Honey bee hobby blossoms into family business at Half Mile Farm

MORRIS – The taste of local honey is unique to the area.

Flavor profiles reflect the local landscape and botanical life of the are where the bees scavenge. Each region is distinct from one another.

And, at Half Mile Honey Farm, which produces honey in the Morris area, honey is harvested by members of a local family.

Half Mile Honey Farm began seven-to-10 years ago, when Mike Lawyer walked outside by the family fruit trees and saw a swarm of bees, after a quick Google, he discovered they were honey bees.

“My oldest son, he lives in Minnesota, I made him come out. We had snowmobile helmets on and welding gloves. I was trying to get the swarm out of the tree and put them in a box-let’s just say we got stung a few times,” Lawyer said.

After turning to a neighbor, who owned honey bees and making a quick run to Farm and Fleet for beehive equipment, a new hobby began.

It is a fulfilling hobby, one that offers tranquility and mindfulness in the most difficult circumstances.

In February 2020, as the world anxiously awaited news about COVID-19, the Lawyers were faced with grave news of their own as their youngest daughter, Katey, who was diagnosed with leukemia. Harvesting and spending times with the bees allowed, Katey and her family a much needed reprieve.

“When Katey was diagnosed, it was one of those things where you are diagnosed one day, and you start treatment the exact same day. COVID was just starting and I’m really focused on her. All the boys were home from school and the whole summer they were involved in this,” Tracey Lawyer said.

“I think it’s probably therapeutic, especially I think for Mike and for the boys, as well. It gave them something to do to keep our mind off. It was an outlet to keep their mind off of what Katey was going through and pass the time-it kind of brought the family together,” she said.

Katey says she is doing very well and hopes to begin a foundation using the funds from the sell of her families honey farm.

“I want to start making blankets for the kids at my local hospital, that I was treated at and depending on where it goes, grow it hopefully,” she said.

The farm sells local unpasteurized raw honey for $7 for a half pint, $13 a pint and $25 for a quart. Half-Mile honey gets its unique taste from the wildflowers on the family land. However, as most honey is a blend from various hives and the flowers within the radius, the flavor profile may change seasonally.

Half Mile bees are brought in to help pollinate a local orchard, giving the honey the taste of apples, pears, cherry, and even pumpkins depending on the season.

There are many benefits of unpasteurized honey as it contains natural vitamins, enzymes and antioxidants.

“Local honey is supposed to help with allergies and if you have a sore throat you can take it for cough medicine. I eat a lot of honey – I probably have a peanut butter sandwich with honey on it three or four days a week,” Lawyer said.

To purchase Half Mile honey, contact the Lawyer’s at 779-435-9441 or halfmilehoneyfarm@gmail.com, or visit their Facebook page at facebook.com/halfmilehoney.