Despite passing showers, the first of what its organizers hope will be an annual celebration of World Honeybee Day at the only honeybee farm on the National Register of Historic Places drew well over 100 guests to an idyllic setting in rural Waseca County.
The celebration took on a decidedly festive atmosphere with live music from Mankato musicians and longtime public school teachers Dave Pengra and Ron Arsenault, Mexican food from local food truck Tacos La Reyna and a visit from “Queen Bee” Terry McDaniel, a Minneapolis beekeeper and advocate.
McDaniel in particular stood out from the crowd as she donned stilts as part of a lighthearted act. A member of the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association and a veteran beekeeper, McDaniel often appears at public events to raise awareness of the honeybee’s importance.
It’s one of a series of events that Larry and Jan Hofmann look forward to having at their sesquicentennial farm after years of hard work backed by extensive public funding over the last decade and a half enabled them to fix up the farm’s historic buildings to their former glory.
More than a century ago, Larry’s grandfather Emil Hofmann transformed a humble hog and grain farm into a honey powerhouse, while dramatically shifting the practices of local farmers to make the Waseca area a top national producer of clover, a beloved plant of the honeybee.
Though badly damaged by the Depression, Hofmann Apiaries managed to survive under the steady leadership of Larry’s father Charles. Eventually, Charles would retire in the mid-1980s and with no obvious heir to take over the business, it finally faded away.
When Charles died in 2009, Larry and Jan moved back to the farmhouse, while the farmland was sold to neighbors. Though not farmers themselves, they didn’t want to see the farm’s unique history fade away or its buildings fall apart.
With a timely intervention from the Waseca County Historical Society’s Jan Mooney, Larry and Jan were pushed in the direction of a lengthy restoration campaign, allowing them to fix up the historic apiary in a way they never would have had the funds to do so themselves.
Last year’s Honeybee Open House represented something of a “grand opening” after years of painstaking restoration work. It drew about 100 to 120 people, despite limited promotion, and since then many classes and groups have come to tour the farm.
With a bit of extra promotion in the news, the Hofmanns were able to extend their reach throughout Waseca County, Mankato and beyond. Pam Lehrke, a nearby beekeeper, came out to check out the historic apiary and enjoy a fun afternoon with her kids.
Living along Reeds Lake, Lehrke began cultivating a beehive to help pollinate apple trees on her property. In addition to the benefit her bees deliver for the apple trees and her other plants and flowers, she and her family enjoy the rich, sweet honey they produce.
For local honeybees and their beekeepers, a lack of forage is a top challenge. Larry Hofmann emphasized that in comparison to the diverse farms of yesteryear, the corn and beans monoculture of most local farms today doesn’t offer fertile territory for honeybees.
That’s why promoting pollinator friendly gardens, like the one the Hofmanns meticulously keep, was a top priority. The Waseca Garden Club’s Cheryl Forrest was on hand with friends to show off the diverse horticultural paradise located right on site.
For those looking to add to their pollinator gardens, Sam Koberoski of Mankato’s Edenvale Nursery was on site, selling a variety of pollinator-friendly plants. It was Koberoski’s second visit to the Hofmann Apiary, as he previously came for an open house and took a full tour.
Koberoski reported that interest in native pollinator plants has grown, with much of the public turning away from chemical-based fertilizers and GMOs in favor of more natural agriculture. He also said he was blown away by the large crowd size overall.
“This is really cool,” Koberoski said. “I was pretty impressed when I pulled up and the cars were lined up 100 yards down the road.”
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