Farm406

farm406 22 "My son, you know," Phil says as he slaps Drew on the back, "he thinks outside the box." But really, Drew is thinking inside the box: the bee box. What first started as a work project in 2015 through his day job with North 40 Outfiers in Great Falls has turned into a larger scale honey-making, beekeeping operation in Forsyth. It's small enough that he can manage the business from Great Falls with frequent trips back to the farm on the weekends, but large enough to make it profitable. "I started learning about beekeeping at North 40 when we started selling beekeeping equipment," Drew told me. "We need to have an understanding of the product we were selling. Previous to that, I had zero experience. A local beekeeper helped me out and of course, YouTube videos." In 2016, Drew and his wife Brooke, bought two hives and kept them in their backyard in Great Falls. By the winter of 2018, he decided to take the plunge and get bigger. Drew and Phil try to look at the farm as a place of opportunity: what can they can do to bring in more income with the resources they have on site and make family succession possible? One of Phil's wheat fields lights up behind a grain bin at sunset in July. Drew fills mason jars full of honey from recently harvested frames. The honey this year is a light gold. The color and flavor of honeys differ depending on the nectar source (the blossoms) visited by the honey bees. Phil drives me around his farm explaining the challenges and opportunities for a farm his size.

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