Buying honey in pints is very expensive. Find a bee keeper, or go to a farmers market. Talk to the keeper. Tell them you want to make a mead, nto spread it on your toast. ;) They will usually have an interest in that idea. When you start buying a gallon at a time, the price starts to drop drastically. I find that 5 gallons is the next big price drop. That is why we make 4-5 batches at a time. 5 gallons of honey is 4 batches of mead! You should be able to get it down to $3.00 a pound. Some will even go down to $2.00 a pound if you sweet talk them. Offer a couple bottles of the final product. That greases the skids sometimes too. That's how I get cranberries! I pay the grower with mead.

Franklin Ohio? As in just south of Dayton? We'll be driving through there on the way to my wife's family late next month. Well, maybe not quite. We usually take 35 east instead of heading through Cincinnati and down along the river. That is a nicer drive, but takes much longer. She has sisters in both Dayton and Cincinnati.