Thompson's Trading Post

07/22/2024

So a thing happened. Thank you to Joshua Hatch for hearing my story and feeling like it was article worthy.

As weird as it is (for me at least) to have an article written about your hobby turned side job and dreaming of it becoming a full time thing, this article was a great read this morning.

This adventure I am doing is only possible because Adison Thompson supports my crazy ideas. Thank you my love.

Darrell Thompson can measure the difference between his first career in the U.S. Marines and a burgeoning second as a master beekeeper and honey entrepreneur with a simple step: When

06/12/2024

https://olddominionhoneybeeservices.com/darrell-thompson/

I teamed up with another company to promote my hive removal services.

Darrell is a honeybee removal specialist that has worked with us since the beginning of 2024, and we are proud to have him as a partner! He services Spotsylvania, Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Fauquier counties.

04/01/2024

Filling seed packets was a long process but well worth it to know how many people enjoy them!

12/04/2023

IT'S HERE!!!

Tomorrow while supplies last 6 Bears & A Goat Brewing Company will have these two beers available.

Why am I so excited? If you look at the top left corner of each lable you will see the Thompson's Trading Post logo. That's because I teamed up with the brewery to bring you these beers aged in a bourbon barrel that held honey from Thompson's Trading Post.

I have tried both of these beers and the flavor is awesome on both. These are a limited run and right now only available in cans.

10/14/2023

So, what is the Latitude/Longitude Program? Well, it's something we started to help others in our community & surrounding areas!

Have you ever wanted honeybees before?

A lot of people want honeybees either for the access to raw honey or to have pollinators right in the back yard but don't have the time or money to keep them.

The Lat/Long program allows people in my local area to have honeybees on their property at no cost to them and no maintenance required.

All the landowners are welcomed and encouraged to join in the hive inspections and ask as many questions as they want.

Every year, once the honey is harvested and bottled, the landowner gets an agreed upon amount of the honey from their site.

🍯One of the big things that sets Thompson's Trading Post apart is that we don't blend all the honey from the sites, we keep it separate. This allows the honey to have a color difference (as shown in the picture) as well a flavor difference from site to site.

The color and flavor differences are all dependent on what is blooming in that local area. This gives our local customers the option to find a honey that is produced from an area that may be close to their house, work, or just try a tasting tour of Virginia.

We currently have sites in:
🐝Culpepper
🐝Orange County
🐝Spotsylvania (x2)
🐝Partlow
🐝Fredericksburg
🐝Stafford
🐝Fauquier

And a waitlist that extends out to 2025!

10/11/2023

I must give all the credit to my wife for why I got into beekeeping. She was eating so much local honey that I joked about buying a beehive being cheaper than buying the honey. This joke led me to getting my first hive the following year.

In 2016, we added one beehive to our Farmstead. From there, it became 2, then 4, then 6, and now up to 40 hives that provide local pollinators to the area and the sweet local raw honey that our community enjoys.

To ensure that I was the best beekeeper I could be, I signed up for a Master Beekeeping program with Cornell University & am now considered a Certified Master Beekeeper!

For years we’ve been trying to shed light on the fun of beekeeping and the versatility of honey!

🍯In 2020, we created the Latitude/Longitude Bee Program where homeowners can enjoy the benefits of beekeeping (without all the work)!

🍯In 2021, we started delivering our honey annually to our local Co-Op (Fredericksburg Food Cooperative)

🍯In 2021, we teamed with a local, award-winning distillery (A. Smith Bowman Distillery) to create our Bourbon Barrel Aged Honey.

🍯This year, we got together with a local, award-winning brewery (6 Bears & A Goat Brewing Company) to contribute to some amazing beer!

🍯And, currently in the works, Hot Honey!

10/05/2023

🌱Like many at that time, I hadn't really known what microgreens were. Well at least not until my wife was diagnosed with MTHFR. When we were looking for ways to help with this, one of the things on every list was microgreens. After research and how-to guides, I started to grow microgreens.

I called it "hippie food" at first, but after trying it, I found that it is really good with the added benefit of being good for you (like REALLY good for you). In 2017, I started testing out a wide variety of microgreens and by 2018, I began taking them to our local farmer’s market! They were a hit! By 2021, our microgreens were being sold at our local food co-op!🛒

💚Over the last year, we’ve pulled some of our focus away from microgreens so that we had a little more time for the bees, honey, and expanding the produce we grow but microgreens will always hold a special place in our hearts (and diet)!

10/02/2023

💻"Five Acres of Freedom" in the online presence for the Farmstead.

We enjoy the freedom of growing and raising our own food and we are trying to do it all on 5 acres.

I was born and raised in Michigan where I learned a lot of my skills. I am the youngest of 4 children and the only boy, which meant spending most of my time outside and working with my dad. Both my parents taught me the benefit of hard work. On my 19th birthday I was standing on yellow footprints at Marine Corps bootcamp. I spent over 10 years as an active-duty Marine, got married, had 2 daughters, bought a house, and got out of the Marines.

Sadly, the one reason I didn't do a full 20 years was due to 3 knee surgeries that forced my time in the Marines to be cut short. While I was working through the change of being a Marine to Civilian life I got into beekeeping because of a joke with my wife. Shortly after getting honeybees, we expanded our garden and added chickens.

As our homestead grew, I would talk to my friends, family, and co-workers about what we had going on and projects that were planned for the future. This led to a lot of questions regarding how I was doing something or statements that they wished they knew how to do stuff like that.

🎥I can’t tell you how many times I was suggested to start a YouTube channel! It took me a few years, but I started Five Acres of Freedom YouTube channel. I quickly found out that the amount of recording and editing required to produce a good video was more than I was able to handle.

At the time I had to step away from making YouTube videos, it was suggested I start making videos on TikTok (as videos on there are shorter and didn't require as much editing time as YouTube did). So, I gave TikTok a shot and it started taking off showing me that there are a group of people out there that are doing the same homestead/Farmstead journey that we were here.

I try to post videos of just what is going on every day on our homestead giving everyone a glimpse into what it takes to get to where we are and what we have going on. This page has included our TikTok link!

10/01/2023

Check out Five Acres of Freedom's video.

10/01/2023

We're so sorry if you went to the previous link and it didn't work!

TikTok seems to be having some perpetual trouble with our Shop and we're sure it'll get smoothed out eventually!

So... Here is the newest video on our TikTok and when you go to the actual video (from the TikTokapp), it should have an updated product link!

If not, please reach out to let us know!