Buzz
Off
Bees
6588 N 575 E, Franklin, IN 46131
Locally harvested Honey
Locally harvested Honey
Harvesting
When frames in the super of a hive are filled and capped with wax, we spend a day pulling those frames. The frames are placed into an electric extractor that holds 4 frames at once. We spin the honey out of the comb for a few minutes on each side of the frame. The honey passes through a double mesh filter before going into a 5 gallon food grade bucket. We store it there until it's time to bottle the honey.
Bottling
We like to bottle our honey in a licensed kitchen. We are currently bottling at our local church kitchen. It has several sinks so we can keep everything clean and sanitary. The food grade bucket has a spout on it to make for easy pouring. Most of the time we pour through another small strainer just to be sure all the "extra" materials are absent. We bottle quart jars, 16 oz. jars and 8 oz. jars.
Storing and Selling
We purchase our bottles through Blue Sky Beekeeping Company. We have narrowed down our sales to three types of sales. An 8 oz. bottle with a squeeze top, a 16 oz. bottle with a squeeze top and a 32 oz. quart glass ball jar. We store these in a warm environment to keep them from crystalizing. If they do crystalize you may place the bottle in warm water to reliquify.
Home office spotlight
All in the Family
All in the Family
In 2019, Steve Pryor asked for a beehive on a whim. That started our wonderful journey into beekeeping. That first year was a huge learning experience. That one hive grew to three the next year and we were able to harvest honey for the very first time. Lilly started showing an interest in the beekeeping part of the process and Sydney and Sherry helped with the harvesting.
Between 2020-2021 the business grew to about 30 hives. We found out that this was a tremendous amount of work and time. In 2022 we narrowed the apiary down to 20 hives. Indiana winters can be tough so this year we have about 10 hives. This is very manageable and we hope to have a nice harvest.
We love to sell honey to friends and family. We have also sold our honey and other products at Kelsay Farms, craft fairs and local farmers markets.
Beekeeping Community
Indy Southside Beekeepers
Indy Southside Beekeepers
Steve works with the local beekeepers club. They have a monthly meeting in Wanamaker, IN on the first Tuesday of each month at 7:00 pm. These are informative meetings where beekeepers help one another keep their hives healthy as well as share tips of how to grow the beekeeping community. Here is the FB link for the club. Facebook Page
Indiana Honey Queen 2022 and National FFa SAE
Indiana Honey Queen 2022 and National FFa SAE
Indiana Honey Queen 2022
Lilly was elected the 2022 Honey Queen of Indiana. This allowed her to share her love and knowledge of all things bees with children and families all around Indiana. She spent most of the Indiana State Fair making candles and selling honey. She went to schools around the state and read to them about bees as well as did demonstrations on how to care for bees.
FFA National Qualifier
Where to go on your first date
Specialty Animal Production includes all sorts of animals. Bees are included in this category. When Miss Goeb from the FFA Whiteland Chapter spoke with Lilly about entering the bee production into the competition, little did we know that she would make it all the way to the STAR level of the National Convention.
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Served Fresh By
Steve Pryor and Family
snake647@gmail.com
317-412-1674
