On Takeover Tuesdays, an Ohio Farm Bureau member takes over the Ohio Farm Bureau Instagram for the day to share a day in their life. Check in throughout the day or follow us on Instagram, @OhioFarmBureau, to meet new Ohio farmers and ag professionals for #TakeOverTuesday.  

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Hello everyone, this is Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar doing this week’s #TakeOverTuesday. We are a bee company where we produce honey and bees for purchase. We are located in DeGraff, Ohio which is in the west-central part of the state. In addition to keeping bees, our family also grain farms 1800 acres. Follow along this week and learn what we do at Nate’s Nectar. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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We have anywhere between 300-400 colonies of bees. This is a picture of one of our ‘yards’. Yards are locations for which we keep bees. We have yards in Logan, Shelby, Auglaize and Union counties. We select our yards on what floral sources are in that area. We tend to prefer places that have basswood trees (American Linden), clover and soybeans. We have seen large amounts of honey produced by those floral sources. We have been blessed with such great landlords that allow us to put bees on their properties, we cannot thank them enough. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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Every spring the bees build up very quickly and we have to manage them so they do not swarm. We make splits (divide them in half) and we also sell nucs which is a “starter 5 frame hive”. Splitting our hives gives us an increase in hives each spring. Selling nucs allows us to manage our numbers so we can still handle everything. It also provides us with a cash flow outside of honey. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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I have been blessed to have such great help every year. When I first wanted to start keeping bees, my parents were very supportive and they have also been my best helpers. The bees seem to fit perfectly in between our farming windows and it allows us to do bees at once so we can get them checked quickly. My sisters Jessica, Lauryn and Marissa (when she’s not in college) have also been great help on the weekends. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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We tend to get pretty busy in the bees around the end of March or beginning of April, depending on the year. While in the spring we are making splits, come Memorial Day we are putting honey supers on production colonies. We start out by putting a couple honey supers on each production colony and adding more as needed. We usually have to add more supers around the end of June or beginning of July, right before basswood and soybean nectar flows. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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Around the middle of August or when soybean bloom ends, it is time for us to pull honey supers. Pulling supers is probably the most physically demanding job in beekeeping as the supers are heavy and it is usually very hot outside. During this time, we usually get a college or high school helper to give us an additional set of hands. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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After pulling supers it is time to extract. This is the time of year which shows us if we had a good or bad year. All of the frames go through the extraction line to extract all of the honey out of the frames. We store our honey in food-grade 55-gallon drums until we need to either bucket them out or need the honey to bottle. Currently, we are in 20-30 stores in western Ohio and always adding more stores. We have a few surprises up our sleeve that we hope to roll out in early 2020. . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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Along with bottling honey for stores, we also target to do 10-15 festivals a year. At festivals, we sell honey (glass and plastic), creamed honey, comb honey and beeswax candles. I would like to thank the Ohio Farm Bureau for giving Nate’s Nectar the opportunity to show people a little bit of what we do. We hope you enjoyed! . . #TakeOverTuesday this week is with Nathan Davis of Nate’s Nectar in Logan County. Meet Ohio farmers and Farm Bureau members every month for #TakeOverTuesdayOFBF. . . . . . . #ohio #farm #farmer #farm365 #ag #agriculture #ohiofarm #ohiofarmer #ohioag #ohioagriculture #ohiofarmlife #ohiofarm365 #ohiogram #ohiofarmbureau #discoverohio #farmlife #ohiohoney #honeybees #honey #bees

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Mandy Way

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