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LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
MANHEIM (Lancaster Co.)
Tim Miller’s hobby is fast turning
into a full-time job not only for
himself but also his wife Kelly.
“Bees are fascinating crea
tures,” Tim said of his reason for
Tim Miller examines one
of his hives. The beekeeper
processes about 30,000
pounds of honey annually
with 7,000 pounds from his
own hives.
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LOU ANN GOOD
Food And Family
Features Editor
EPHRATA (Lancaster Co.)
From childhood, Erin Fish
er seemed to be predestined to
become the state’s honey
queen. She had two older sis
ters who filled the position.
But Erin said, “Growing up
I always said that I wanted to
be a beekeeper, not a honey
queen. I wanted to get my
hands sticky.”
By the time she was 18
years old, Erin realized the
honey queen position was a
great opportunity to promote
the honey industry.
As the third member of her
family to attain the Queen Bee
crown, Erin said that she had
plenty of experience in helping
her sisters with promotions
and working with the indus
try.
She is the daughter of Paul
and Sandy Fisher and helps
with the family’s Cherry Val
ley Apiaries in Stroudsburg.
The family has 150 hives
that they use for pollination in
area orchards and farms. They
also bottle their own honey
and sell in local stores.
“I started helping when I
was four years old. I had my
own bee suit and gloves and
went along with my dad,”
Erin said.
When she was in first grade,
Erin got stung on her eyelid.
“It was traumatic but that
helped me become brave,”
Erin said.
In sixth grade Erin had an
allergic reaction and went to
an allergist to become desensi
tized. She was given a series of
shots of watered down bee
venom to built up her immune
system.
In high school, Erin got her
purchasing a few bee hives sever
al years ago.
In the beginning, his wife Kelly
didn’t share his affinity for bees.
She saw his hobby as a distrac
tion from spending time with the
family that includes Caleb, 9;
Elizabeth, 8; Julie, 6; and Angela,
4.
“He’d work 12-14 hour days at
his carpentry job and then come
home and work with the bees for
an hour,” Kelly said.
“I wanted to spend more time
with the family too,” Tim said.
“But I also liked working close
to nature. Growing up, I always
thought I’d be a farmer, and bee
keeping was as close to agricul
ture that I seemed to be able to
get. When the bees need work,
you’ve got to do it.”
The answer to their dilemna
came in an unexpected way ex
pand. Miller was offered the op
portunity to purchase Wampler’s
Honey, a well-known Lancaster
County business and second larg
est honey packer in the county.
National Honey Queen
Erin Fisher has a bro
chure of her favorite
recipes for using honey.
To request a copy, send
a self-addressed,
stamped business-size
envelope to The Penn
sylvania State Beekeep
ers Association, R.D. 1,
Box 315, Canton, PA
17724.
own smoker to use to extract
the honey from hives. She
helps to deliver the bottled
honey, but said that her favor
ite part of beekeeping is teach
ing others about it.
“It’s a lost art in a sense,
few people know anything
about it but are interested,”
she said.
Erin is a member of the
Monroe County Beekeepers
Association.
She combines her beekeep
ing publicity responsibilities
while studying nursing at
Penn State University, Univer
sity Park.
Those interested in booking
beekeeping and honey presen
tations for schools and associ
ations should contact Linda
Hackenburg at (570) 568-2337.
With the purchase came five
acres, a large house and shop for
processing honey and for devel
oping new products.
Today, Kelly is president of
the Lancaster County Honey
Producers and abuzz with ideas
to capitalize on honey and bees
wax. She has founded The
Honeybee Shoppe and makes
handcreams, lip balm, and can
dles in numerous fragrances to
sell locally and to beekeepers
across the state.
The bees continue to be Mill
er’s complete responsibilty.
“Beekeeping and honey sales
cannot support the family,” Mill
er said. But he sees potential in
diversification, which means pol
lination by moving his 190 hives
into orchards and farms.
The bees travel from blossom
to blossom in search of nectar,
which transfers pollen from plant
to plant, which fertilizes the
plants and causes them to bear
fruit.
The USDA estimates that
about one-third of the human
diet is derived from insect-polli
nated plants and the honeybee is
responsible for 80 percent of this
pollination.
Miller works long hours in the
spring. He begins placing his
hives around the end of April in
sites all over the county.
Orchards are not allowed to
spray during the pollination peri
od, according to Miller.
Miller harvests the honey in
late spring to early fall. In the
spring are orchard crops, fol
lowed by vine crops such as mel
ons and cucumbers in May.
Pumpkins are in August.
Some farm sites don’t enable
the bees to produce as much
honey as others. Miller regularly
examines the hives to ensure they
are strong and the bees busy. He
may need to move the hives to a
location where there is a more
abundant nectar source.
The color and flavor of honey
varies depending on what blos
soms the bees visited in search of
nectar. Because of the floral
sources, no two honeys are exact
ly alike in flavor, color, and nu
tritional content.
The most popular flavors the
Millers process are alfafa and clo
ver, but they also sell buckwheat,
orange blossom, tulip, and wild
flower.
Honey color ranges from a
faint goldent tint to a dark amber
brown. Generally lighter colored
honeys are mild in flavor and the
dark ones such as buckwheat
have a strong flavor.
The processing equipment in
cludes a warmer, strainer, bot
tling, and uncapping machine.
“Processing honey is not diffi
cult,” Miller said.
He annually processes 30,000
pounds of honey of which 7,000
pounds come from his own hives.
The remainder is unprocessed
honey he purchases from Dutch
Gold Honey, Rohrerstown.
For consumers who question
why honey prices have tripled
within the last year, Miller ex
plained that a shortage of honey
nationwide has driven up the
costs. Although he attempts to
keep his prices down, his costs
(Turn to Page B 12)
Honey adds natural sweetness to fruits of autumn
harvest. Honey enhances homemade apple dump
lings swimming in cream and jars of fresh berry jam.
Photo courtesy of Dutch Qold Honey.
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One versatile ingredient to add flavor and a quick ener
gy boost to snacks, main dishes, and desserts is nature’s
own sweetener honey. With no additives or preserva
tives, honey digests easily, and enhances recipes for appe
tizers, marinades, vegetables, dips, glazes, pies, cookies,
and pastries.
There are many different honey varieties, which actual
ly give foods a different flavor. Orange blossom, clover, al
falfa, buckwheat, blueberry, strawberry, and many others
are available. So experiment.
If your grocer does not carry a specific variety, write to
the nation’s largest packer of premium specialty honeys,
Dutch Gold Honey, 2220 Dutch Gold Dr., Lancaster, PA
17601-1997, or call (717) 393-1716.
OLD-FASHIONED
APPLE DUMPLINGS
6 medium-sized baking apples
6 refrigerated prepared pie crusts (unbaked)
1 cup brown sugar
Va teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup wild flower honey
IVi cups water
V* cup butter
Peel and core apples. Leave apples whole.
Cut each pie crust into a square, and place an apple on
each. Fill cavity in apple with honey and sprinkle with cin
namon. Pull corners of dough up around apples, and pat
dough around apples to cover completely.
With moistened fingertips, fasten edges securely. Place
dumplings one-inch apart in a greased baking pan.
For sauce: combine brown sugar, alfalfa honey, water,
and cinnamon in 1 '/2-quart saucepan. Cook for S minutes
over medium heat, then remove from heat and add butter.
Pour sauce over dumplings. Bake at 350 degrees for
35-45 minutes, basting with sauce occasionally until fork
inserts easily into apple. Serve hot with milk or cream.
Yield: 6 dumplings.
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