Stoneleigh Farms In the News

In The News

Good business for the Earth
by George Rowand
Times-Democrat Staff Writer
from the
Fauquier Times-Democrat
6/28/2006

Stoneleigh Farm, bees, & proprietor Phillip Ramsey

     Changing circumstances call for innovations in life as well as in business. Phillip Ramsey knows that well, and the local beekeeper has adapted to business life in 2006. The owner of Stoneleigh Farms honey products said that the increasing price of oil has made him rethink some of the ways that he operates. What he has found is that some changes might be better for the environment - and his pocketbook - at the same time.
       "We have new packaging for our honey products," Ramsey said. "I thought at length about it."
     The former high-tech business executive explained what he's trying to do.

"You know, honey suffers from a lack of brands, and we've been building a brand," he stated, "and you need to set yourself apart from your competition. So, how do you do that? In my business, or any business, really, I think it's important to always have a story attached to your product. You want your customers to get a product and a story about it at the same time. So we've changed."

Off the cob

Many of the Stoneleigh Farms honey products now come in plastic containers, but there is a difference. This plastic is not made from petroleum.

"Most plastic is made from petroleum," Ramsey said. "And with the increasing price of oil, you're seeing a substantial increase in the price of plastic. That increase has made corn-oil based plastic a viable option for our containers. We'd been looking at it for some time."

On the surface, it's difficult to see any difference in a container made from corn oil as opposed to one made from petroleum. But there are significant differences, some good, some not so good, but they work for Ramsey because of the way he produces his product.

"You can only put low-moisture products in corn oil-based plastics," Ramsey explained. "Our honey is 17-18 percent moisture, and all our products are very low-moisture products.

"Corn oil also doesn't work well with products that are heated to 120 degrees or more," he continued. "You can shorten the shelf life of the containers if what you put inside is more than 120 degrees."

Ramsey said that because he doesn't heat his honey, the corn oil plastic containers work fine for him. And since corn oil is something that is grown and produced in America, it helps the economy in several ways; it helps farmers and frees up a reliance on foreign oil producers.

Then there is something that is appealing to people concerned about the environment. "A container made from corn oil will decompose in a landfill in about 180 days," Ramsey said, "whereas a plastic container made from petroleum may take 10,000 years. A corn-oil based product is biodegradable. You can put it in your compost."

Ramsey said that to make it worthwhile for a plastic manufacturer, they have to make a minimum of about 10,000 corn oil containers at a time."

The change to corn oil-based containers makes one more bit of the story for a potential customer, Ramsey feels.

"We sell our honey, our honey-based soap and our honey-based shampoo at different stores in the area, and a lot of them go to people who come to visit the county," Ramsey said. "People come to the country for stories. I really believe it. So now people can go back to their urban landscapes and tell about the honey they bought that isn't heated, isn't blended from other honey from out of the area, and on top of all that, it’s in a container that isn’t made from foreign oil and will decompose quickly. It’s organic honey, and even the jar is organic.”

Cooking Oil

Ramsey said that one other part of h is business is unique. It’s the truck he uses to gather the honey in the field.

“You can tell people that the ambulance purchased in 1996 by the New Baltimore Fire Department is still trucking as a farm vehicle," he stated.

But there have been changes there as well.

"We use cooking oil to run it," he said. "It has two fuel tanks, front and rear, and we have diesel in one and cooking oil that restaurants give me in the other, and in summer, we'll run it pretty much 100 percent on cooking oil. The other seasons, it depends on how cool it is. We may blend it a bit with diesel. We think it saves us $8,000 a year in our operating costs, and the nice thing about it is that after it goes through the engine, the exhaust is mostly water. There's almost no pollution in it, and it smells better. It smells like KFC on a Friday night."

The lesson?

"It's all about innovation in local agriculture," Ramsey explained, "whether it's corn oil plastic containers or using cooking oil in your vehicle, it's about adapting to the changing economic conditions."

Stoneleigh Farms can be reached at (540) 341-7790. The Web site is www.stone-leighfarms.com.

Bee a business

Ask a farmer: Bees make the crops grow. Then ask a beekeeper -- and more specifically, Phillip Ramsey of Warrenton -- and he'll tell you a surprising statistic. "About 80 percent of the bees have been killed off in the last 10 years in this country," Ramsey said. "And two out of every five beekeepers in Virginia have ceased operations in recent years, due to hives lost to parasitic mite infestations."

Extra income for farmers

     The lack of bees would seem to be a problem for orchards, farms and people who enjoy growing things, whether it's flowers, fruits or vegetables. If there aren't enough bees to go around, there won't be enough topollinate the plants, and they won't grow. Bees are the essential ingredient in the equation.
     Ramsey has a plan to help local farmers.
     "Farmers rent or lease hives from us over a three-year period, and at the end of that time, the hive belongs to you," Ramsey explained. "It's a partnership, and I buy all the honey from them. We calculate that, after the first year, they should realize a 25 percent return on their money every year.
     "I take care of the hives and remove the honey. All they have to do is to make sure that nothing knocks them over. It's a nice form of passive income for farmers, I think."
      Ramsey processes the honey himself. Sold in local stores under the trade name of "Stoneleigh Farms," it is sold as raw, unblended, unpasteurized honey.
     "Some of the honey you see in stores is honey that has been brought here from as far away as China and Argentina," Ramsey said. "That kind of honey is blended, and it tends to lose one of its best features. Local, raw honey comes from the flowers in the area where you live. If you have allergies, that kind of honey may help."

High tech

     The hives Ramsey maintains aren't like your father's bee hives.
     "All of my hives are polystyrofoam," Ramsey said. "It has an R-value of 7.5 compared to an R-value of 0.5 for wooden hives. This means that the hive stays cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter.
     "In older hives, sometimes up to a third of the hive would be fanning their wings inside to keep the hive cool and to take the humidity out of the honey before they cap the cells. My bees no longer fan.
     "I've discovered a very elaborate cooling system, and I can control the environment for the bees," Ramsey continued. "Since the bees no longer spend time fanning, that means that they are out there making more honey.
     "Most beekeepers get 85 pounds of honey a year per hive. We get 225 to 250 pounds a year per hive. We harvest every four to five weeks instead of once a year."
      In each of Ramsey's hives is a computer chip that constantly monitors the temperature and humidity in the hive, and fans turn on and off as needed.
      Ramsey provides a liquid sucrose and lavender oil mixture for the bees to process when honey supers are not on the hives. "The bees are breathing in the lavender scent, and that is an irritant to the bee mites, which plague so many hives. The lavender knocks the mites back just enough that the bees can handle them, so I'm not medicating, and that allows me more productive time, and it's better for the bees as well."
      Unlike older hives, the frames these bees use to store the honey in the hive are built out and made of high-grade plastic. Therefore, the bees have to make very little wax.
     "My bees don't make wax," Ramsey said. "They're honey producers. We put the best honey into the Stoneleigh Reserve, and the rest goes into soap and shampoos."

Expanding the business

     Ramsey is on the lookout for new farms that will lease the hives from him on a lease-to-own basis.
     "I definitely need more farms to grow," he explained. "I have demands for 100,000 pounds more honey than I can deliver right now."
      The program is fairly simple. The farmer provides the space, and Ramsey provides the hives.
     "After all, bees pollinate half the crops that grow, and this program will provide a nice, passive income to local farmers," he stated. "Will it save the family cattle farm? Probably not, but we'll manage the hives for them, and they can take a small corner of one field and turn it into a cash producer.
      The hives generally last for 18 to 20 years, if you keep them healthy, and I replace the queens every year. I think that this is something that many farms can profit from, and people who buy the honey and the honey products are supporting farmers in this county, and that's a good thing."
      Stoneleigh Farms honey is available at The Farm Store in The Plains, at The Home Farm Store in Middleburg, at Food For Thought in Culpeper, and at the Giant supermarkets in Warrenton and Gainesville. The Web site is http://www.stoneleighfarms.com, and Phillip Ramsey can be reached at (540) 341-7790.