A steady rain was falling as I left for my Saturday morning farmers market ritual, so I headed to a place I knew I'd stay dry: the Richfield Farmers Market, which gathers under the roof of a picnic shelter in the city's Veterans Memorial Park. I wasn't fast enough to grab my first sighting of local strawberries -- a quick-thinking shopper nabbed the last pint from under me. But all was well in the world after I spied the honey products at Scott Herrmann's stand: wildflower-, clover- and buckwheat-scented honey, gathered from about 70 hives scattered across Carver, Wright and Sibley counties, as well as creamed honey and beeswax bricks.
Meeting and greeting shoppers at the Richfield and Excelsior farmers markets is quite a departure from Herrmann's formidable-sounding vocation: non-destructive metal testing for nuclear power plants. "This is my summer job," said Herrmann, gesturing to his beautiful, amber-tinted honey, which starts in 12-ounce squeeze bottles for $4 and goes up to Costco-size 20-pound jars for $32. A colleague introduced him to the joys of beekeeping in the early 1990s, and he's never looked back. "I got stung three times that day," he said with a laugh. "A normal person would have said, 'Forget this.' "
RICK NELSON
Scott's Bees & Honey at the Richfield Farmers Market, 6335 Portland Av. S., Richfield, 612-861-9385, www.richfieldfarmersmarket.org, open 7 a.m. to noon Saturday. Also at the Excelsior Farmers Market, Water Street between George and 3rd Sts., Excelsior, 952-474-5330, open 2 to 6 p.m. Thursday.
For a complete list of Twin Cities metro area farmers markets, go to www.startribune.com/taste.
