Page 18 - Trending Magazine 2018 Summer

Left: Tim Wendell, of Wendell
Honey, adds some smoke to the
hives in order to make his bees
more docile while shifting them
from winter accommodations to
summer. Below: Wendell Honey
bees are seen on the exterior of a
stack between Roblin and Russell.
(Tyler Clarke/Trending)

that Wendell said that making said, adding that he has also flown
an investment toward value- out to the Asian country to attend
added products during a more “This is a piece of trade shows.
prosperous time to help them heaven on earth in a Although much of the
survive the next market enjoyment he gets out of his
dip is a decision he’s now way, because there’s not professional life comes out
looking back on with a lot of noise, there’s not of caring for his bees in the
gratitude. a lot of chemicals, there’s prairie fields, Wendell said
He said that it also not a lot of people that the satisfaction that
helped that a business comes with sharing their high
partner presented the and we get to be here quality product with others
product to a receptive panel of with nature...” provides a decent icing on the cake.
entrepreneurs on the television With “so much fake honey in the
show Dragon’s Den in 2013, and world” supplemented by things like
although it resulted in an a business rice syrup, he said that being a purist
offer at the time, Wendell said that in the “gong show” that makes up
things don’t always turn out like a significant portion of the honey
they appear on television. industry as it currently exists can
Certain strings were be satisfying.
attached to the deal that Friesen said that Canadian
affected its viability, honey, largely fuelled by bees’
though Wendell said pollination of canola crops,
that he still gives the is a near-white honey that’s
show credit for getting sought around the world, and
their name out there, which that few other marketplaces can
opened some doors for them. rival it.
With interest in their high- “You can always heat up the white
grade prairie Canadian honey on honey that Canadians have and make
the rise, Wendell said that he also it a golden colour, but you can’t make
credits his son Jeremy, a medical darker honey from foreign countries
doctor who lives in China with his wife lighter,” he said, adding that Canadian
Carol, with helping him market his product overseas. honey is oftentimes used to enrich the other honeys.
“They’re busy with their own lives, but they’ve This, Wendell said, is why his sale of raw product,
been helping out since they are there,” Wendell which he still engages in to a degree, is a far less

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