|
By Rachel Kytonen
rachel.kytonen@ecm-inc.com
Click to see Photo Gallery
The honey bee business is all the buzz in the Robert Schulz family.
Schulz, a 1980 graduate of Cambridge High School, became familiar with bees in the fourth-grade while doing a school report.
He did another report on bees in the fifth-grade, and became hooked.
During his sophomore year in high school he started working in the honey bee business and worked for a gentleman in Braham who had 1,500 hives on his property.
He continued in the honey bee business for another five to six years before relocating.
Three years ago, Schulz asked his sons, Jake and Ryan, if they’d be interested in purchasing bees and hives and tending to them on their grandparents lake home in Cambridge and they were.
The first season, Jake, 9, and Ryan, 6, tended to two hives on Gary and Diane Schulz’ property east of Cambridge, and extracted over 200 pounds of honey.  Jake and Ryan Schulz
The second season they tended to six hives and extracted 308 pounds of honey, and this past season, they tended to five hives and extracted over 408 pounds of honey.
“This year’s honey was the best honey we’ve had,” Jake said. “We’ve eaten six pounds of honey in one month. We’ve put it on sandwiches, toast, pizza crust, and sometimes we just pour it directly into our mouths.”
The Schulz family did all the extracting and packaging of the honey over Labor Day weekend.
Extracting and packaging the honey is typically a 12-hour process. This past season, the family started around noon and finished around 11 p.m.
“We do a lot of the work because it is our business,” Jake said. “We tend the bees, we take the honeycomb off the hives, we extract the honey from the comb and we label the bottles.”
The Schulz’ packaged order of bees usually arrives around mid-April. They check the bees every one to two weeks and feed them until there is enough dandelions blooming and the bees can find their own food.
Ryan said the honey is made around mid-June and the first part of August.
Jake and Ryan basically earn an entire year’s worth of spending money by selling their honey. A portion of their spending money is put into a saving’s account; another portion is given to charity and the rest is for them to use as they wish.
“Selling honey has really taught them about responsibility, talking in front of people, and enhanced their math skills,” Schulz said. “We talk about selling strategies and customer service.”
Schulz still goes out with his sons when they are selling around the neighborhood, but as they get older he feels they will be able to go out on their own.
Ryan added, “Our honey is way better than any honey you can buy from the store,” he said with a smile, mentioning his mom even threw away all the store honey in their home after trying their home-made honey.
Jake & Ryan’s Hillside Honey can be reached at 952-401-0169 or via email at jrhillsidehoney@mchsi.com.
They have two pound and three pound jars left, as well as the teddy bears, and delivery arrangements can be made. The honey typically sells out by November.
“I like extracting; that’s the fun part,” Jake said. “Now that I’m older I can do more jobs which I enjoy.”
Comments () |
|
|
|
|
|
