Downtown Salina beekeepers provide honey, insight and education to Salina community

As Ninth Street is one of the busiest streets in Salina, there's a good chance drivers in the center of town have seen and wondered about a yellow sign with the words Local Honey in front.

The people behind AJ Honey Farms, husband and wife Allen and Judy Stovall, have built a business that not only offers locally-produced raw honey but also one that is helping others learn about bees and beekeeping.

This is a prime time for local keepers as well, with the demand for honey rising and the number of keepers very low.

"Our country currently...has about 25% to 30% of the beekeepers it needs," Allen said. "The market is really wide open for this field."

Allen Stovall got started in the beekeeping business about five years ago. He was working at the Pilot Travel Center on North Ninth Street and would see trucks carrying up to 400 hives of bees.

"There are trucks that come from Texas and head up to North Dakota to pollinate the canola fields," Allen Stovall said.

He said as the trucks would be waiting in the heat of summer nights, the bees would come out of the hives and "beard" off the back of the truck.

"The driver wants to get going before daylight comes, because they'll start flying," Allen Stovall said. "He pulls forward, the beard hits the ground and he leaves."

This causes bees to stick around the truck stop, as their hives drive away, so Allen decided he would put traps out to try and catch these stragglers.

"They're scented pheromone traps," Allen Stovall said. "I set them out there, the bees pile in and I bring them home."

The couple started with a few hives at home at that time and have grown to love the process.

"Allen wanted to just have a few hives in the backyard and see what was going to happen," Judy Stovall said. "As we got into it, we got more excited."

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Learning from other beekeepers

The couple said during the first couple of years, things didn't go perfectly, but they learned a lot along the way.

"Ask anybody who's been a beekeeper...their first two or three years is nothing but learning and making mistakes," Allen said.

Some of those mistakes included going out and tending the bees without the right clothing, something Allen Stovall is quick to point out is not a smart idea for beginners.

"You'll see a lot of videos, where people go out, open up a hive and not have any protection," Allen Stovall said. "Nobody should think that that's them. Under no circumstance should you open a hive without at least face protection. If you get stung in the eye, you're blind for the rest of your life."

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The benefits of locally-made honey

The Stovalls said even though it may be more expensive than the mass-produced honey found on grocery store shelves, there are plenty of reasons to buy honey locally, including keeping that profit at a local level, but also so people know what they are getting is what they are expecting.

"The honey that you're getting on the shelf from (places like) China, Argentina or Ukraine, it's adulterated with corn syrup," Allen Stovall said. "It's not true, pure honey a lot of the time."

Judy Stovall said honey has qualities to it that are beneficial to health, like helping people with colds, coughs and allergies.

"There was a rash of people getting sick at (my) work," Judy said.

She said her co-workers heard of these benefits and knew that she has access to honey, so she brought some to them.

"One of them bought a little jar, two days later his cough was gone and he's feeling 100% better," Judy said.

It's also a great way to sweeten things. Judy Stovall said she makes pumpkin pies every year. This year she baked them with honey instead of sugar.

"There's so many things you can do with honey that people don't realize," Judy Stovall said.

Allen Stovall said honey is also in so many things that people eat or use often, like granola bars, cough drops and many sauces.

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Beekeepers working with and educating the Salina community

Selling honey isn't the only thing that AJ Honey Farms offers to the Salina community. As someone who has learned from others about beekeeping, Allen Stovall wants to make sure others have the opportunity to learn as well.

"I went out to Manhattan and met some folks out there that are beekeepers that took me under their wing," Allen Stovall said.

He's also taken some beekeeping courses through the University of Montana.

"They have excellent beekeeping courses out there," Allen Stovall said. "They're great and really there to help you know whatever you need to learn."

Now, Allen Stovall is taking the skills he's learned in these courses as well as what he has learned when he is out with the bees and around the hives.

"Hands-on training is your best training," Allen Stovall said.

Because of Stovall's interest in teaching, AJ Honey Farms offers training to anyone who might be interested.

"You are welcome to go out with me and I will teach you whatever you want to know about (bees)," Allen Stovall said.

The Stovalls treat this free training and education as a service to the community.

"We will not charge people to teach them," Allen Stovall said. "I feel that information should be given freely."

He also doesn't care what people do with the information he gives, whether they use it to become a backyard beekeeper or venture out and become a large farm themselves.

"If I'm teaching you and you decide to go and be my competitor, so be it," Allen said. "I'm good with that. We need you here...and if it's a passion for you, we need you doing this."

Another way the Stovalls help the local community is by working with the Land Institute. AJ Honey Farms currently has about 30 hives out at the Land Institute that will feed on acres of flowers until July when a perennial called silflower will begin to grow.

"That's like a sunflower that grows about six feet tall and the bees just go crazy on it," Allen Stovall said.

This year, AJ Honey Farms is going to take 10 hives that are near the silflowers and then look at another 10 hives that don't have access to the silflowers and see how much each of them produce honey. The information about the production will be given to the Land Institute to use for research.

"It could be a good factor for beekeepers and farmers alike, because it really is a diverse plant," Allen said. "It's very healthy for cattle to eat and very healthy for the environment and pollinators."

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Find out more information or buy honey from AJ Honey Farms

While AJ Honey Farms is getting more of a presence online, including a current Facebook page and a website to come in the future, right now the best way to find out about the company is by calling them on the number seen on the yellow sign on Ninth Street or on the bottles they sell, 785-342-8694.

Honey prices range from small, two-ounce bottles that are $3 up to two-pound bottles for $19. The Stovalls said people can pick them up directly from them at their house or they will deliver them locally for free.

Additionally, AJ Farms honey is available for sale at Prairieland Market, Bravo Sliders and Pettle's Flowers.

Allen Stovall said spring is when bee swarms are often found, and if people know of any that need to be taken care of in the Salina and Saline County area, AJ Honey Farms will come out to help catch the swarm and give you a free one-pound bottle of honey with it. Just give them a call or message them on Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Salina Journal: Salina beekeepers sell local honey, share knowledge with community