CHARLES AND ELLEN (HENDRICKS) HOFMANN

Charles was 26 and faced with a momentous decision: to take on the tremendous debt left by his father, or walk away and start a new life. It certainly would have been easier to turn his back on it all, and likely no one would have assigned blame. But in the end he chose to stay. He had his mother to consider, he felt a moral and ethical responsibility to repay his father’s debts, and perhaps most significantly, he had come to love bees.

The mortgage on the land was owned by an insurance company, and a race began to find financing before the insurance company could take possession of the farm. Eventually, with the help of an uncle who was an experienced businessman, a Federal Land Bank loan was secured and the farm was saved. Further negotiations with the bank in Janesville for the bee business and farm chattel eventually resulted in a satisfactory deal that added debt to the farm but saved the equipment with which to continue the
operation. The total indebtedness amounted to a little over $15,000.*

Charles took on his new responsibilities with serious resolve and a vow never to go into debt if he could possibly avoid it. He had never had to deal directly with the finances of the farm, but he was determined to not repeat the financial mistakes of his father. To that end he set up a system of bookkeeping that at the end of each year balanced nearly to the penny. The markets had found their new levels and had stabilized, but profit margins were slim. It was two and a half years before Charles was able to finally pay the first 500 dollars against the debt. It was, as he put it, “ . . . like trying to knock down a brick wall by tossing eggs at it.”

In 1941 Charles married Ellen Hendricks from Fulda, Minnesota. They had four children: Laurence (Larry), Ann, Gregory and Mary Lynn. With Charles’ hard work, frugal spending habits, attention to detail and an absolute mastery in the practice of keeping bees, The Hofmann Apiaries flourished and continued to be held in high regard with a far-reaching reputation for excellence both in product and practice. Though it took a good many years Charles eventually paid all his father’s debts in full.

During his years operating The Hofmann Apiaries Charles consistently contributed to the beekeeping industry in a variety of ways: He was a skilled and prolific writer and wrote various articles for a number of beekeeping journals and magazines offering details of his practices and equipment; he belonged to various beekeeping organizations and served several terms as president and in many other official capacities of the Minnesota Beekeeper’s Association; in 1942 he was instrumental in helping form the American Beekeeping Federation, and while serving as its vice-president in 1951, played a key role in helping the Federation’s successful efforts to get restrictive World War Two price controls lifted on honey; he served three terms as chairman of the Haydak Research Fund; he served as State Apiary Inspector; he was an excellent photographer and contributed many close-up images of honey bees to bee journals and other publications, many of which were featured on covers; he made the photographs and created a slide lecture called The World of Bees that he presented to numerous groups and organizations, and to countless students,** and for many years he judged the Bee and Honey Exhibit at the Minnesota State Fair. He continued keeping bees and producing honey until 1985 when, at age 77, unable to consistently secure enough needed and reliable help, he sold the business and retired. The new owner of the bees and equipment lived within a few miles of the farm, and at Charles’ request, kept bees there for several years so that there were still bees on the farm throughout the 1990s.

In 2002 Charles and Ellen elected to put 15 acres of the farm in the Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program. One five-acre plot was planted in deciduous trees, and another ten-acre section was planted in indigenous prairie grass and flowers. Those 15 acres, intended by Charles and Ellen to be part of the farm’s legacy, will remain unchanged in perpetuity.

Ellen and Charles continued to live on the farm and both were active until their deaths: Ellen on October 23, 2004, and Charles on December 15, 2009.

* Fifteen thousand 1935 dollars would be equivalent to $250,000 in 2012 dollars.
** The World of Bees was introduced as a VHS video in 1998, was well received, and that year won a Telly Award described as “ . . . one of the oldest competitions of its kind in the United States, giving recognition to outstanding film and video production, and non-network TV programing.” The World of Bees was updated and released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2014.