Page 19 - Trending Magazine 2018 Summer

Wendell Honey staff work at getting bees ready
for summer, at one of their locations between
Roblin and Russell. (Tyler Clarke/Trending)

rewarding endeavour than exposing people to their are temporary foreign workers alongside a number
pure, value-added packaged product, which he of longstanding employees, such as Jake Dingman,
considers the “Mercedes” of the honey market. who joined Wendell Honey while he was growing up
On the company’s website, wendellestate.ca, a 1kg in MacNutt and has kept at it ever since.
jar of their honey retails for $44. Dan Margarit emigrated from Romania to join
When they sell it in bulk, others down the line use Wendell Honey, keen on tackling a new way of doing
it in the manner that Friesen described, wherein it’s things after beginning his beekeeping career in his
used to used to enrich cheaper product. native country.
“They just wreck it,” Wendell said. “They take my While playing soccer in Grade 7, he chased a ball
nice honey and mix it with ugly honey, so it’s kind of into a field where he came upon a swarm.
a generic colour, looks like honey and kind of tastes Returning with a box, he managed to capture it and
like honey, but they kind of wreck it.” was not stung.
Increasing their production capacity to meet Drawing experience from his grandfather, who
the demand they’re uncovering, Wendell Estates was a beekeeper, he set out to do the same, later
Honey is currently looking to expand their packaging relocating to Canada to see how Canadians do it.
operations into Roblin, an effort of which Wendell is Pointing to these and other long-time beekeepers,
currently finalizing the specifics. Wendell said that there’s something special about
With Wendell’s skillset best utilized in the fields, he honey producers that keeps them in the game for
said that he has always tried to get the right people so long.
on board to help the company reach its potential, Part of it’s an affection for the bees, he said — a
including his sons Jeremy and Nathan. point that he makes abundantly clear through the
Despite breaking ground on unique careers of pride he exudes in describing the “gentle” buck fast
their own — Jeremy as a medical doctor and Nathan strain of bees that he works with, which is a Denmark
as a psychologist — both have opted to help the variety he gets through the University of Guelph.
family business. Placing his flattened hand on a comb crawling with
They echo their father’s experience, with the elder bees, he gently pet the swarm to illustrate his point,
Wendell having started a teaching career in the resulting in zero stings.
United States prior to returning home to take over Another explanation might be the venom in the
the family business a few decades ago. bees’ stings, he said with a chuckle, adding, “We get
Joining the Wendell family with beekeeping duties stung too much and we can’t do without it.” ❚

19