A Story Sweet As Honey
Eng Land Honey
by Amy Lamb-Eng
June 28, 2021
Before moving to Alabama for work in the early 2000’s, I grew up in rural southern Indiana immersed in the agriculture community. My family had a small farm, and we also ran to the feed store often, which was a hub for local farmers. So, I grew up driving tractors and feed trucks all over, spending summers at the 4-H fair and stripping tobacco in the winter. My husband Jeff, on the other hand, had a much different background. He was born and raised in New York City before he found his way to Alabama.
However, we had a heart and passion for the beauty of the land here in Alabama. When given the opportunity a few years back, we purchased about 90 acres near our home in Pike Road. Initially, we used the land for family recreation with a few stocked ponds for taking the kids fishing and trails for ATVs. Our goal was to keep the land undeveloped and as natural as possible, but, as our kids got older with more activities of their own, we spent less time at the land. Jeff and I decided we wanted to do more with it since we weren’t using it as much for recreation but were not sure what that would look like.
It was not until we noticed a problem that we started to find our path for the land. I have always been an avid gardener (probably a little of my upbringing showing out) and had noticed a lack of pollinators in our area. This motivated us to begin researching pollinator gardens to attract more native varieties and then on to learning more about honeybees. The more we learned by taking classes offered through the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, communicating with local beekeeping groups and lots of reading of books and online sources, the easier the decision was that beekeeping was a good fit for us.
For Christmas in 2016, I bought Jeff our first beehive, and we established it on our land that next spring. What started as a desire to support the bee population while learning more about these amazing and industrious insects has grown into more than we ever expected! Now with multiple hives on our farm, we are creating our own family operated apiary and honey business. In 2018 ‘Eng Land Honey’ was born -- a play on our last name and the fact that we always referred to our farm as ‘the Land’.
We all play a part in Eng Land Honey. From tending the bees (mostly Jeff and I) to designing the label (our oldest daughter Kylie), to bottling and hand-filling honey straws (our youngest daughter Sydney). I get the pleasure of helping in every aspect and working to get Eng Land Honey out into the community for others to enjoy. It is especially important to us to be able to offer our friends, neighbors and customers a quality product that we know is as pure and natural as possible.
Eng Land’s 100 percent raw honey is bottled in 8-ounce and 12-ounce glass jars. Once the honey is extracted from a hive, it is poured through a coarse sieve to remove any large particles and then bottled -- that’s it! We keep the process simple so the raw honey will contain natural vitamins, enzymes, antioxidants, and local pollen for their beneficial properties. The homemade beeswax candles are great for those with asthma, allergies, and sensitivities. The candles come in Natural Scents (natural, light, and nutty-honey scent), Honey Citrus Sage, Honeysuckle, Fresh Lemongrass, and Honeyed Lavender. We also sell honey straws, which can be enjoyed on the go. Other products that are at markets are, ceramic honey pots, glass honey pots, wooden honey dippers, bee tea towels and gift baskets.
Right now, our lives are busy, with working full-time job, raising two teenage daughters, keeping bees, and running a small business -- but, our life is sweet as honey.
For more information, visit their website at Eng Land Honey. They are also on Facebook and Instagram.