BELLEVUE, Ohio — If you're in the market for some local honey or may be thinking about starting up a new hobby, there's a business in Sandusky County that has all you'll need.
Tami Wylie attended a lecture on bees on a whim six years ago and immediately signed up for a beekeeping class.
And after getting her husband Gary on board, their business Cherry City Honey quickly became the buzz around Sandusky County.
"Just starting out with just one hive, and then by the time my husband came home I had five, and by the time he got into it we had 60," Tami Wylie said.
"We started with farm markets and then it just kept growing. And now we have a store, and we also have products from local artisans in the area," Gary Wylie said.
Now in a storefront of their own, they are offering raw, flavored, creamed and infused honey.
Along with wax candles and local artisan goods, Cherry City Honey is also a one-stop shop for starting your own hobby or business handling bees.
Along with their new brick and mortar store, every February they host a beekeeping for beginners class and in the summer offer field trips for other local area beekeepers.
"It really works out nice because new beekeepers have a place they can come to to get equipment when they need it, or to get any other questions answered that they might have," Gary said.
Ultimately, the folks at Cherry City Honey want to spread an appreciation for bees' role in local agriculture.
They hope they can not only supply people with local honey but maybe also inspire some more area beekeepers to take up the hobby.
"The population of bees is a lot smaller now, there's not your mom and pop that have bees in their backyard," Jaime Garza, Cherry City Honey marketing and sales director, said. "And we need to have the advocacy for the bees because nobody else is going to speak for them."