Home of the honey bees

RAYMOND — The hum of honeybees can be heard out on the rural county roads of Kandiyohi County and neighboring Chippewa County, where Jerry and Pam Makela tend to their honeybees. The Makelas currently partner with five local landowners, who, in exchange for a pound of honey per hive, let the Makelas care for their colony of bees on their Conservation Reserve Program land.

The Makelas manage about 5 million honeybees today and sell local honey and other products they make using their honey.

“We harvest about 50 pounds of honey per hive,” Jerry said. “We sell what we produce at our local farmers market, and we also sell our products in five different local retail locations.”

Jerry and Pam tend to their apiaries with the help of their three granddaughters. Kyla, the oldest, has been helping with the bees for five years. She has even created products of her own and will often accompany her grandparents to the local farmers markets to sell her goods when she can.

Creamed honey that comes in both original and cinnamon is a popular item among market goers. Other items include lip balms, lotion bars, candles, beeswax wraps and a range of dog grooming products, such as snout and paw soother, dog shampoo, and dog treats, which are all made using the family’s honey and other products from the hive.

Kyla and her two younger sisters, Zoey and Roxy, suit up in their beekeeper suits and gloves to help their grandpa collect the hive frames. The girls will pump the smoker, which helps calm the colony and begins the honey harvesting process that follows.

Jerry and Pam’s two sons, Phillip and Andrew, also play a part in the honeybee operation. In 2022, Philip and Jerry converted the shop that was once the Roseland Township schoolhouse into a space where the Makelas are now able to overwinter their colony to help them survive the winter. The warehouse gives the Makelas a place to house their equipment as well as provides a production and storage site. Since growing their operation from two hives in 2013 to 50 hives in 2022, all extraction and processing of the honey occurs at the shop down the road in Roseland Township rather than in the basement of the Makelas’ home in Raymond, where their operation began.

“Prior to the shop, we would wrap the bees for the winter and hope for the best,” Jerry said. “Commercial beekeepers will haul their colonies south to Texas for the winter to protect them. We see about 30% to 40% of our colonies die each year over the winter, … so keeping them alive is the biggest challenge we face.”

Over the years, Jerry has learned from other beekeepers on YouTube who are more advanced, he said, and he has taken away some valuable lessons. After expanding his colony in recent years, Jerry credits his ability to do so to his sons, who help him with the task each year of placing and collecting the colony before and after each season.

“Today, I use a pallet system and a pallet jack,” Jerry said. “But even so, lifting the heavy hives made of wood is a chore. I am thankful that our boys help out with that.”

In the spring, beginning in April, the Makelas open up the shop space where the colony has over-wintered. They determine how many survived and whether they need to add to their colony, Jerry said. Ordering replacement bees is the reality of living in central Minnesota.

“Usually, when the dandelions start blooming, we take the bees to our off-site apiaries,” Jerry said. “We place 10-12 hives at one spot, and we try to work with landowners with around 150 acres of CRP land, … where we know that there are native grasses, flowers and sweet clover being planted.”

The Makelas feed their colony a sugar water mixture for the first few weeks to get them started until all the spring plants are growing and the weather has warmed up so the bees can find sources of nectar and pollen. Once the bees are established, it is a matter of checking on them throughout the summer, swapping out hives and adding new hives — and the Makelas are constantly on the lookout for Varroa mites.

“About 20 years ago, the Varroa mite was discovered," Jerry said. “It attaches to the bee and kills it. Beekeepers didn’t really know how to combat it at first, so the mites played a major part in the collapse of the bee population you hear about. Thankfully, today, they have a method to detect the mite and various ways to treat the mites, but you really have to stay proactive.”

Starting around the Fourth of July, the Makelas will begin to add additional boxes to their hives. Each hive’s top two boxes are generally where the bees store honey. Once they are done filling a frame, the bees will naturally cap it off and move on to the next one.

The Makelas are continually checking their hives throughout the summer. Once a frame is capped, it resembles a closed-off honeycomb, and they know it is time to extract the honey. Jerry cuts the top of the honeycomb off the frame and moves the frame to an extractor, which is a machine that spins the frames, creating a centrifugal force that flings out the honey, which then drains from a honey gate at the bottom. The next step is to screen and distribute the honey the Makelas use to make their various products.

“Honey is the one thing that never expires,” Pam said. “It holds many antibacterial benefits, can help with allergies and, in ancient times, people used honey to treat wounds.”

The Makelas provide local honey to their community and manage their local farmers market. Coordinating farmers market vendors, organizing their own sales and supporting their retail partners is Pam’s responsibility. She said that it is no easy task, but she has found it to be a fulfilling role in their community.

“This is our passion; … we have space now to support growth, so we plan to up our hives next year in order to continue supplying the demand for local honey,” Pam said. “When we go on vacation, we search out farmers markets and anybody that has bees. We love to see the ways other people are using their honey, and as we have started dabbling in flavored honeys, we like talking to other beekeepers and finding inspiration for new recipes.”

The Makelas said they have developed a deep respect for their bees.

“They are just fascinating creatures to watch,” Pam said. “Honeybees won’t typically sting, … they just work, work, work, and if you look closely, you can see the pollen on their feet.”