Our History and Start:
Sam was working as a logger with a friend who had a contract to take down some Timber for a large property owner in the area. One day Sam cut down a tree that had a honeybee hive living in a hollow section of the tree. Fortunately, it was late winter, and early spring and the hive was fairly dormant due to the cold. Sam cut out the hollow section of the log and rolled it out of the way, then went back to work. As the day went on, he thought to himself that if he left that hive laying on the forest floor that it would die. So as he was about to head home for the day, he duct taped the hollow opening of the hive closed and loaded the hollow section of the log into his beat up RAV4 and drove it home. Can you imagine the surprise his wife had when Sam said “Honey, I’m home… look what I brought home from work?”
Sam searched out a friend, Max, who was a small commercial beekeeper in the area for some help and questions. How do I take care of these bees? This friend was generous with his time and started mentoring. Before long Max asked Sam for a little part time help here and there, where Sam could learn a little more about beekeeping.
Not long after, the logging contract ended and Sam was looking for work. Max knew another commercial beekeeper who was looking for fulltime help. Sam found himself employed as a beekeeper for several years with commercial pollinator, which is a beekeeper who ships his hives around the country helping farmers pollinate their crops.
This entire time Josh was living in Minnesota working as a mechanical engineer in Corporate America. When Josh would come home to Pennsylvania to visit family, he always enjoyed hearing stories from Sam and his new interest in beekeeping. Josh, never feeling completely fulfilled with this chosen career path. Josh was on the lookout for an exit strategy. How could he get out, what could he do.
In 2013, the sun, moon and the stars aligned. Sam got laid-off. Josh wanted to move closer to PA and family, so he proposed to Sam the idea of starting up our own Honey Farm. That spring they purchased some hives of their own… And so the story goes and let the roller-coaster of small business ownership begin.
Who we are and what do we do:
We are Huff’s Honey Farm, owned and operated by Josh and Sam Huff (brothers). The Honey Farm is located near Trout Run, PA. Born and raised here in northern central Pennsylvania our roots and faith run deep for the prosperity of these lands and our community.
Our primary mission is to manage healthy bee colonies in the most sustainable and natural way for the purpose of harvesting the hives’ surplus honey. We have many apiaries spread out over 3 counties that provide us the ability to harvest some of the best tasting wild flower honey available.
Secondarily we sell hives to other beekeepers that are looking to replenish their apiaries. We sell Nucleus hives in the spring which are small starter hives that can be grown out to full size so they can then be used for pollination or to make surplus honey for the beekeeper. We sell colonies to both hobbyists and commercial beekeepers.
A 3rd part of our operation is queen rearing. We raise our own queens for the purpose of breeding traits that keep our bees healthy and also maximize honey productions. Hygienic behaviour and varroa tolerance are 2 very important traits that we look for in our breeding program.