A Beekeeper and His Label

Truly the title should be A (Finally Happy) Beekeeper and His Label.

Here's my Dad, Lorne, holding up one of our large jars of honey.

Not only does the jar have a label, he is standing in his booth at a local farmer's market where he's hawking our honey.

I dubbed him our marketing manager, especially since I wasn't interested in getting into the work of selling honey.

I just wanted a hobby with the bees and to observe them for my research. I didn't care if I made a dime.

But not so for my 'keener' beekeeping partner. He wants to recoup some costs.

I admit that equipment and the extractor make this an expensive hobby.

Now you must see this label which I designed. (Sorry the photo isn't so great).

We went camping the end of July and I took my lap top along.

I'm not really into electronics while vacationing but I thought I might be inspired while sitting outside to work on my book--it's a children's novel about honey bees.

And, I thought there will probably be a rainy day and if that happened I just might work on that label.

Yes 'that' label.

The one that Dad has been whinging for for the last three months.

Sure enough, we did have a rainy day.

I got the lap top out and created the design I'd had in mind all along.

It incorporates the name of my book, Bee-Magic.

The picture is one of my watercolour paintings.

The important thing is that Dad liked it.

He did want his name on the label but I told him I didn't think that was appropriate.

He was pleased though when I opted for his address and number on the label. They can call him for their refills. He was happy about that.

The booth at the market was fairly cheap and it also gave Dad an opportunity to sell some veggies from his large garden.

It's always nice to recoup some gas money when travelling back and forth to the garden.

He sold quite a bit of honey that day and veggies too.

I worried that no one would buy any and he'd be upset. I even considered giving someone some money and sending them over to buy a jar. My worries were completely unfounded.

Here's a customer buying one of our 1 kg jars of honey.