Finding a pretty sweet hobby | Living | Journal Gazette – Fort Wayne Journal Gazette

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  Photos by Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
  Phil Juengel of Preble checks on the contents of his hives by tapping on them to hear if they are hollow or not.

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  Phil Juengel checks on the contents of his honey extractor.

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  Phil Juengel and his wife, Carolyn, use beekeeping as a source of side income.

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  The Juengels sell their honey products at area stores as well as the annual Johnny Appleseed Festival.

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  Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
  Phil Juengel, of Preble, with a honey extractor, which can hold 20 frames from his bee hives.

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  Michelle Davies | The Journal Gazette
  Some of the honey products made by Phil Juengel and his wife Carolyn, of Preble.

Sunday, August 11, 2019 1:00 am

Senior portrait

82-year-old turned beekeeping into small business

TERRI RICHARDSON | The Journal Gazette

Phil Juengel doesn’t remember exactly when he fell in love with bees.

After 65 years of beekeeping, the 82-year-old says they grew on him. But it wasn’t always that way.

When his mother first tried to get him to take up beekeeping, he didn’t want to have anything to do with it. That was his sophomore year in high school.

But she tried again the next year, offering to “send to Sears” for anything he needed, such as a veil and gloves.

So Juengel decided to try it and started with two hives in 1954 during his junior year of high school. They all died the first year.

“I didn’t appreciate bees at that time,” Juengel says.

But as time went on, he learned more and his hives began to grow.

However, his beekeeping was interrupted when he went into the Army. He didn’t do anything with the bees for three years. But once he returned, he picked back up on the hobby.

Juengel married his wife, Carolyn, in 1966. In 1976 they bought their current home in Preble.

He began attending beekeeping meetings in Fort Wayne. After attending the first meeting, Juengel says he came home and told his wife, “I’m dumber than a box of rocks,” adding that he didn’t know any of the stuff they were talking about.

But he kept going and learning.

By then he had 15 colonies and decided if he was going to do this he needed to spend some money and make it bigger. So the couple did and started their honey company. They had always sold honey, Carolyn Juengel says, but that’s when they started keeping records.

At one time, Juengel maintained 90 hives. But since he retired from beekeeping about three years ago, he only has about a dozen now.

Inside Juengel’s home, it’s not too hard to tell that bees are a big part of the couple’s lives. There are multiple cookie jars in the shape of beehives, the kitchen is decorated in bee wallpaper trim and a little bee dangles from the end of the chain that is used to turn on the dining room light. Even Juengel’s leather belt is engraved with the words “Eat honey” and “Sweet bee.”

Behind Juengel’s home is the garage where the honey house is located. That is where Juengel extracts the honey.

It’s a process that can take some time as Juengel must prepare the frames, which is where the honeycomb is located, to be placed in the extractor. The number of frames he has will dictate on the amount of honey he gets.

The couple, who have been married 53 years, make pure honey, lip balm, face cream, candies and candles from the honey. Their items are available at many stores and they have been selling their products at the Johnny Appleseed Festival for years.

Beekeeping was always a side income for the family. Because it is agricultural, the family couldn’t depend on it for a steady income, Juengel says. But the couple did make enough money that allowed Carolyn to stay home with their four boys.

Juengel worked at CTS Corp. in Berne where he retired after 371/2 years. He’s also been a Preble volunteer fireman since 1971. Juengel says his firefighting job, because he lives so close to the station, is to open the door and start the truck if he gets there before the others.

Juengel’s children didn’t pick up his beekeeping hobby. “They didn’t want a thing to do with it,” Juengel laughs.

His hives are located on a farming property not too far from his house. Juengel doesn’t describe himself as a bee whisperer, but he says he can tell by the sound of the bees whether they are happy or angry. 

Juengel says beekeeping is an interesting, fascinating hobby. He still goes to beekeeping meetings and on occasion travels to state meetings.

When asked what advice he would give to aspiring beekeepers, he says, “Go to Las Vegas if you’re going to gamble.”

But Juengel’s gamble has paid off, even if it took the insistence of a mother all those years ago.

trich@jg.net