The Stevenses bought
their 5-acre farm
about 20 years ago
from a residential
developer. Woods
and houses surround
them from afar.
Bob and Trilby run
the operation by
themselves, other
than Jason Kolasins-
ki helping out a few
hours a week.
Together, the couple
of 18 years harvest,
bottle and label the
honey.
Bob squeezes in time
to tend to the bees
when he’s not at his
50-hour-a-week job in sales
for Bright Future Electric in
Ocoee. Trilby’s a health and
safety manager for Northrop
Grumman.
After all, man cannot live
on honey sales alone. In fact,
they’ve taken a loss on the
company since its inception;
the equipment doesn’t come
cheap - like his flatbed truck
or expo trailer.
“I’m not in this to make
money,” Bob said. “I’m in
this because I enjoy doing
it.”
The beehive crates and
“honey house” (where they
extract the honey) are just
behind the couple’s log
cabin home that they build
together.
On a “light week,” he spends
about 20 hours tending
to the bees. During Bob’s
interview, in August, he
explained that they were in
stagnation until the flowers
bloomed. While they wait,
Bob provides them with sug-
ar water and artificial pollen
stimulants.
“I have to feed them to keep
them alive and in a state of
readiness,” he said. “It’s like
SEPTEMBER 2017
getting ready for the Olym-
pics. When the bloom starts,
the bees need to be at full
throttle - or blown is two to
four weeks.”
He went on to describe how
it takes six weeks from the
time the queen lays her eggs
for those babies to become
forager bees - the stage when
they’re useful to the hon-
ey-making process.
And they only live about
three to four months.
Once a month, Bob close-
ly checks on their health,
paying special attention to
the broods of baby eggs and
queen bee, of course.
“You have to tear the hives
open, get down in there, and
look,” he said.
Yes, he wears a bee suit.
“It’s really just about being
outdoors and getting your
hands and feet dirty and
being in nature,” said Bob,
whose parents own cot-
ton and soybean farms in
Tennessee 100-plus years in
the family. “A lot of it’s out
of love.”
Bob and Trilby are sure
to enjoy the fruits of their
labor, during their French
toast and pancakes with
honey, sauteeing vegetables
with the liquid gold and
cooking chicken, pork and
beef with the sweet stuff.
“Think of it as salt and pep-
per,” Bob said. “If you have it
out on the table, you’ll use it
all the time.”
Beyond buying The Winter
Garden Honey Farm’s goods
at the stand, you also can
catch Bob tabling on Nov.
4 & 5 at the Fall Fiesta in
the Park at Lake Eola Park.
And in the spring, he looks
forward to returning to
Winter Garden’s big outdoor
festival, Spring Fever in the
Garden.
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