Local siblings holding honey sales to help fire victims

Twelve-year-old Janae Drummond and her 7-year-old brother, Andrew Widders, have been selling local honey and donating a portion of the profits to Caldor Fire victims. This Sunday, Janae and Andrew will have a honey stand in Folsom at the Folsom Parkway, 1445 Willow Bend Road, from 1 to 4 p.m. where 25 percent of all profits go to Caldor Fire victims. Over the summer, Janae and Andrew's uncle gave them a raw honeycomb and encouraged them to process the raw honey and then sell it. "We started in June this year," said Janae. "Our uncle owns a bee farm and had the idea to sell the honey he makes in Eldorado County." Janae and Andrew cap the raw honey by scraping it off the fronts and backs of hive frames. After that, they put it in a honey extractor, where the honey extracts from the honeycomb by spinning fast enough for the honey to fling out from the comb. They then filter the honey and put it into jars to sell throughout the Folsom/ Eldorado Hills area. "We have tried selling on NextDoor but that didn't really work; our mom's friends will buy some and we sold through Facebook posts. We also had a honey stand at the Parkway in Folsom where we sold 45 jars," said Janae. Janae and Andrew have a lot of empathy for the Caldor Fire victims. "Our cabin almost got burned down in Strawberry but the firefighters were able to save it. We wanted to support the people who did lose their cabins and their homes," Janae said. So far, Janae and Andrew have donated about $100 to the Caldor Fire victims. "It has been fun," said Janae. "We are learning how to run a business and manage our money. I also learned graphic design to make the labels so all the labels are designed by me." For anyone wanting to buy honey from Janae and Andrew who can't make it to Sunday's stand, contact their mother, Denise Widders, at 916-337-9938 or email at denise.m.widders@gmail.com.