Gold
Premium wildfl ower honey with a taste you will love made right here in northeast Oklahoma
A
ll honey is not created equal. If you don’t believe that, you might want to taste some of what is pro- duced right here in northeast Oklahoma under
the Gold Standard Honey label. Beekeeper George Brining of Adair is one of four
Mayes County residents who co-op their resources to create Gold Standard Honey, a premium product avail- able from discriminating retailers and at restaurants in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. Along with Brining, the Gold Standard label also
represents brothers Nick and Dustin Neuenschwan- der of Pryor, as well as Pryor resident Shannon Wallis. Extraction takes place at the Neuenschwan- der’s facility in Pryor. T ere are nearly 3,000 hives between the four beekeepers. Brining also sets aside a portion of his harvest to
be able to sell to clientele at the popular street mar- kets in Tulsa who seek single-sourced, farm-to-table products. He acknowledges that the trend these days is toward REAL food and away from processed food that may contain artifi cial colors, artifi cial sweeteners, and preservatives. You will fi nd Brining with his products twice each
week at the Cherry Street Market in the Brookside District, where his honey has a loyal following. “T ere’s a certain demographic there in Tulsa that
4 - Northeast Connection
is really into a healthier lifestyle. We’re talking about 20 to 45-year-old individuals who are very knowl- edgeable. If you are not authentic, they are going to sniff you out,” Brining said. “T ey are looking for locally-grown products like grass-fed beef, farm-fresh dairy products and home-grown vegetables. T ey like this locally-grown honey, not only for the taste, but
because it is good for you. It can really help augment your immune system.” Added Brining: “T ey say the trend is your friend.
I guess I’m smart enough to shut up and listen to what they want. I see where the trend is going.” Brining was raised on a wheat farm in northwest-
ern Oklahoma. If, like Brining, you lived in Alfalfa County, there’s a pretty good chance you or someone you knew had a farm. In George’s case, farming goes back at least fi ve generations and probably more if he wished to investigate further. “Everyone from my dad to my great-great grand-
father were farmers,” said Brining. “My dad would say ‘puddle to town.’ He’d haul in his wheat and dump it. Whatever the price was on the wall, that’s what he had to take. It was his blood, sweat and tears to raise a crop of wheat and then he had to take whatever they wanted to give him. T ey would turn around and sell it to a big buyer. My dad would cuss and carry on.” With the blood of farmers coursing through
his veins, Brining opted to become a schoolteacher. He spent the fi rst four years of his teaching career in Missouri before moving back to Oklahoma where he taught 25 years in the Jay Public School system. Brining, now 59, retired last May and is now devoted to keeping bees and selling honey full-
time. “I really enjoy it,” said Brining. “Having been raised on a farm, I know what it means to be a
producer. Several years before I retired from teaching, I thought to myself ‘I need to get something else going.’ I could see retirement coming and I wanted to do something related to farming.” While Brining may have broken the mold to
become a teacher, to his way of thinking at least, beekeeping is not so diff erent from farming. He is still
Clint Branham Communications Specialist
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