GOODHUE, Minn. — Honeybees buzz around a stack of hives in the corner of the yard at the Hinsch family’s dairy. Not far away, a silo and forage bunker complete the backyard farm scene.
Scott Hinsch is a dairy farmer alongside his son, Chase, his brother, Chad, and his family and their employees. Hinsch Dairy has 700 cows.
“It is a phenomenally interesting hobby,” Scott said.
Originally, beekeeping was Scott’s hobby, but a progressing allergy to bees forced Scott to step back from most aspects about six years ago. He still helps on honey extraction day and occasionally interacts with the bees. Seth, his son, is now the beekeeper.
This year, the Hinsches have four hives, which is typical. They have had as few as three and as many as seven. Four hives is not overwhelming, Seth said, and that many hives is enough to provide honey even if some do not perform well.
Because of disease problems with varroa mites, the Hinsches do not overwinter their hives. Each spring, they buy package bees. Each 2-pound package contains a queen bee and approximately 7,000 worker bees.
The amount of honey harvested depends on whether the bees receive frames in their hive with honeycomb already established from previous years or if they have to start from scratch with new frames.
Seth started helping his dad with the bees when he was 6 or 7.
“I always volunteered to come help,” Seth said. “I always went no matter what.”
Seth said the official beekeeping garb was farm clothes, a few extra sweatshirts and a veil. He remembers carefully shedding and shaking out his clothing layers in the garage in hopes of making it to the house unscathed.
Today, Seth works for Dairy Farmers of America Inc. with the goal of becoming a production supervisor.
The bees have helped Seth grow as a person. He said they have helped him to be relaxed and to acclimate to stress. He also said the bees provide ready conversation topics when talking with others.
“Working with the bees, it’s going against something that your body naturally (says) … ‘Get away from,’” Seth said. “All that buzzing. It’s overcoming a little bit out of that (which builds … courage or self-respect, and self-esteem.”
Seth said each year he has fresh stress as he works with the bees.
“It’s that calming down and stepping towards something,” Seth said. “A facing your fear.”
Scott was introduced to beekeeping in his mid-20s when he took a short course through the University of Minnesota.
After having them for a few years, Scott paused beekeeping until his kids started 4-H. Then, he used the bees to educate about finances.
“I decided it was easier … to teach the kids how much they made or lost out of a box of bees than it was on a big dairy operation,” Scott said, “It’s more understandable when they harvest the honey, put it in jars and sell it or give it away.”
While Seth was growing up, the Hinsches looked at the hives every two weeks though this would vary by several days if dairy chores went long or machinery broke.
One of Scott’s favorite memories was his children having friends out for honey honey-extracting day.
“They take some of the (honey) drippings and (they) can’t really get enough of it,” Scott said. “It’s just fun. Then, they would help with the bottling and we just talked about bees and how good they are for you.”
Extraction day has often been a celebration. Scott said in the past, anywhere from three to around 45 people came to help. Scott said he enjoys sharing educational information about the bees.
This year, Seth, his fiancée, Paige Holst, and Scott did the extracting.
Harvesting the honey starts by taking frames with capped honey from the hives. Each hive is left with 100 pounds of honey for overwintering. To help access the hives, they gently use a leaf blower to remove the bees.
“They’re used to wind,” Scott said. “It doesn’t injure them.”
Once the frames are removed, they cut the wax cap off the combs and put them in a centrifugal extractor. Then, the honey is filtered through a cheesecloth and bottled.
The Hinsches try to keep the bees out of their shed while extracting.
“Bees can smell honey, and if there is a hole … they’re coming in to get it,” Scott said. “They’re not mad at you, but they’re just there to not waste any of it because it takes so much energy to make.”
After harvest, they open up the shed and set their equipment and the empty honeycomb outside for the bees to retrieve missed honey.
“The bees will clean it up to where there’s not even anything sticky on it,” Scott said. “They don’t waste anything.”
The Hinsches produce honey for their own use as well as making for gifts and sale. Scott said eating honey is his favorite part of raising bees. Scott said Seth describes him as their “biggest non-paying customer.”
In addition to eating the honey, Seth makes honey mead.
“It’s very, very sweet,” Scott said. “Some of it really packs a punch. You wouldn’t want to have too many glasses of it and think you’re going to drive.”
Looking to the future, Seth said he wants to continue raising bees, perhaps with a few years off. He wants to raise bees with his children and give them the experience he had.
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