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Besides working with the bees there were still the other farming chores, crops to raise and harvest, the few cattle to care for, and the hog enterprise which had begun in earnest. It can easily be imagined that those few years were very busy ones, indeed. What is known for certain is that the market for pork and breeding stock began to decline, and at some point the bees were making more money than the hogs. It was then that Emil decided to abandon the hog enterprise and go into honey production full time. With that decision, improvement and expansion to the existing facilities became necessary. The hog barn was remodeled in about 1908 to include storage space and a shop and to serve as a place to extract honey (figures 6–7). Extracting equipment was purchased and installed and a couple of out-yards were established (figure 8).

Another important event took place on January 22, 1906: Emil married Clara Sterling from Elysian. They had two children: Gretchen and Charles. Charles would eventually take over the business.
 

figure 6. Hofmann Apiaries promotion photo showing the home yard with numerous hives, some of which were empty hive covers intended to inflate the actual size of the operation. The Hofmann’s first car is parked in front of the converted hog barn. c. 1914
 

figure 7. Extracting in the converted hog barn.
 

figure 8. The “No 2” truck loaded with what is likely extracting equipment that would have been used at out-yards before the new honey house was built. In the early years all extracting was undertaken on-site regardless of a yard’s location, and equipment had to be hauled to a yard. Initially the equipment was hauled on a hay wagon pulled by a team of horses.
 
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