Local Farm Series: Honeyrun Farm
We had a fun peaceful day learning about honey extraction and candle making!
We recently spent some time at Honeyrun Farms in Williamsport, Ohio, learning all about honey extraction and beeswax candle making! Since 2011, Jayne and her husband Isaac have been producing pure, raw seasonal and varietal honey. What started out as a Christmas gift of a beehive box has turned into a large scale farming operation with over 600 beehives. After years of expansion, their offerings have grown to include herbal infused honey, bee pollen, honeycomb, handcrafted soaps, lotion bars, and beeswax candles. They strive to produce environmentally mindful goods while ensuring the health and survival of their honeybees. All of their products are chemical-free.
“Raw” means the honey has been minimally heated. This is important as it retains the enzymes, trace vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, antibacterial properties, and natural taste and aroma of the honey. Their creamed honey is never heated and is mixed in a mixer. Their naturally granulated honey is never heated and instead is allowed to become granulated and then mixed with a little bit of honey. Interestingly, bees can’t be kept near the production facility because they will be attracted to the scent of the honey, so they work with landowners throughout the county and put hives on their farms in exchange for honey. This is how they are able to offer different varieties of honey, like black locust, buckwheat, and tulip poplar.
They extract their honey three times during the year: Late Spring, Mid-Summer, and in the Fall. This allows for seasonal variations in the color and taste of the honey, bringing out distinct floral flavors and aromas that are representative of Central Ohio wildflowers. Each season brings a different type of honey as the nectar flow changes. Honeycombs are harvested from the beehive boxes and put through an extractor to get the honey out of the combs. The first step is “uncapping” – heating the small layer of wax that keeps the honey in. The uncapped honeycombs are sent down a conveyor and spun at a high speed. The honey then gets pumped into a tank to be heated at a low heat and stored in barrels. The empty honeycombs get put back into the beehive boxes. The product leftover from extraction is called “capping” which is beeswax and organic material that is melted down and filtered to become pure golden beeswax.
The story of how Honeyrun Farm came to be is somewhat happenstance and charming. After Isaac expressed interest in beekeeping, Jayne got him a beehive box for Christmas. He didn’t recall ever expressing interest in beekeeping, but nonetheless, he fell in love with the hobby. They grew the business slowly on the side and in 2011 they decided to sink or swim. With a background in rural sociology, Jayne’s interest in sustainable agriculture came from working on a farm in Missoula, Montana, where she was inspired by their strong local food system and supportive farmers market. It was at this farm where she met an influencial professor, whom she credits giving her the courage to take a leap of faith and focus on the farm full-time.
We loved hearing her talk about the joy she feels when making candles early in the morning while watching the sunrise, and we are proud to sell those candles in our store! They are beautiful, smell amazing, and are the perfect way to brighten someone’s day. Stop by and check them out yourself and be sure to grab some of their honey products too!
Photography and Content Copyright © Avery Snyder