Cranky Bees. They are one of the worst nightmares of a beekeeper. Cranky bees are not enjoyable to keep. They have aggressive tendencies and are overprotective of the hive. Often when you have cranky bees, you will be unable to get near the hive or you will get stung. Sometimes these bees chase you for just […]

Bees are some of nature’s biggest miracle workers. They support the worldwide agriculture industry, help plants pollinate each year, and keep the world running by flying around with their tiny, fuzzy bodies covered in pollen. They’re a precious resource for both humans and the natural world, especially because they produce honey. Honey has been used […]

It’s an old story that sweeteners can be bad for our health if we use them excessively, but the question is which one is better for our health – sugar or honey? While the effect of honey is similar to sugar’s effect, honey is well known for being more nutritious, and therefore healthy. But the […]

Sometimes it feels like you need to be a lawyer or a chemist to really understand what you’re buying from the grocery store. Wouldn’t it be nice if food was just food and we could read a label and take it at face value? Unfortunately, that is not the case. In recent years, many companies […]

We all know that beeswax makes great candles, but did you know that it has many household uses? This is especially true in the movement away from commercially-made cosmetics and cleaning products. Beeswax can be a useful ingredient to have around the home. What is beeswax? Beeswax is created in eight wax-producing glands on a […]

I am experimenting with different varieties of handmade soap and I recently made some citrus soap bars. They turned out great, so I want to share this variation using a base of gentle olive oil soap with beeswax. I call it Beeswax Citrus Soap. Beeswax softens and protects skin from environmental elements and is naturally nourishing, antibacterial, and anti-allergenic. […]

Visiting more than 2 million flowers to produce a single pound of honey, bees are some of the hardest workers on our planet — and quite possibly nature’s best cosmetologists. These wondrous winged creatures pollinate about one-sixth of the world’s flowering plant species and about 400 agricultural plants, and from their hard work springs forth […]

Good raw unpasteurized honey tastes very different from the plastic clover honey bear that you purchase at the supermarket. I compare it to processed cheese vs. a homemade varietal cheese. Honey bears are simply an accumulation of many types of honey that have been mixed together, heated, and made into a homogeneous mixture which lacks […]

Honey comes from bees right? Well, sort of. It could be said that honey actually comes from plants and that bees are the manufacturers that turn pollen and nectar into honey. Behind every drop of honey is the work of many, many bees collecting nectar of a hundred or more flowers. Plants need bees, bees […]

Each time I open the hive, I risk injuring or killing the queen. Each time I open the hive I set the hive back. The bees have to repair what I messed up! When I first started as a backyard bee keeper I loved to look in the hives. I wanted to get in there every few days to check things out. I did not realize there should be a PURPOSE for each inspection. Here I share some reasons for hive inspections.

This syrup made of honey and elderberries is a great boost to your immune system and respiratory health.

How can you use propolis? Royal jelly? Pollen? Check out this great post on the sustainability of bee products.

Learn about the healing history of honey as medicine, how it can improve your health and how to know you’re buying sustainable products.

A nectar thought to be a gift from the gods in history, honey has been consumed for thousands of years. For much of that time, it was a unique source of energy in the form of sugar.

You may be surprised at just how many health benefits honey actually has.