Pure Wisconsin honey sold at market

Nick Thill, 24, has a message to share with everyone who comes to the Oshkosh Saturday Farmers Market: Support your local beekeeper.

Thill, who is from West Bend, was recently graduated from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh with a journalism major and a focus in public relations. He is currently not working as a journalist, but his time is filled with supporting his swarms of bees, harvesting honey and working as a roofer.

"I went to college for a roofing degree," Thill joked.

Thill still has aspirations to enter the journalism field, but until then, he is happy to be working with bees, something he learned from his great aunt.

"I started helping my great aunt with her swarms after her hip replacement surgery because she couldn’t get around," said Thill. "I got interested from there, and she bought me six swarms of my own."

Thill’s swarms have since grown from six to 55, and he now owns his own business. Thill and his dad came up with their own label, but they have separate bees and separate honey.

Along with selling his honey at the farmers market in Oshkosh, Thill also sells at the Rubens County Market, does retail in Hartford, and does some wholesale.

But although Thill acknowledges that harvesting honey does not pay his bills, he hopes to be working with bees for the rest of his life.

"I love being outside and I love honey bees," said Thill. "Honey bees are so interesting and complex, and you wouldn’t necessarily think that…. Like their communication, they send out scouts, and those scouts look for flowers. Then they come back to the swarms, and through wiggles, they tell the other bees exactly how far and in what direction to go to get to the flowers. It’s amazing how smart they are."

Thill sells his 100 percent Wisconsin honey in quantities up to five pounds, and the honey can be bought at prices ranging from $2.25 to $11.