Farmers markets, grocery stores, hardware stores, indie book stores and other local spots are among our favorite places to go souvenir shopping when we're on the road in the Midwest.
Here's another edition of Midwest Market Basket feature about some of our favorite Midwest products, shopping discoveries and where to find them.
A Drop of Honey in Grand Rapids, Ohio represents yet another sweet success for one northern Ohio family, and the store is a sweet stop in this historic canal town just southwest of Toledo.
Ray and Helen Householder began their career as beekeepers and honey suppliers in 1976.
Ray started out as a part-time county bee inspector to supplement his primary income and soon the Householders took up bee keeping.
The beekeeping started out more as a hobby, but it quickly turned into a thriving family business for Ray and Helen, along with their seven children.
One of their sons, Ron, really took to life as a beekeeper, running his first bee yard at the age of 8 and becoming a professional beekeeper as an adult.
Householder Honey was only available to wholesalers until October of 2012, when Ron's wife Emily opened a honey boutique called A Drop of Honey in downtown Grand Rapids, Ohio.
The store carries local honey, handmade beeswax candles, some beekeeping books and equipment and honey-based products that include body lotions, soap and a dozen or so different flavors of honey that customers can taste at the in-store sample bar.
Emily, a former costume designer and makeup artist who grew up in suburban Toledo, didn't know anything about beekeeping or beekeepers until she married Ron. She was fascinated with his unusual job and thought others might share her interest in beekeeping and the sweet result of the beekeepers' efforts.
Emily began researching uses for honey, which include culinary uses and cosmetic uses as well as traditional medicinal uses that capitalize on honey's antibacterial, antifungal and antiseptic qualities.
As Emily tends the store, Ron tends to about 900 hives that supply much of the honey used in products in the store as well as supplying honey to wholesalers throughout Ohio.
Ron's parents are retired from the honey business, but they still help the younger Householders with the farms and wax each year.
We ended up buying some raspberry-flavored honey and a sweetly spicy Ginger-infused honey that I can't wait to try with yogurt and fruit or to flavor hot tea during the winter or when I have an upset stomach.
The store is open noon until 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. on Saturday during most of the year. They shift to a noon until 5 p.m. Thursday through Friday and 11 a.m. until 5 p.m. schedule during the winter months.
You can also connect with A Drop of Honey on Facebook or order some of their most popular products online at their Web site.
A Drop of Honey, 24195 Front Street, Grand Rapids, Ohio
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