Today I'm featuring a local business because I believe it takes talent to open and run a small town business, especially in today's economic environment. Rowan's story is taken from the forward of their book...
The beginning of Rowan Apiary was June 3, 1967 when I married Jim. Jim had started keeping bees when he was ten years old and had become a passionate beekeeper. I gained a husband and several hives of bees - it was a "package deal.Jim was real good about letting me ease into the business - I started out helping extract. That was a good experience until a bee flew into my hair, got mad, and let me have it. Jim also let me be the "marketing agent." I really liked taking the money after each honey sale.
As time went on, we bought the home built by Jim's great grandfather and increased the number of our hives and the size of our family. We added Jeffrey Dean in 1975, Jason David in 1976, and Jaclyn Marie in 1982. All three children grew up around the bees and have been a wonderful help when the work needed done. They are all very knowledgeable about the bees and quite proud of their beekeeping background.
As of today, all three children have left the home hive, but keep in close touch and help when they can. Although Jim and I still identify beekeeping as our "hobby," we run around a hundred hives and have opened Rowan's Honey Shop in Norwich, Kansas. I am still teaching school and Jim is still working in insurance and banking, there fore our hobby sometimes makes for a full schedule.
If you are traveling through Norwich, stop by the shop and visit. If you have comments or questions you may contact us at
honeybee67106@hotmail.com (I was informed that they were having problems with their email, so you might want to call them instead. The number's on their flier below)
Rowan's honey has been a local product for a long time, when we had a grocery store they stocked it along with the national brands. I've read that eating honey from local bees was suppose to help against hay fever and allergies, that may only be an old wives tale, but sounds good to me! : )
It's an antique/consignment store with lots of items both old and new to keep you browsing for quite some time.
Everything is laid out in a way that is pleasing to the eye and gives a comfortable homey feeling.
On Saturdays they have fresh donuts and beverages. There's catered luncheons that can be scheduled. I'll report on this in more detail in my next post.
The store's address is 207 N. Main, Norwich KS if you just can't wait till my next post to see more. They are open Friday 10am-7:30pm, Saturday 6am-7:30pm & Sunday 1pm-4pm. More photos and detailed information to come!
