RICHMOND, Ind. — Lance Alexander is a third generation beekeeper in Richmond, Ind. This former equine veterinarian retired and decided to revive the family beekeeping business. Lance’s wife Maria Alexander offers educational opportunities on the farm to inspire interest in the bee keeping hobby. They teach bee keeping classes and sell beekeeping equipment. Lance has also become an antique tractor collector as well. 

Four Leaf Honey Farm is in Lance’s former veterinarian building. They will be open for one year this May. The Alexanders currently have around 100 hives, and plan to add more. “There is a real demand for local honey. We sold about 4,000 pounds of honey during the winter. Our hives are located through Wayne County in 16 colonies,” Lance explained.

The busy time is coming. “May and June is really when the bees make honey,” Lance said. “Pollen blooms consecutively, and the bees’ goal is to move pollen from one tree to another. Bees become flower loyal. The pollen sticks to them from the flower, so the pollens are different colors from different flowers.”

Lance has an observation hive that can be open so visitors can see the bee’s progress. 

Lance’s grandfather Earl Alexander started the beekeeping business in the 1930s. “He always explained that at a young age he was “bitten by the bug,” and became interested in honeybee culture, entering his products in the Ohio State Fair competition,” Lance said.

After graduating from Miani University and becoming an Industrial Arts teacher, Earl worked with his bees during summer vacations. After teaching for 20 years, he moved his family to Middleboro, Ind., in 1946. This was when he got serious about the beekeeping business. Using two schoolhouses, one served as a storage facility and the other for honey processing for Four Leaf Farms. “Nearly all the beehives were constructed in the basement workshop of the Middleboro school house, with saws, jointers, and planers all powered by a Model A Ford engine attached to pulleys and belts,” Lance said.

Earl set up beehives within a 30-mile radius of the processing plant. He visited his hives three times a year and used a two-ton truck to remove the full honey supers and replace the empty supers back on the hive. The business had grown enough that Earl was supplying honey to local grocery stores and as far as Dayton, and Cincinnati, Ohio., as well as Indianapolis. To take advantage of an earlier honey season hives were moved to Georgia, and they sold honey to Col. Sanders retail store. 

“My grandpa asked me at age 18 to take over the business, but I said no I wanted to go to vet school. I then practiced equine medicine for 20 years and then circled back. I’m unusual in I shifted and started an encore career.”

Today, Lance, his dad Mark, and son Noah continue producing local honey, offering beekeeping supplies, nucleus colonies, and pollination services. 

Along with the bees, Lance is also doing a bit of farming as well. They just planted a new crop of wheat. Maria added that they also raise black beans.

“I farm 150 acres and some of other peoples too. This gives me a deep sense of satisfaction,” Lance said.

With farming part of the family operation, Earl Alexander purchased a Farmall H in the 1950s and he used it to rake hay. Today the Farmall is a family heirloom that they still use every summer. Lance shared a wonderful picture of him and his wife Maria with the Family Farmall when she was expecting their son Noah. There is also a picture of Noah and Mark as well with Noah driving the H with a bit of help from Grandpa. 

Besides the family Farmall, Lance also has an Allis Chalmers D17 that he got from a neighbor. “It was the neighbors and he got it in the 1980s,” Lance said. 

He helped his neighbor one day when the D17 broke down, and the man was upset not knowing what to do. “I stopped; the tie rod had broken. I found one instantly and ordered it to be here the next day. “

When the part came, he went to his house and fixed it, the problem was solved. 

Lance was shocked when five years later when the neighbor died, he left the D17 tractor to Lance. That kindness in a moment when it was needed meant a lot to the older gentleman. These days Lance said, “We use it for raking hay and we used it last year on a hay baler.”

From veterinarian to beekeeper, the Alexander family has returned to their roots, and antique tractors are part of the mix. They can be reached at 765-935-5323, or by email at Fourleafhoney@outlook.com.