In the winter months, just thinking of my beehives bursting with loads of bees and honey puts me in the mood to go through and inspect all my honeybee equipment and replace and renovate. I want to have all my equipment ready to go at a moment’s notice when the spring rush happens. All of […]

Much of the garden furniture today is made of plastic rather than wood. If you are lucky enough to have a set of old-fashioned wicker or bent willow garden furniture, you can use this Beeswax Sealant Recipe for to keep it in top shape. Yield: 1 12-ounce jar Ingredients 1/2 cup beeswax 1/2 cup grapeseed […]

Preserving the wood used to enclose raised garden beds is a conundrum. Popular wood preservatives contain toxic heavy metals that leach into the soil of a vegetable garden, potentially contaminating the soil and any food growing there. But because garden boxes are exposed to the weather and remain perpetually damp, some kind of preservative is […]

Download this episode (right click and save) Join beekeepers Becky Tipton, Charlotte Brunin, Robert Riley, and Steve Tipton as they discuss the best way to harvest honey from a Langstroth hive. To hear more podcasts from MOTHER EARTH NEWS and Friends, click here.

Honey is a unique food in that it never spoils. Properly saturated honey should stay safe to eat forever.   In fact, one study found “stored honey from Ancient Egypt to be over 3000 years old and still completely edible”. http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/08/21/chemistryofhoney/   So Why Doesn’t Honey Spoil?   Honey safely stores for long periods of […]

It’s best to only have enough comb in your hive that your bees can cover and with cooler temperatures coming, they will start to cluster. Keeping warm will be easier in a smaller space.

All honey that is going to be sold will require a clear and legible label. The first thing that must go on the label on the front of your packaging is the type of honey. For instance, if your bees forage where they will, you simply label the honey as “Wildflower Honey”. If your bees pollinate a particular crop, such as clover, cranberries or the like, then you can label it as so.

For readers who live in areas of the country with winters as harsh as those in Northeastern Pennsylvania, colony loss is expected in the spring. As we try to grow our apiary from year to year, winter losses are always a disappointing setback. Two years ago we decided to not just replace the hives lost over the winter, but to […]

When Good Honey Goes Bad…Not bad, really, just crystallized. If you have ever wondered about that jar of honey in your cabinet, you aren’t alone. I’ve been asked by many people if the jar they bought years ago is still good. Happily, I have good news. It definitely is! Almost all unheated, unfiltered honey crystallizes; […]

Honey prices vary greatly, depending on quality, variety, and location, so there really isn’t a clear-cut answer to the question, “What should I charge?”

Large scale producers of honey sticks make lot of honey sticks quickly, but with small-scale equipment, it is possible to make honey sticks by hand.

Are you interested in making money with your bees? Here are a dozen tips for selling your excess sweetness!

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

Do you know what to look for when purchasing honey? Here are some tips and resources you can use to make a smart purchase!