(This article first appeared in the October print edition of the Hendersonian.)
On many days at the Henderson Farmers Market, there’s a man in a kilt selling honey.
Used to be that would have turned some heads, says beekeeper Elyon Davis, but not anymore.
Farmers Market customers now just know him as the man of Scottish-Irish descent who operates Claddagh Honey, which is named and branded for their family heritage.
Davis and his wife Ginny got interested in beekeeping several years ago after attending a program about bees at John James Audubon State Park and then extending their education at “Bee School” offered by Audubon Beekeepers Association.
Their beekeeping mentors were well-known apiarists the late Paul and Betsy Stone of Stone Hill Honey, fixtures for years at Henderson Farmers Market. Betsy participates in the market as a vendor.
Before they were retired from their jobs in the banking and health-care industries, the Davises dabbled in beekeeping, selling their honey at their places of employment.
“Slowly, over time we got more hives,” Elyon said on a recent Saturday at the market, where he had local honey, honeycomb and beeswax candles for sale. The honeycomb was of particular interest to a couple of customers who had been on the hunt for it.
And after a period of time spent serving on the Farmers Market board, Elyon started bringing Claddagh Honey to the market as a vendor, especially after they had more products available.
Their hives have been productive, he said, as the bees have thrived in the flora of their neighborhood. These days they keep as many as 12 bee hives, though numbers dwindle when temperatures turn cold.
“We’ve had fun doing it,” he said, though it was eventually discovered by virtue of a sting that Ginny has a sensitivity to bee venom and can’t be as hands-on as she was originally.
Elyon said there are many benefits to participating in the Farmers Market.
First, being there helps get their locally-produced honey into the hands of those who are looking for the health benefits.
“We are big proponents of local food, a local food market and local produce,” he said, noting that though the market is very well known and sought out for sweet corn and peaches at the height of the summer season, there are plenty of other locally produced goods for consumers to take advantage of all during the growing season. People just need to become aware of what’s available throughout the season.
Second, people can be confident that Claddagh Honey is pure and produced by “bees who live here.” It’s never heated or filtered, though strained to remove small bugs and debris collected by the bees, and may have a good dose of local pollen that some believe helps mitigate allergy symptoms.
Elyon explained, however, that bees collect “sticky” pollen, while the pollen a lot of us are sensitive to is largely airborne.
“It’s expensive to analyze honey to find out what’s actually in it so nobody knows for sure,” Elyon said, though noting that bees all along the Ohio River valley from Pittsburgh to Paducah have the same habitat and flora to draw from.
“Overall, it’s a very healthy substance,” he said.
There’s also a therapeutic benefit in attending the Farmers Market as a vendor. It’s social, much like the events that he and Ginny have attended over the years as re-enactors of certain historic eras.
“I like to come and sit and say ‘hi’ to folks,” Elyon said, noting how happy he and Ginny, both Nashville natives, are to have many years ago found a place like Henderson to settle down in.
“People sometimes just don’t realize the value of community,” he said.
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The Henderson Farmers Market is open for the season from the first of May until the last of October on Tuesdays, Friday and Saturdays. Growers and producers set up from 8 a.m. to noon (as long as supplies last).
The market includes local and fresh produce, honey, wine, meat, bakery goods and more. As the growing season changes, the variety of items and number of producers present at the market changes, too.
The market location is the Cates-Porter Farmers Market Pavilion at Henderson County Fairgrounds located on Sam Ball Way at Airline Road. Follow the Henderson Farmers Market Facebook page for updates about what’s available at the market.
