SWEET SUCCESS BY APOLLINE LUCYK PHOTOS TJK PHOTOGRAPHY
S
asha Howland began working with the bees at her father’s beekeeping operation during the summer of 1999 between semesters of University. Her husband, Danny Wasylenchuk, took a summer hiatus from his work at Yorkton Aircraft Service as an Aviation Maintenance Engineer in 2003 in order to give bee work a try. He returned the following year and has worked at Howland’s Honey ever since. Now, with over a decade of experience in the beekeeping business, Sasha and Danny own and operate Howland’s Honey (Howland Enterprises Inc.), a company
that sells premium Saskatchewan honey at shops and markets around Saskatchewan, and to wholesalers in Regina and Saskatoon. The Howlands’ honey operation began in 1979 when Sasha’s father, Wink, took up his father’s hobby of beekeeping and gradually expanded the operation into a full-time, full-scale beekeeping operation. For over 30 years, Wink was a familiar and friendly face, the Honey Man, at farmers’ markets throughout the province. “His outgoing nature and effervescent personality brightened many a person’s day,” says Sasha.
When Sasha and Danny joined the team, they divided the key beekeeping responsibilities among the three of them: Sasha, Danny and Wink. Wink concentrated on the markets and the books, Danny put his mechanical skills to work running the field crew and maintaining all the equipment in the shop, and Sasha was in charge of the queen rearing section of the operation. From the construction of new infrastructure to continued increases in bees and equipment, as well as a continued increase in sales, Howland’s Honey has had some exciting expansions
ABOVE Sasha Howland, Danny Wasylenchuk and their children Keyan, Ethan and Nate
92
FineLifestyles
Parkland