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Walker Farms was featured in
GULFSHORE BUSINESS Magazine,
June 2004. The full article was entitled: "Farms
of Fancy". The following is not the full article, but only a quoted excerpt
from the article:
WHAT'S THE BUZZ? “I started getting interested in bees when I was 12,” says Allen “Buddy” Walker, owner of Walker Farms in Fort Myers. “My uncle gave me two hives at $1 apiece and I still have them.” Walker and his wife, Joyce, run their bee farm. “You really have to love the business,” he says. “We are constantly battling destructive insects, and having to find FDA-approved chemicals to battle them, but it’s worth it. I may not be getting rich, but the business has allowed me to care for and support my family. Some years, of course, are better than others.” Walker produces and bottles many types of honey. “Our most popular varieties are orange blossom and saw palmetto,” he says. Wildflower honey is great for allergies, he adds, but not that popular because some customers consider its flavor unpleasant. Walker Farms sells most of its honey wholesale across the country to companies that repackage and sell it under other labels. “The honey is especially popular with bakeries,” Walker says. “We also sell to local health-food stores in Naples and Fort Myers,” which market the honey under Walker’s name. What makes Walker’s honey unusually good is his processing method. Larger processors heat the honey to a high temperature (about 160 degrees) and run it through microfilters. The process—called polishing—kills most of the harmless enzymes in the honey that give it flavor, resulting in a bland, homogenized product. Walker heats his honey to about 120 degrees and filters through nylon mesh using only gravity feeds—no pressure and no pump. It cleans the honey minimally and retains its flavor, Walker explains. Another source of revenue: rental of hives to vegetable growers for pollination. “The income is not great, but every bit helps,” he says. Start-up cost for this business is about $250,000, Walker says. The Walkers’ plans for the future include developing a Web site and focusing on more wholesale and retail sales. end of quoted excerpt Gulfshore Business Magazine and this article are Copyright © 2004 Gulfshore Media. All rights reserved.
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