A while back, we added something new to our farm store. We brought in chicken from another farmer and offered it for sale. This allowed our customers to buy beef, pork, and chicken all in one stop and kept them from having to drive to a different farm, or Whole Foods, or wherever. The response has been overwhelmingly positive from our customers and they appreciate that we offer a one stop protein stop.
Since chicken has gone over so well, I’ve looked at some other items that might work for our customers. We get inquiries all the time for when we will be producing honey from our bees. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to get enough production to supply anyone besides our own family. With the continued lack of production, I began looking for someone to come in and manage the bees for me and expand the operation. Yesterday I got a handshake deal with one of my great friend’s wife who has become quite the beekeeper (way better than me). She is going to be taking over my hives, and bringing new hives to the farm and maintaining them for me. I’ll then buy the honey from her and have it for sale in our store. This all sounds very future tense, but she already has gallons of honey available from her own hives which are just down the road. She will be bottling honey soon and bringing it over labeled and ready to sell. So we WILL HAVE HONEY in a few weeks. For all of you who have been waiting for years, it’s almost here!
In addition to honey, she also buys our lard and has been making soap. The soaps are much prettier than mine ever were and they do a great job.
So in addition to having honey in stock, we’ll also have real soap for sale (you do know the difference between real soap and fake soap, right?) around the same time so look for new products next time you come by for your meat fix.
Now I have to go build shelves.