Pallante came to our farm to take a tour and learn about our operation. Her project is: One destination, one ingredient, one recipe. She wants to reconnect people with their food, by replacing one everyday ingredient with something local sustainably and/or organically grown, and seasonal. Her blog is very interesting, and she really immersed herself in our beekeeping practices while she was here, even taking a sting to her forehead! Check out her blog here: www.alocalchoice.blogspot.com

Pollen Power!

2011-06-28T16:39:00.005-04:00

We have two new exciting items for sale! Bee Pollen, and Black Locust Honey, both being harvested by Isaac as I sit here and type this post. To start with... we always get the question, "What do you do with bee pollen?" Pollen is used in several ways... as a nutritional supplement, an energy boost, and as a remedy for local airborne pollen allergies. You can eat pollen by itself, in a smoothie, on your cereal, in a salad, or our favorite way... on a spoon mixed with some honey. Pollen is packed with vitamins and minerals, and is composed of:

Protein (21.2%), Carbohydrates (48.5%), Fatty Acids (9.9%), Ash (3.5%), Fiber (14.2).
We have already heard customers at market who give us feedback that the pollen is improving their allergies and giving them a boost of energy. Pollen has a chalky consistency, but a more herbal, floral flavor. I prefer mixing it with honey to give it added flavor, and to improve the texture. Why not try mixing it with our fresh Spring Black Locust Honey?
This is our very favorite type of honey we harvest here at Honeyrun Farm. So light, delicate, and mild, it has a distinctive taste that is hard to describe. It is simply delicious, unique, and we always sell out of it before the summer and fall honey are long gone. Why not stop by one of our farm market stands and give it a try? Or if you want to take my word for it... swing over to our Etsy shop and purchase a jar. We are even offering a sale this week to entice you a bit further... 20% anything in our shop! Use the coupon code POLLENPOWER at checkout and it will automatically deduct your savings. Sale ends on the end of the day on July 4th. Thanks for stopping by!

-Jayne

What it sounds like to stand in a swarm of bees...

2011-05-22T21:15:00.004-04:00

If you are curious about bees, you may wonder why and how they swarm. In my opinion, this is one of the most fascinating aspects of bee biology. Swarming is their way of managing the size of their hive, and furthering their species. When a hive becomes too crowded they will do what we call, "throwing out a swarm." The old queen will leave the hive with the swarm, and new queen cells will eventually give birth to a new queen (they will fight it out to determine who gets to be the big mama in charge). The bees will often cluster on the outside of their hive on the day they will swarm, and this usually happens after several rainy days (we've had our share lately, haven't we?).

When it is time to go, the bees will start to fly in a frenzy, making an intense buzzing sound that is so much fun to hear and witness. They will sometimes hover for a while, but usually will slowly move towards the direction they plan to go. Sometimes they don't go much further than 10-20 feet away, such as this hive has done. They will then cluster on a branch, fence post, side of a house, etc., until the "scout bees" have found a nice place for the hive to make a home. The queen will be hanging at the center of a swarm, with all the other bees clinging to each other around her. There is no comb, beeswax, or honey in a swarm, so the bees are usually docile because they have no home or property to protect.

If you see a swarm, you should try to contact your local extension agent, or do a google search for your local bee club. Beekeepers such as us are more than happy to come and take your swarm. We simply knock them down off the branch into a box, and later put them in one of our hives, with some drawn out comb with honey to entice them to stay. Sometimes we will even go as far as putting a frame of brood (baby bees) in, because the bees have a hard time leaving the babies. Yet sometimes, when a hive has it in their mind to swarm, they are even going to swarm out of the hive you provided... so it is never a sure-fire thing. Just today we had a swarm leave one of our hives after we caught it last night (leaving the brood and all). Bees are wild animals, no matter how much we try to domesticate them for our own use, they will do as they please. If you are local to our area, check out our Scioto Valley Beekeepers website to access a list of local beekeepers who are happy to help with swarms. In Columbus, the Central Ohio Beekeepers have a similar program.

Don't fear the swarm!

-Thanks for stopping by,

Jayne

Snapshots from the farm on a Wednesday morning

2011-05-18T20:39:00.006-04:00

Every morning when I wake up and look out the window, I am amazed at how green everything is! That is one aspect of living in Ohio that I really do enjoy. I thought it might be fun to simply take my camera around the farm and post pictures of how everything is growing, flowering, and enjoying the rain. While we commiserate about not planting corn, tomatoes, etc etc etc... some of the plants that are in the ground are really thriving. Here is the garlic, in all it's splendor. I can't wait for the garlic scapes!The catnip has really gone crazy this year! Some cats are about to be very happy, because these plants are at least 4' high, and I plan to bring some cuttings to the Worthington market this weekend.
Some of our potato plants are already flowering... while others are just now starting to poke out of the ground!
The chickens seem to enjoy their little pond. They venture over to grab a few worms that have worked their way up to the surface, but they can't resist a human being with a camera! They are curious little ladies.
This is a valerian flower. I planted these so that I could harvest the roots in the fall of the 3rd year (which is this year, finally!). This plant can be used as a sedative, steeped in a tea, or in bath water to help cure insomnia.
The strawberry plants looked so pretty with the dew, and the little flowers dropping their petals to reveal the tiny green berries below.
This is my very favorite type of Spearmint. I call it "fuzzy leafed Spearmint", and I took a start from my mom's garden, which she took from my Grandma's garden, and so on. It has such a delicate flavor. It is my first choice for herbal mint tea.
The chives are also starting to bloom! I love their flowers!
And finally you get to meet the newest addition to our family... Lucky! Courtesy of Teresa Hoxworth at Danville Veterinary Clinic, Lucky certainly is one lucky dog. She was going to be euthanized, but instead my sister Teresa decided to give her as a gift to our son Mason for his 3rd birthday. Despite the fact that Lucky has chewed up everything that I was using in my greenhouse (an entire gallon of fish emulsion fertilizer, my good permanent market, plant tags) as well as shoes, bags of mulch, morning papers... the list goes on.... she is a great dog. Very lucky, I might add.
Hope to see some of you at market this weekend!

-Jayne

This guy is a little sensitive...

2011-05-17T22:41:00.004-04:00

Let me introduce you to one of my very favorite plants. It has been a favorite of mine since I was just a little kid, and my aunt had it growing in a pot on her back porch. His name is "Sensitive Plant" and he is just a tad bit shy...On a fine summer's day he will sit with his leaves open, as you see above. But as soon as someone comes along and brushes his leaves (below), he closes up, kind of like a venus fly trap, but much quicker and more gratifying. After about 10-15 minutes, he will open up, and the fun begins once again. I remember being told that we weren't supposed to sit in front of the plant all day, touching and terrorizing the poor thing... but it really is too much fun! I will bring a few of these to market this weekend so you can all enjoy the show put on by Mr. Sensitive Plant.
Now... a trip down memory lane. About a month ago, Becky received 20,000 onion plants in the mail (and yes, they did smell pretty strong). She hired a team of 2 helpers, along with her father-in-law... who rigged up this amazing back-saving device to assist with planting. Normally it would take many hours and uncomfortable back strain to plant this amount of onions. But in just two days, (well, two very long, wet, muddy days) Becky and her crew were able to get all 20,000 onions in the ground. One person "drove" the tractor (kept it straight as it crept along at .0000001 mph), while two people lie down on this device (formally some useful farm implement he picked up at an auction) and poked the onions through the hole in the black plastic. Becky has drip irrigation running under the black plastic, to preserve moisture at the plants' roots and control weeds.
Becky is on the left, and her helper Kyra on the right. Can you believe they are smiling through it all? It was COLD.

And on a completely unrelated note... we have baby chicks! Our kids love them... a little too much. Whenever we go out to see them Maizy shouts, "A chick, please!" so that I will let her pet them. These birds are actually broiler chickens, and we will be getting them butchered so that we can have a freezer full of anti-biotic free meat for our family throughout the year. Shhhh.... don't tell Maizy.
Until next time... when the rain stops (hopefully)!

-Jayne

Tulips, Rain, and Trouble-shooting

2011-04-26T20:05:00.005-04:00

Spring is here and we are busier than ever! It seems to be the same story all over Ohio... rain, rain, rain. I'll try not to complain because without it we wouldn't be seeing these gorgeous double tulips that I planted last fall. I think it is safe to say my obsession with tulips is just beginning...The bees like them, too! It has been so much fun watching them work on the sunny days when they can leave the hives. We recently took 60 hives to several apple farms in Ohio for pollination. This is a first for Honeyrun Farm, so we'll see how that goes. It is nice to know we can help them out, because many apple farmers are having difficulty finding beekeepers who do pollination work. But it is a lot of work... loading up the hives late at night when the little ladies are all back home, then taking off early in the morning before they have time to get out and get back to work. Imagine what it would be like to wake up in the same house, but when you walked outside... you had a completely different neighborhood! I think this is exactly what the bees feel like when they get moved!
On the only really nice sunny day last week, Mason and I worked at cleaning out the leftover garden plants from last year. This is Mason as he strenuously pulls out an old zinnia plant, all while holding on to a tulip. It slowed him down a bit, but he was relentless.
And did I mention that our greenhouse has about a foot of standing water in it? For the past 4 years we have only used the greenhouse to grow potted plants. This year, we took 2 of the tables out and decided to plant some things in the ground. This year, it flooded. We also dealt with a broken heater, a broken water table (we have hot water running through pipes in our table), and a broken tiller. None of these things are surprising. Farming is a lot more about fixing machinery and troubleshooting than it is about planting seeds in the warm sun. It's just the warm sun that we remember and focus on. I'll let you know when we get one of those days. :)

Cheers-

Jayne

Check out the Worthington Winter Market

2011-03-22T22:17:00.004-04:00

Even though it is officially Spring in Ohio, you can still enjoy the Worthington Winter Farmer's Market through the end of April. My last post provided a recipe about eating locally in the winter, and I promised pictures of what is offered at the winter market. So here's a sampling...

Delicious green leaf lettuce from Van Scoy farms. Grown in their greenhouse all winter long!
Check out their website here. They are good, honest farmers who bring a quality product to market.
And here we have the samplings of jams from Sweet Thing Gourmet. Created in small batches from their kitchen, they have 32 flavors ranging from Lavender Peach to Raspberry Jalapeno...Balsamic Strawberry to Scotch Bonnet Blueberry. It's amazing! They also offer delicious brownies (seen below) and biscotti. Check out their website.
Meadow Maid cheese always has a great sampling of their grassfed organic milk cheeses. Grassfed cows produce milk that is high in Omega-3 and Omega-6, as well as vitamin E.
I will be at this market again this Saturday from 10:00 am-1:00 pm, in the Griswold Senior Center at 777 N. High Street. Come out and say hi, and if you tell me you read this blog post, you can get 5 free honey sticks, plus $1.00 of any (and every) item you buy at our booth!

Eating Locally in the Winter

2011-02-25T11:36:00.004-05:00

Eating local foods in the winter in Ohio can be challenging... but not too hard if you plan ahead and know where to find the farmers. This week I wanted to post a recipe from a meal I prepared using mostly local ingredients. I love eating Italian Wedding Soup when I go to restaurants. I had never made it before because it seemed like it would be difficult to make... and I didn't really think I could do a good job because it seemed like a "fancy" kind of dish. But I figured, hey... it can't hurt to try.

I have been buying fresh spinach every other week when we're at the Worthington Winter Farmer's market (in the Griswold Senior Center on N. High Street) from Gretel and Steve Adams from Sunny Meadows Flower Farm. They have been growing it in their unheated greenhouse all winter long, along with the most tasty carrots you will ever try. Both these items happen to be ingredients in Wedding Soup! Here is a picture of the finished product, accompanied with some locally made sourdough bread from Lucky Cat Bakery in Pataskala, Ohio. Of course, not the best food photography seeing as how it was already dark when we were eating it, and I put it in a dark bowl so you can't really see anything. Oh well... you get the idea.

Here is the recipe, which I got from www.food.com.

Ingredients:

1/2 lb lean ground beef

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons breadcrumbs

1 tablespoon parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

5 3/4 cups chicken broth

2 cups chopped escarole or 2 cups chopped spinach

1/2 cup orzo pasta, uncooked

1/3 cup finely chopped carrot

grated parmesan cheese

1 In medium bowl combine, meat, egg,bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, basil& onion powder; shape into 3/4" balls.

2 In large sauce pan, heat broth to boiling; stir in spinach, orzo, carrot& meatballs.

3 Return to boil;reduce heat to medium.

4 Cook at slow boil for 10 minutes or until orzo is tender.

5 Stir frequently to avoid sticking.

6 Serve with additional Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

I used turkey broth that I had made and frozen after Thanksgiving. I also used local hamburger from my parent's farm. Here is a picture of the beautiful baby carrots from Steve and Gretel:

And here is their gorgeous Spinach. It is so flavorful and fresh!
Stop by the Worthington Winter Market tomorrow if you want a chance to pick up some great local food. I will take my camera to take some pictures of the other offerings of this great little farmer's market and post them next week. There's always a lot of meat (beef, pork, chicken), vegetarian burgers (Luna burgers), organic local baby food, goat cheese as well as traditional cheese, apples, baked goods (gluten-free, too), fudge, eggs, handmade soap, and lots of great bread. Oh, and I almost forgot... HONEY!

A sampling of what is to come..

2011-01-21T09:25:00.002-05:00

This week I finally put my seed order together and am getting excited for Spring. I thought I would fill you in on what you may expect at the North Market this season. That is, if I am diligent enough to follow through on these ideas....

I always try to pick a few crops to work on each year, and this year I chose miniature head lettuce and carrots. Both are things I love to eat, and need more practice growing. It is hard to get a lettuce to form a complete head around here, because I always end up harvesting the tips before it gets big enough to harvest as a head! I chose several varieties to try, both red, green, and mottled... so we'll see what happens.

Blue Jade sweet corn... just for fun. Don't expect to see this as market except in 4" pots sold as individual plants in the Spring. This is one sweet corn that can actually be planted in large containers, and used as an ornamental. I plan to do a small row in the garden just for our family (I'm awful when it comes to weeding large plots like sweet corn.) I'll put a few seeds in large whiskey barrels around our property for decoration.
I chose two varieties of carrots to grow this year. This variety below is called Dragon, and features a purple exterior with orange inside. I need Becky to teach me how to weed carrots. Or maybe just a little more ambition when it counts... like early May when the weeds begin to Sprout.
The other variety I chose is called Paris Market. I thought these would be easier because they are small, take less time to mature, and thus, there would be less time for the weeds to take it over. Right?
I also am planting a lot of potatoes this year. I like potatoes because you can get them in the ground early, and also harvest them earlier than crops like tomatoes and peppers. They are gratifying because they grow pretty quickly, and the kids can help me dig them out of the dirt and throw them into buckets. I chose some old favorites like Red Norlands, Kennebecs, Katahdins, as well as some fancy new varieties like Purple Viking and Purple Majesty. They are purple inside and out!
These photos were all taken from seed catalogs... but hopefully this summer I will have some pictures of the real thing, taken right here on our farm.

We're currently bottling lavender infused honey for the Weekly Fresh Market Bag at the Greener Grocer right now. We received about 5" of snow last night so this is a fun activity to do while being snowed in!

If you enjoy this farm blog, head on over to Curly Girl Farm blog, where our farmer friend Kristen blogs about all sorts of old-fashioned farm activities. If you need advice on jelly making, sauerkraut making (the real, "stinky crock sitting in your kitchen for weeks" way), raising chickens, making maple syrup, growing heirloom produce, sewing, and pretty much any other old-fashioned craft or trade... Kristen is your girl!

Many ways to shop Honeyrun Farm this Holiday season...

2010-11-25T12:03:00.005-05:00

We have been busy working on building online stores... please take a look and tell us what you think!

Our store on Etsy: 30% off everything until Dec. 1st

Our store on Foodzie: 25% off on Black Friday, 15% off for the remainder of the week

Our store on local harvest

And of course, you can always purchase soap directly through our website.

We will also be participating in the annual Holiday Show at the North Market on Dec. 4 and 5, where you will find the following products, plus all our regular items.

A new honey gift package featuring Spring, Summer, and Fall honey.
One of our newest best-selling soaps: Peppermint & Tea Tree - invigorating and uplifting!
Pure beeswax candles with natural honey/beeswax scent.
Cinnamon soap... a favorite during this time of year.
Pure raw chunk honey - pair it with cheese for your holiday entertaining.

Thanks for stopping by, hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving!

Our Top 5 Best Ways to Eat Honey

2010-10-27T13:15:00.005-04:00

What's your favorite way to eat honey? I thought it might be fun to show some of our favorite ways we partake of honey in this house. There are times when we can easily go through a pound of honey a week. Many of our customers buy a little 8 ounce honey and say, "Oh, this will last me a couple months." What?!? Some people need some creativity when it comes to honey consumption! Here are some great ways enjoy Honeyrun Farm Honey:

1. Let's not overlook the obvious. The all-around favorite: Peanut Butter and Honey - on toast. Yes, toast makes it so much better, with the warm peanut butter and the honey oozing through the whole sandwich... need I say more?

2. On a spoon, sprinkled with some bee pollen. This is our version of a daily multivitamin. Our children, (Mason and Maizy, 2 1/2 and 15 months old) love bee pollen. They eat it plain off a spoon and say, "Num num!" And then they come running back for more. Imagine how much tastier it is when you mix it with honey! We love when the honey is just beginning to granulate, like this Black Locust honey. It is so smooth and creamy, it just melts on your tongue.

3. On cornbread. Yesterday I made a homeade cornbread with real sweet corn in it, using Alton Brown's recipe from the food network. Delicious. Smother it with our fall honey and you won't regret it.

4. Graham cracker/honey milk dipper. This is Isaac's invention, and it has become our favorite afternoon snack. Take two graham crackers, smother with honey. Sandwich them together. Dip in milk until they just start to get soggy. Enjoy. Seriously... this is one of the BEST ways to eat honey. I made homeade graham crackers today using this recipe (I love Alton Brown's recipes).

5. In Hot Cocoa. A few mornings each week I make myself homeade cocoa with honey. Fill a pan with 12 ounces or so of milk (Snowville is my preference!). Add 2 spoonfuls Equal Exchange Drinking Cocoa. Whisk together when warm. Add 1 TB summer honey. Add whipped cream if you're feeling decadent.

Please share some of your favorite ways to eat honey in the comments sections! Or email me your great recipe and I'll post it.

This Saturday is our last Saturday at the North Market, by the way... time to stock up for winter! We will be bringing 5 lb. jugs and even a few gallons for those serious honey lovers out there.

Our Honey is now available for purchase through Foodzie!

2010-10-19T07:40:00.002-04:00

We are pleased to announce a new partnership with the online marketplace Foodzie! You can visit our online store at www.honeyrunfarm.foodzie.com. We are currently selling our Summer Honey, Lavender Infused Honey, and Chunk Honey through their website, and hope to add more varieties later. Go check it out!

Appalachian Mountain Artisans Fest - Oct 8-10

2010-10-04T22:20:00.004-04:00

Come join us this weekend for the Appalachian Mountain Artisans Fest in Winchester, Ohio. Activities include:

Artisan Booths
Sunflower & Pumpkin Patches
Hay “Swimming Pool”
Corn Maze
Antique Tractor Show
Face Painting
Classes & Demonstrations
Live Entertainment
Charity Auction

Check out their facebook page here. And a schedule of events here. Pictured below are just a few of the items we will be bringing with us to sell this year!

Creations from the farm...

2010-10-04T22:05:00.003-04:00

Something new we tried this year at Honeyrun Farm: Hot Pepper Ristras! Very easy to make if you have the time and patience. I am not going to attempt to provide directions here, but feel free to email me if you want to know how I did it. These can be hung in your kitchen to allow the peppers to dry - ready for use all winter long.Pictured below are Joe's Long Cayenne peppers. These dry best of all 10 varieties of peppers I grew this year.
There is still time to harvest more peppers before the final frost here in Ohio. Send me a message if you want us to bring any to the farmer's market. We'll be at the North Market Oct. 16th, 23rd, and 30th.

How to cook a pumpkin (or squash).

2010-10-04T21:16:00.006-04:00

Some of you out there will look at this post and think, "duh... it's not rocket science." But many people really have no clue what to do with a freshly harvested pumpkin... other than carve a face in it and place a candle inside on Halloween. This year, I grew an abundance of pumpkins and winter squash, and have already sold most of the heirloom varieties at the market. Most customers were buying them for decorations - but I made sure to tell them that they shouldn't just throw it out when they were done. Bake it! Make a pie, some pumpkin soup, pumpkin bars, pumpkin roll... the list goes on (and if you don't believe me, just come to the Circleville Pumpkin Show Oct 20-23... you will see the many amazing uses of pumpkin).

So here is a little post to educate you on how to bake a pumpkin or squash. I used the "Speckled Hound" pumpkins which grew beautifully this year. They are prized for their buttery yellow flesh. I made a delicious pumpkin/sweet potato soup with this. Too bad I can't provide the recipe here because... well... I didn't use one. But it was delicious, and there are many recipes out there to try. I recommend using sweet potato rather than sugar... it's all the sweetness a good pumpkin soup needs! Another side note about these "Speckled Hound" pumpkins: They were the secret ingredient in the Ohio Local Foods Week Iron Chef competition on Sunday night! I guess you could say I am a bit proud.

First step: Chop the pumpkin in half. Yes, I said Chop. Slice. Carve. Whatever method you like.
Second step: Use a large spoon to scoop out the seed and rind. If using an heirloom... save the seeds to plant next year!
Third step: Place the pumpkin or squash in a baking dish filled with about a half inch of water.
Fourth Step: Bake in a 350 degree oven until the flesh becomes soft and squishy. This pumpkin took about 40 minutes. Just open the oven every now and then and prick it with a fork to test it. You can also prick it (like you would a potato) to allow it to cook it more quickly and evenly. Don't take it out of the oven until it is soft all the way through. It is now time to scoop out the flesh, leaving the shell behind.
The next step is to take this pumpkin flesh and puree it in your food processor. You will probably need to add a little milk or water to get a nice smooth consistency. Since I made soup, I made mine pretty fine textured. If you're cooking a pie, you might want to leave it a bit more stiff, like canned pumpkin you would buy in the store. As you can see the light yellow color of the Speckled Hound is quite different from many darker red pumpkins.
Final Step: Take the pumpkin skin and rind out to the chickens (or your compost bin if chickens are unavailable). And there you have it! You have cooked your very own pumpkin! Much more rewarding than using canned pumpkin from the store. And besides... wasn't there a huge canned pumpkin shortage this year?
Come on down to the farm and pick out a pumpkin to cook up. You can even bring your rinds to our chickens when you're all done.

Produce too beautiful to eat...

2010-08-15T21:54:00.007-04:00

As I scrolled down through the list of posts over the past few months I realized that I was missing something. Too much honey and flowers, and not enough produce. Sadly, the only post I did about the produce farm featured the floods we had in early June! So I have to show you all the beautiful bounty of Becky's produce farm here at Honeyrun. Purple carrots? Yes! Purple Carrots. Why not? Heirloom tomatoes also come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.
This was my favorite. Just look at the red and orange striations.
My favorite summer snack. My own little version of Brushetta, complete with fresh basil, olive oil, and Italian cheeses melted over top in the oven. Here I used Hillbilly and Amish Paste tomatoes, both of which are heirlooms.
And here is one of Becky's signature crops: Cherry Tomatoes! Sun golds are a farmer's market favorite; known for a burst of flavor that is sprightly sweet. They combine nicely with their more acidic and tart counterparts, the red cherry tomato. There's still time left to pick these up at the next farmer's market!

Honey Robbers

2010-08-15T19:28:00.003-04:00

Isaac took the time on Friday to take some video of the bees as they were "robbing" the honey from the beeswax cappings. After we scrape the beeswax cappings off the frames in order to extract the honey, we leave them in the yard for the bees to clean up. They get really excited, and start "robbing" the honey in a frenzy of excitement. We think you'll get the picture when you watch this video...

August 2010 Honey Extraction

2010-08-06T08:08:00.004-04:00

It's honey harvest time! I thought I would show you what honey extraction is all about! We are finally working in our new "honey house" with our new 33 frame extractor. It is so much quicker than the old 4-frame hand-crank extractor we used to use. Now we load it up, flip on a switch, and it spins the honey out on its own! But we still have the time-consuming task of scraping the beeswax cappings from each frame. When the bees are finished filling a frame with honey and it is at the perfect moisture level, they "cap it off" with beeswax.Here Isaac is getting ready to scrape off the cappings with a hive tool. The cappings fall into a tank below, where the extra honey drips down into a bucket, and the beeswax will later be cleaned, melted down, and used in projects such as soap, candles, etc.
We slide a warm knife against the frame to remove the beeswax.
Look at all the delicious honey ready to ooze out of the frame... it weighs about 5 pounds. This year's Summer honey has a very light color from the clover and Canadian thistle blooms.
The frame is placed in the extractor, and when it is full we will turn it on so the honey can spin out. We keep it spinning for about 15 minutes.
The honey drips down into a bucket below. This honey includes chunks of beeswax, pollen, and even dead bee parts. We have to put this through a large mesh strainer in order to bottle it, but other than that... there is no processing. Pure, raw, honey... straight from the beehive.
We will have some of this honey for sale this weekend at the North Market. Stop by our booth to sample some of the freshest honey in Central Ohio!

Wedding bells are ringing...

2010-07-26T08:39:00.007-04:00

Did I say in one of the last posts that I would be posting to the blog every week? Oops....

Big things have been happening at Honeyrun Farm. Becky has been replanting her fields and managing the crops that managed to not get drowned out in the early Summer rain. And in the meantime, she also got married! (In Alaska, on a Glacier, nonetheless). Yes, I'm serious! Pictures to follow shortly. We welcome Greg Swingle to the Honeyrun Family. I have looked through all my files and can't find a picture of the two together, but you can check out his work at www.gregswingle.com.

Isaac has been busy making splits of our beehives, and I have been arranging and growing wedding flowers. We also have been bottling little jars of honey for wedding favors. It is such a useful gift for wedding guests (one that doesn't sit around the house forever). And since honey never spoils, you can keep it and crack it open for a taste on your 50th wedding anniversary.

When things slow down I will add more photos, recipes, and stories about farm life at Honeyrun. Which at this rate, might happen about mid-December. Thanks for your patience.

~Jayne

Wet.

2010-06-22T10:47:00.007-04:00

Anyone who has been living in Ohio this Spring will know that it has been, to say the least, very wet. Becky's field was hit with a lot of rain and it seemed that the tile was clogged, which created a mucky, wet disaster. She lost all of her roots crops... turnips, beets, carrots, radishes, and even her potatoes. She lost her lettuces, some peppers and tomatoes, and some onions. I haven't yet heard if her sweet potatoes were damaged, but I really hope not... they are my favorite! Here are a few pictures of the damage... and these were taken 2 days after the heavy rains and after the field had drained quite a bit.

Becky plans to till everything under once it is dry enough and replant. That is pretty much her only choice. To see pictures of what it looked like right after it rained, click here.

Trying to create a ditch to allow the water to flow out of the fields.....

Introducing.... Bee Pollen!

2010-06-07T12:34:00.006-04:00

We are offering a new product this year and I am so excited about it! Bee Pollen! So... what do you do with bee pollen, you ask? Eat it! Pollen itself is the male seed of flowers, required to fertilize the plant. It is used as a nutritional supplement that some people swear by. It contains an abundance of vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino-acids, and more. We have seen claims for using it for energy, weight loss, alleviating depression and migraine headaches, preventing cancer, etc...etc...etc... We won't make any of those claims here, but I must say I think this fresh pollen is quite tasty. Other times that I have tried pollen I thought it tasted like hay, in a chalky form that is kind of hard to swallow. The pollen we have been harvesting still has the chalky texture, but it has been surprisingly sweet and flavorful. It is great for adding to smoothies, sprinkling on salads, or just eating by the spoonful (followed by a drink of OJ).Here is a close-up picture where I tried to capture all the colors and textures of the different kinds of pollen. The bees gather pollen in little 'pollen sacs' on their legs. They use the pollen to feed to the baby bees. (Don't worry, we make sure there is plenty left for them).
It is harvested through the use of a pollen trap that goes on the bottom of the hive where the bees enter. See the unpainted wooden part where all the bees are trying to enter? As they enter through the pollen trap, the pollen is knocked off their legs and lands on a screen below. We empty the screen daily, and it is amazing to see the varieties of colors that accumulate throughout the day. You can tell the bees are gathering from different sources throughout the day, as the colors form in layers throughout the trap.
As I type, Isaac is out in the apiary pulling honey supers that will be extracted later this week. We are hoping to get a good harvest of Black Locust honey this week, which will be ready for market by Saturday. Maizy loves to help us "sort" honey as we bottle it. She is only 10 months old so honey is not a regular part of her diet yet... but we can tell she is counting down the days. She watches us eat honey with a look in her eyes that says, "I know that's something good... and I am going to get it." Until then... keep sorting those bottles Maizy. We will have a nice honey cake for you when you turn one!

A meal inspired by... Garlic Scapes

2010-06-04T17:27:00.006-04:00

Now let me preface this post with saying that I do not consider myself a great cook, but rather someone who may have a few ideas to share about how to cook up some of the more unusual types of produce that is out there. If you go to the farmer's market tomorrow, you may find Garlic Scapes for sale. These are the tips of the garlic plant that form a white swan shaped neck, which emerge right around early June in central Ohio. The garlic plant forms this scape to produce seeds, however, by cutting the scapes we can encourage the plant to put more energy in creating bigger garlic bulbs. Thus.... the edible scapes can be added to a delicious stir-fry, giving a touch of garlicy flavor without too much spice. Just dice them up like you would scallions, throw them in with your other favorite vegetables for stir-frying, there you have it! I used whatever veggies I could find in our fridge, and I also added some pre-cooked turkey I had in the freezer. To add some flavor, I combined some soy sauce with our own fall honey, sauteed it all together, and served it with rice.
This meal will only take 20 mins, unless you have one of these clinging to your leg the whole time... which makes it harder to move around the kitchen quickly.
Have any other creative ideas about how to cook with garlic scapes? Post it in the comments section!

What's blooming at Honeyrun...

2010-05-28T13:39:00.002-04:00

Gorgeous peonies from our neighbor Irma Fenstermaker... technically not blooming at Honeyrun... but just down the road. These flowers smelled amazing!Wow... is May almost over already? I try to post at least once a month, and I can't believe my time is almost up. I thought I would show you what is blooming around the farm, and save an update on what is growing at the produce farm for next month (read: I have been too busy to go over to Becky's fields to take pictures!). I finally got all my cut flowers in the ground, watered in... and now the weeding begins. We are also putting in a pumpkin/squash/gourd patch that needs planted, but there is still time for that, right?
This is a "Flamenco Red Hot Poker." Only one plant is blooming so far and I hope to eventually be able to sell them as cut flowers. Below is my sage and lavender, side by side in their splendor. The bees have been so happy with these two plants, and I am quite proud of their performance this year. Soon I will start snipping the lavender buds to make our herbal infused honey.
The picture below are... yes, you guessed it! Strawberries! But they are a special kind of strawberry: Alpine Yellow Wonder Strawberries which I started from seed from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. I was under the impression that they were annuals, but they came back stronger than ever. I enjoy looking at the dainty little flowers almost as much as I enjoy the fruit. I would describe the taste as 'tutti-frutti." It is a blast of flavor, in such a small, tiny, morsel that it is hardly even comparable to a regular red strawberry.
The berries are so tiny I have never actually picked a pint to bring into the house. I simply go out to the garden, find a few and eat them right there on the spot. It is tricky to know exactly when they are ripe because they stay yellow. Usually the insects know the perfect ripeness, because there are sometimes small indentations on the surface of the fruit. Those are the tastiest of all. If any of you readers out there want to try these, I would not mind digging up some of my plants and giving them away (you have to come to the farm or market to get them, though). Just send me an email or post a message.
Okay, so you can call this a rushed, uneventful post... but it is May after all and we aren't even done planting everything yet! This summer I plan to add a lot of great posts with recipes, beautiful pictures of Becky's produce, and information about the benefits and uses of Naturally Granulated Honey: a new product we are selling at the market this year. Come see us at market this weekend... it is going to be beautiful!

2010-04-28T07:35:00.003-04:00

Honeyrun Farm Open House! Sunday May 2, noon - 7 pm

We will be hosting our annual open house for those who want the first chance to see our selection of herbs, hanging baskets, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, as well as some annuals and living wreaths. This year we are giving away three door prizes and free homemade ice cream!

If you can't make it down to the farm, maybe you can catch us at a market in the upcoming weekends. We will be at Clintonville for the Sprout Swap on Saturday May 1st from 9-12, and at the Worthington Plant Fest on May 8th from 9 am - 4 pm. Come join us!

Ladybugs, Asparagus, and Earth Gathering!

2010-04-13T08:09:00.006-04:00

The ladybugs are here! We have been releasing ladybugs in the greenhouse every night to control the aphids that usually appear this time of year. The funny thing is, we haven't really seen any aphids yet... so now I am worrying that the ladybugs won't find enough to eat. Kind of weird to actually want aphids so the ladybugs don't starve. I'm sure they will just roam outside into nearby fields if they don't find any in the greenhouse.

Have you ever wondered what an asparagus plant looks like underground? I think they resemble octopus tentacles. These are the "purple passion" asparagus I planted on Saturday. They are supposed to be more tender than the popular Jersey Knight asparagus, and emerge purple, but turn green when cooked. I really enjoy the tiny, slim, tender asparagus so I decided to give them a try. They are planted 6-8 inches deep in trenches (I dug holes because I was too lazy to use a hoe to dig the trench), and covered with 2 inches of compost. Asparagus cannot be harvested the first year, and for only 2 weeks during the second year. So these little guys won't be enjoyed until 2012. Asparagus is only for the most patient gardeners.
We also received 25 Golden Buff chicks in the mail last week. Here is our nephew Owen pondering the meaning of life while watching the baby chicks play.
This weekend marks the kickoff of our market season! We will be in Chillicothe for the annual Earth Gathering event. It is at the beautiful Yoctangee Park - Pump House Center for the Arts from 11 am-7 pm. Great food, music, art for sale, and kids activities.... and the weather is supposed to be great! We will be selling honey, soap, as well as a few cold-hardy flowers and herbs. Come join us!

Springtime at Honeyrun Farm

2010-03-30T19:42:00.003-04:00

It's finally Spring! The winter has been fun and relaxing, and we are gearing up for another great season of honey, flowers, produce, soap, and farmer's markets. The bees are making their way out of the hives, trying to find pollen and nectar. I saw this little bee on a crocus last week, and Isaac mentioned that today he saw a lot of bees carrying the biggest pollen sacs on their legs that he had ever seen. Out of 80 hives, we have lost about 20 so far, which is a very good survival rate compared to other area beekeepers we have talked to.Becky and I started planting in the greenhouse on March 15th. The plants had one cold night as the heater quit working, but they survived and are growing well with this warm weather. As you can see we have some herbs (sage, rosemary, lemon verbena) started by plugs that are already coming along nicely. We are also trying some new organic controls for the aphids that usually turn up in our greenhouse. I am buying 5,000 ladybugs and releasing them inside the greenhouse, since they love to snack on aphids. We've heard other farmers have done this with great success.
Here's a new crop for 2010: Broccoli! I love the way broccoli sprouts look. And although I don't have a great camera or photography skills, I still attempted to do some justice to these beautiful little broccoli plants. Becky decided to grow these especially for her CSA customers. The rest of us might get some if we're lucky.
And here is one of the first little tomatoes that sprouted. So cute. It's hard to believe the bounty this one little plant will eventually provide. I am so ready for tomatoes and basil. Aren't you?
And finally... a picture of one of my little greenhouse "helpers." Maizy has done pretty well out in the greenhouse this year, keeping herself busy by crawling around the dirty ground, finding sticks to put in her mouth, and tugging at my legs. Mason likes to play with his dump truck on the dirt mound out back. It certainly has been a challenge this year with two mobile children... but the work is getting done and we are all enjoying it.
Our first market this year will be April 17 at Earth Gathering in Chillicothe. More info on this will follow!

Even Bees Get Cabin Fever

2010-02-13T09:32:00.005-05:00

Everyone asks us, "What do your bees do in the winter?" The answer is, not much at all. They just kind of huddle up and try to stay warm. The temperature inside a beehive can stay pretty warm , due to the heat generated by the bees. They crowd around the queen and try to keep her warm. They also eat the honey they have stored up (the honey we didn't steal from them).

Today I walked outside to get some pictures of the hives covered by snow. It was a beautiful sunny day, even though temperature was still only hovering above freezing. I did not expect to see these bees buzzing around outside their hives! Some of them seemed a bit confused about the snow. I guess bees can get cabin fever, too.

And here is a picture of our 'honey house' near completion. Isaac has been working hard this winter; building frames for future hives, preparing pollen patties to feed the bees, and working on the interior of the honey house. There is a lot left to do, as we still need to install all the extracting and bottling equipment that is currently in storage. Hopefully it will completed in time to use it this summer!

When you are married to a beekeeper, you never know what you might stumble upon when you open the door to your freezer. Just the other day, I found a dead bee. Apparently, Isaac was saving it to show to the bee club (it is a queen bee). The freezer seemed like the best place to preserve it, of course.

Becky has started planting today, and is seeding her leeks that will grow for several weeks in flats in the sunroom, until we fire up the heater in the greenhouse in mid-March. The smell of the potting mix really brought back memories of Spring. It gives us something to look forward to. But for now... I am going to enjoy the snow, just as our bees are doing.

Wittenberg Magazine features Honeyrun Farm

2010-01-05T08:45:00.002-05:00

Wittenberg University (our alma mater) has featured Honeyrun Farm in their December magazine! Find the link to the article and view a video about our farm here. We really appreciate the time that Wittenberg put in to this story and video! Isaac, Becky, and I all have fond memories of our time spent there, and although none of us really studied agriculture while at Witt, our respective areas of study helped prepare us in our roles at Honeyrun Farm.

Buy local this Christmas!

2009-12-02T13:08:00.003-05:00

Looking for some great local gifts this Holiday Season? Come check out the North Market Holiday Open House, Saturday 8-5 and Sunday 12-5. I will be there selling our pure honey, herbal infused honey, soap, lip balm, lotion sticks, homegrown herbal teas and spice mixes, beeswax candles, and handcrafted gourds. There are a lot of other great events going on including music and free samples from merchants. Come find me in the upper level of the market, with all the other great artisans.

Scheduled Holiday Open House Activities include:

Saturday, December 5

* 8 a.m. - 5 p.m., North Market merchants and Craft Extravaganza vendors open

* 8 a.m. - 12 p.m., Christmas tree sales on the farmers' market plaza with Seibel Trees and Rhoads Farm Market

* 9 a.m. - 11 a.m., holiday music by Willie Phoenix

* 9:30 a.m. - 2 p.m., roasted chestnuts and pretzels sold in the farmers' market plaza

* 11 a.m. - 1 p.m., holiday music by Suite Strings

* 1 - 3 p.m., holiday music by Miss Molly

* 1 - 3 p.m., Joyunspeakable, the living statue as the Nutcracker Toy Soldier

* 3 - 5 p.m., holiday music by the Eileen Howard Jazz Trio

For more info visit: http://www.northmarket.com/activities-and-events/2009-12-05/holiday-open-house-and-craft-extravaganza

Hope to see you there!

Honeyrun Farm CSA being offered in 2010

2009-10-31T09:13:00.005-04:00

Honeyrun Farm is now offering a CSA! For those of you who aren't familiar with the term CSA, it stands for Community Supported Agriculture. Participants are able to buy a share of the produce from the farm for an annual fee, and in exchange receive a weekly bag of fresh seasonal produce. This way, the consumer is able to share in the bounty of harvest, while also weathering the seasonal fluctuations of availability with the farmer. After receiving numerous requests to start a CSA, Becky has decided to offer this to the first 20 participants in 2010. Here is a quick outline of the program:

*Program runs June 12- October 23 (20 weeks)

*Pick up available at Pearl, Clintonville, and Worthington markets

*Cost for 20 weeks is $400, paid by February 1, 2010

Here are some examples of the vegetables that will be offered through the CSA:

Heirloom tomatoes

Bell, Specialty, and Hot Peppers

Fingerling Potatoes

Fresh Herbs

Winter & Summer Squash

Candy Onions

Root Vegetables - Carrots, Beets, Turnips, Radishes

Lettuce

Tomatilloes

Husk Cherries

Brussel Sprouts

Parsnips

Braising Greens

Asian Greens

Zucchini

Cucumber

Eggplant

Garlic

Beans

Questions about the CSA? Email Becky Barnes at honeyrun.produce@gmail.com.

Here's a picture from a 2008 Spring market... Mason was just 4 months old here! Time has flown by. It has been a fun and exciting journey.

2009-10-06T11:01:00.002-04:00

A long overdue post from Honeyrun Farm!

So I took a few months off after having a baby on August 4th, but I think that is a reasonable excuse, right? Markets are tapering off and the fall weather is upon us. But there is still one month left of great produce, and the honey is always in season. Becky will be at her regular markets through the end of October, and Isaac will be selling honey at the North Market for one more week, with honey and soap available at the farmstand throughout the year.

Here is an update on what Becky has to offer from her fall harvest, as well as storage crops. Greens... greens... greens! Did you know one of her customers actually refers to her as the "lettuce angel"? Pictured below is bronze arrow heirloom lettuce. This is available in a mix with black seeded simpson, red deer tongue, and the beautiful bright red ruffled "lolla rossa" (my personal favorite). I was so excited when I finally got to eat my first BLT with a homegrown tomato and homegrown lettuce. Next year we will have to raise some pigs to complete the local meal.
And this is another favorite at the markets; Arugula. It adds a nice spicy component to any salad, on top of pizza, in a stew, or with your favorite pasta dish.
Other greens that are growing at Honeyrun Farm include Tatsoi and Mizuna, which are asian greens that are great in salad, stir-fry, and soup. Swiss chard and Red Russian Kale round out the greens selection. Other crops available are brussel sprouts, beets, turnips, carrots, sweet potatoes (as big as your head), pie pumpkins, scorzonera (get to the market early for this... it's going quickly!), and parsnips. For those of you that have never visited the farm, pictured below you can see the layout of the crops, taken from the top of a grain bin in early July. If you would like to visit the farm in person, just send us an email and we can arrange a visit.

2009-07-15T10:10:00.003-04:00

Finally it has rained on Honeyrun Farm! We have had a pretty dry summer, and luckily on Saturday we finally received about 2 inches. We've been so busy we haven't had much time to publish to the blog. Here is Becky's field... showing the sweet potatoes, onions, hot peppers, and basil and eggplant under the blanket of white floating row cover, which keeps the bugs out, but lets light and rain in. The sweet corn has also begun to mature, along with a handful of red tomatoes. We need some of that traditional hot July weather to help them turn bright red! Becky has recently joined a new market in Dublin on Wednesdays from 4:00-8:00. Today she will be selling some delicious Ambrosia sweet corn, along with an assortment of purple and green bell peppers, zucchini, onions, carrots... she has such a wide assortment she can hardly find room for everything on the table!
Gretel from Sunny Meadows Flower Farm came to help make soap last week, and toured the farm with Becky to talk about new ideas and the progress of the crops. The lack of rain has made the Sunflowers shorter than normal, but they are still blooming beautifully!
On another note, Isaac has started to prepare the ground for the building of our new 'honey house.' This will be a new location for us to extract and bottle honey, as well as make soap and other honey products. We have been planning this for quite some time, and it is hard to believe that we are actually beginning to break ground.
A Columbus photographer, Catherine Murray, visited the farm this week to take some photos. Here is a beautiful shot she took of a frame of honeybees, including the queen near the bottom edge of the picture. It is often hard to find the queen, so we were really glad she was able to shoot this photo! Notice the queen's enlarged abdomen, as compared to the rest of the bees. This allows her to lay the 1,000-1,500 eggs she produces each day during this time of year.
And finally... our son Mason as he enjoys the Spring Black Locust Honey. It is such a light, delicate flavor... our family's favorite of all the honey we produce. We are currently selling it at the North Market on Saturdays, but plan to keep one bucket reserved for our customers at the Lithopolis Honeyfest, which will be on Sept. 12th. Hopefully Mason can restrain himself from eating too much of it before the festival.
photo credit: Courtney Hergesheimer

Apple Tree Swarm

2009-06-14T08:25:00.003-04:00

The bees are still swarming! Here is a video of a swarm that landed in our apple tree yesterday. I was out in the garden, picking the Calendula flowers that we use to make our soap, when I heard a lot of buzzing in the air. Sure enough.... thousands of bees were abuzz in the air... just starting to land on the tree branch. You can hear the buzzing in the video if you listen closely.

The Baby Goats are here!

2009-06-01T21:17:00.002-04:00

The baby goats have finally arrived! Our goat Gilly had two baby boys 2 weeks ago. They are doing great, and love running around, chasing each other. Our goat Honey is still pregnant, but we think she might go into labor today. It is a great time to come to visit the farm to see the babies, the bees, and Becky's produce as it is really beginning to take off. This past weekend she had beautiful greens for sale at Worthington and Clintonville... Arugula, Tatsoi, Red Choi, and a varietal Lettuce Mix. This coming weekend we will be back at the North Market as well. Hope to see you at a market this week!

Here is a short clip of the baby goats as they are hanging out on their "playground." Their names are Oscar (black) and Oliver (brown).

Spring Planting and Swarm Season

2009-05-13T18:32:00.011-04:00

Swarm season is upon us! We have caught 6 swarms so far this year, and hope for many more. Here is a picture of one of our hives as it is getting ready to swarm. Usually when a hive is ready to swarm they will cluster on the front of their box, and soon you will start to notice hundreds... maybe thousands of bees buzzing through the air in an excited frenzy. This hive came to us last year as a swarm... they had made their home in this duck box. Since it was late in the season, we decided not to transfer them to a new hive, but to let them stay in the duck box, which Isaac fixed up on this tree next to our shop. Obviously they are a bit crowded in such small quarters, and are throwing out a swarm to try to make room for themselves.

The sweet corn has been planted! Justin, Adam, and Wesley Barnes helped get everything set up, and Justin did the planting. It is a great help that we have family so willing to loan equipment, time, and expertise on big jobs such as this.

From working in the greenhouse, to keeping the plants healthy and watered, selling plants on the weekends, trying to get seeds and transplants into the ground as the weather allows... I can't believe we're almost half way through May! Below is a picture from our Greenhouse Open House a few weeks ago.

Becky has been very busy planting, although the weather has not always been cooperative. Here is a picture of her carharts and shoes after she planted onions in the rain. Upon first glance I couldn't really tell that those were her shoes, but under the layer of muck, they really are there.

Fellow friend and farmer Kristen Baughman came to help plant potatoes, asparagus, and berries. Here is a picture of her driving the tractor, while Becky prepares the potato planter. Adam from Wayward Seed Farm loaned us this implement, which was extremely helpful and made planting potatoes so much quicker. It was really fun to watch. Becky fed the potatoes into the hopper while Kristen drove. Now the only overwhelming thought is digging the potatoes when they are ready! I'm sure they make a machine for that, but not sure if we know anyone who wants to loan it out.

If you are headed out in the Columbus area this weekend, come check out our markets! I will be selling honey, beeswax candles, plants, flowers, and more at the first ever Eco Chic Craftacular, located at the Whetstone Community Center in Clintonville on Saturday and Sunday. Becky will be up in Worthington for the farmer's market, and she has some beautiful Easter Egg radishes, French Breakfast Radishes, and possibly some Arugula (maybe for those first few lucky customers). We hope to see you there!

Upcoming Markets: Where to Find Us this Spring

2009-04-15T08:30:00.005-04:00

We have a very busy Spring market schedule! This is where you can find us and our plants, honey, soaps, spring greens, etc over the next 5 weeks:

Saturday, April 25: Worthington Winter Market, 10-1, Griswold Sr.Center

Saturday, May 2: Clintonville Sprout Market, The North Market

Sunday, May 3: Powell Street Fair (9-5), Greenhouse Open House on our farm (12-dusk)

Saturday, May 9: Plant Fest (Worthington Historic District 9-4), The North Market

Saturday, May 16: Columbus Craftacular 10-6 (3923 N. High, Whetstone Comm.Center), Clintonville Urban Farmer's Market (1934 N.4th St), Worthington Farmer's Market

Sunday, May 17: Columbus Craftacular 12-5 (www.columbuscraftacular.com)

Tuesday, May 19: Pearl Market, downtown Columbus

We hope to see you at one of these markets!

Springtime at Honeyrun Farm

2009-04-14T08:18:00.003-04:00

Well, it's definitely springtime in Ohio! Rain.. rain... and more rain... with a few beautiful days in between. Becky has planted a lot of root vegetables, lettuce, greens, and peas, and I have gotten some potatoes and onions in the ground. It is exciting to see the freshly tilled soil (weed free at the moment), and to think of the possibilities to come. Blackberries, raspberries, black raspberries, and asparagus will be planted within the next week (weather permitting). Although we won't be able to harvest any of those until next year, it gives us a lot to look forward to.

Our 13 month old Mason has been keeping busy, helping out in the greenhouse and wandering into the nearby wheat field while I work on seeding and transplanting. His favorite chore is filling pots with soil, although he is not the most efficient worker as he prefers to do this one fistful at a time. In the greenhouse, we have onion transplants that are ready to be put out in the field... as soon as it gets dry enough to plant. This year we be selling a wide variety of potted plants from the greenhouse: heirloom tomatoes, culinary and medicinal herbs, perennials, annual bedding plants, hanging baskets, mixed herb planters, and even some "living" wreaths. We will be posting market dates and locations for April and May soon, and you are always welcome to stop by the farm and check out what is growing!
I decided to include a picture of the bees, so they would not feel left out. We heard them out buzzing when the Willow trees were putting out pollen. It is an amazing sound to walk out of the house and hear thousands of honeybees going to work, gathering tiny little grains of pollen to carry back to the hive.. trip after trip... all day long. We all could learn a little about work ethic from watching the bees.
On another note, we have some new Golden Buff chickens that are amazing layers! We are getting about 18 eggs a day, and have plenty to sell at the farmstand to our friends and neighbors. We will be getting 15 Plymouth Rock chickens at the beginning of the summer, and will be selling the eggs at the North Market on Saturdays. Here is a picture of the chicken coop that Isaac built last fall. He used the windows from his Grandmother Barnes' old brick house that was destroyed in a fire years back. I don't know of any other chickens who have it this nice... what a view.
Our goats, Gilly and Honey are both pregnant and due in about 2 months. Honey, who has always looked pregnant, appears that she may be having twins or triplets. Gilly, who tries her best to compete with Honey for food, is actually putting on some weight and developing an udder. We cannot wait for the baby goats to arrive... I believe they are the cutest farm animal around. Here is a picture of Gilly from last fall. She's always looking for someone to pick on.
Bottom Three Photo credits: Kenneth Lilly

Soapmaking 101

2009-03-04T17:36:00.010-05:00

Well, here is it: a post about how we make our handcrafted cold-processed soap. We get so many questions about how our soap is made I thought it would be fun to take pictures during the process and write a little tutorial on how soap is made - the old-fashioned way. Yesterday I made four batches - Oat and Wheat Bran, Cedarwood and Cornmeal, Raspberry, and Cinnamon Spice. These pictures primarily show the Oat and Wheat Bran Soap.
First I weigh out the oils using a digital scale. We use palm oil, coconut oil, soybean oil, castor oil, and olive oil for special recipes. The oils are mostly solid so we have to melt them on the stovetop. We add blocks of beeswax during this time, since beeswax helps create a hard, long-lasting bar of soap. The beeswax is from our own beehives - (how I clean it and get it into these little bars is another post - for another day).
Here is a picture of what the oils and beeswax look like when they are almost completely melted. At this point we take it off the stove and use a kitchen thermometer to check the temperature. We let it sit and cool until it is about 100 deg. F.

The next step involves sodium hydroxide (the fancy term for lye). Real lye is made from wood ash, and this is what was used in the old days. We buy our sodium hydoxide in pelleted form, and it is caustic so you have to wear rubber gloves and goggles when handling it. I didn't take any pictures during this step because I couldn't hold the camera and do the step at the same time. Basically what I did was measure the lye on a digital scale, and then measure the distilled water in a pitcher on the same scale. It is very important to follow recipes and use a good scale to ensure the soap will come out like you want it to. Too much lye can create a harsh, abrasive bar of soap.
I slowly added the lye to the water and stirred (I do this outside - to prevent inhaling the fumes). This is a picture of the water after I added the lye. The chemical reaction causes it to heat up very quickly, so we leave it outside to cool. We also wait until it reaches 100 deg F so we can mix it with the oils.
Once both the oils and the lye/water mixture have reached 100 deg F it is time to mix them together! This is a picture of what the mixture looks like right after I added the lye. Now the stirring begins. When we first started making soap we stirred it all by hand, and it took us HOURS of stirring to get it completed. Finally, we wised up and bought an electric hand mixer, which saves us tons of time and makes beautifully blended soap.
Here I am mixing with the blender. I am blending until the soap reaches "trace" which is when it gets to a pudding/custard consistency and you can see a trace of soap on the top of the mixture when you stir it. At "trace" we can begin adding the fun ingredients - exfoliants, essential oils, and honey.

Here I am adding honey to the soap. Honey is great for it's anti-bacterial and moisturizing properties, and also adds a hint of sweetness to the scent. Luckily as beekeepers we have honey in abundant supply.
Here is a picture of the exfoliants I am adding to the Oat and Wheat Bran soap - all pre-measured with the scale. Pictured here are Oat Bran, Wheat Bran, and Whole Oats that I have turned into a fine powder with my food processor.
Here I am adding the exfoliants.
The next step is to pour it into the molds, which I have lined with parchment paper. I am lucky enough to have a husband handy enough to make all of our wooden molds and soap cutters. They work great! This is the final step for the evening. After the soap has been poured, I put another sheet of parchment paper on top, cover it with the wooden lid, and let it sit and harden overnight. Twenty-four hours later I can take it out of the mold and cut it into bars.
This is what the block of Oat and Wheat Bran looks like the next day. That is one big bar of soap! We cut these blocks into two long slabs (pictured below) using a soap cutter made from a guitar string.
Next we cut these slabs into individual bars using another soap cutter that Becky made (also with a guitar string). Pictured below are individual bars of soap as they are curing. They must sit and harden for four weeks to ensure that the bars have completely saponified. This means that all the lye has combined with the oils to create soap - no more active lye is present in a fully cured bar.

Aren't they beautiful? The possibilities are endless when it comes to creating scents. Have any ideas of scents or exfoliants you would like to try? Post a comment or send us an email! We would love to hear your ideas.

Winter Greenhouse Lettuce

2009-02-25T22:46:00.001-05:00

The Lettuce is growing! It seems the warmer weather the past few days has helped the lettuce put on a few more inches... although it still seems painfully small compared to the beautiful Spring greens we grow around here. We have not been heating our greenhouse this winter, but nevertheless the lettuce continues to survive. We will be selling it this weekend at the Worthington Winter Market, which we attend every other Saturday (2nd and 4th Saturdays Jan-April). You can find us there between 10:00-1:00, at the Griswold Senior Center at 777 N. High Street in Worthington. We also will be selling our Pure, Raw Honey (extracted last summer) and our handcrafted soaps.

We will be firing up the heat in the greenhouse next week so that we can start our herbs, bedding plants, onion sets, and a few other odds and ends, so hopefully this lettuce will take off. We can't wait till Spring!

A Bit about Honey Extraction

2009-02-25T21:01:00.007-05:00

I thought I would write a little about honey extraction, since a lot of our friends and customers have asked us how we get the honey from the hive to the bottle. First, Isaac gathers the full supers from the bee yard. A super is the top box on a beehive, and contains no brood (baby bees) since the queen cannot get to the top of the hive to lay eggs.

Next, the frames are taken from the hive and the top layer of wax is scraped off using a fine comb or a heated knife. This allows the honey to come out of the capped off comb when it gets spun inside the extractor.
The final step is to place the frames upright into the extractor, and Isaac spins a crank on the top of the machine, allowing the centripetal force to sling the honey out of the comb. As the honey hits the sides of the machine it will drip down and flow out of the spout, into a large basin. We use a wide mesh screen to filter out the beeswax, propolis, and dead bees. What is left is pure, raw honey... straight into the bottle... direct from flower to you!

Photo Credits: Courtney Hergesheimer, Columbus Dispatch

Reflections from Beekeeping in 2008

2009-02-25T20:30:00.005-05:00

Looking back on this past year of beekeeping, it seemed to be a successful year! We had a wonderful Spring bloom with the Black Locust trees providing abundant nectar for the delicate light honey we always anticipate. We aren't always able to extract Spring honey, so we considered ourselves very fortunate to have enough to "steal" from the bees. The dry mid-summer allowed the bees to gather enough clover and Canadian thistle to keep them happy and well-fed, and to fill up many of the comb honey boxes that many of our customers anxiously await. Sadly, we did not get to extract honey in the fall, as the bees did not make enough for us to take the Goldenrod honey away from them. However, we hope that leaving it for them to eat will allow them to survive this harsh winter!