Harmony Natural Foods Cooperative is quite possibly the longest standing customer of Bar Bell Bee Ranch. Since (approximately) 1978 Ed has been bringing honey through their doors. It was a time when the co-op was selling mostly Non-Perishable items such as bulk spices, grains, flours, beans and rice, that honey was being sold in bulk as well. A time when “organic” was implied and utilizing re-useable containers wasn’t a new fad, but a way of life.
Ed fondly remembers hauling a 5 gallon bucket of honey up the wooden steps of the repurposed church into the co-op. The bucket had a spout on it for co-op members to bring in their own container and fill it to the brim with the golden sweet stuff.
Times sure have changed, but some things remained the same. Harmony is still a well established fixture in the Bemidji community, bringing people together in a variety of ways and of course all in the name of good food.
Dan has been the Grocery Manager at Harmony for the past three years, and is a strong supporter of Bar Bell Bee Ranch, always willing to make room on the shelf and promote the pollinators; Dan makes sure that the sweet stuff is available to everyone. An avid outdoorsmen that grew up canoeing in the bwcA; Dan left the big city life that was Park City Utah in 1996 to find solace in the quiet, tranquil north woods.
Thank you Dan, and Harmony Natural foods for being a friend of the hive, may we see another 40 years of this sweet friendship.
