Cinnamon and Honey the Miracle cure

[Astrojewels]

People should also be aware that when you buy mass produced honey, many of these bee farms have artificial pollen for the bees to feed on, like when you visit the zoo and the butterfly’s feed on those plates of pollen. It takes thousands of bees to produce just 500ml of honey, so to make a production line; these farms would have to have fields of pollen producing plants. All honey can be labeled organic because it is made by the bees.
Go for a Sunday drive to a small country town, and surely they will have a farmers market somewhere, this way you can buy honey produced from local plants, and you can buy lots of it because there is no shelf life for honey. These are usually people that do it for the love of bee farming, and just want to make a little extra cash.
Last month I went to the farmers market and got some orange blossom honey, which I have never had, it is divine, I try to buy it as the seasons change this way you are getting nature in both forms. I love honey…

[spiritvoyager]

I know absolutely nothing about bee keeping, but think it would be lovely to produce your own honey.  My favorite honey is the kind from wild flowers.  I have noticed that the bees (and butterflies) will visit your yard a lot if you plant herbs like echinacea, mint, sage, etc.  They are very attracted to the flowers that bloom on these herbs.  (Many are perrenials, even in zone 5/6 and require very little care.)  I wonder if you could place some organite on your land that would protect the bees from ELFs?

[Richard]

 All honey can be labeled organic because it is made by the bees.

Karen,

That would be like saying all milk can be labeled organic because it is made by the cows. I don’t know about the organic standards in Australia but in America only organic honey can be certified organic. Organic honey must come from organic bees. Hives that have existing honey in them are forbidden to become organic. Organic honey must be produced from naturally foraging bee colonies that are located at least 2 miles (straight-line flight) from any source that could cause the honey to contain pesticides or herbicides. Within this 2 mile radius no pesticides or herbicides may be used, and must not have had any chemical application in the previous 3 years. Feeding of bees is prohibited. If feeding is necessary to prevent starvation, the honey produced is not organic. Hives need to have all of their parts (supers, queen excluders, etc.) numbered to prevent accidental use in non organic hives. All hive parts must be made of wood. Comb foundations must be made from organic beeswax. The extraction facility must be certified organic. All organic honey must be certified by an approved organic certifying agency. The USDA’s NOP program (National Organic Program) certifies the agencies. The certifier must have physically visited the organic producing area.

[GertrudaRose]

Of course, the standards in America are only followed if the fine is greater than the profit.  Otherwise, food companies do what they want and just continually pay fines.

[Richard]

This is true and this is why it is important to research the companies you plan to buy from. You can usually find out about any companies products doing Google searches. Like for example the milk at Wal-Mart under the Horizon brand is labeled organic but it isn’t. Horizon Organic, the company that supplies Wal-Mart, has continually ignored federal organic standards -- specifically, a cow's access to pasture. Their "organic" milk actually comes from factory-style dairy farms where the animals are kept in intensive confinement and have been imported from conventional farms as calves. In fact, the problem has gotten so out of hand that the Organic Consumers Association has called for a consumer boycott on Horizon and its partner Aurora Organic, its first for an "organic" product. All of the milk from Aurora Organics and most from Horizon is produced by cows that came from factory dairy feedlots and existed on disgusting diets of genetically modified grains, slaughterhouse waste and chicken manure.

http://v.mercola.com/blogs/post.aspx?App=public_blog&PostID=9444&Subscribed=1

http://www.naturalnews.com/021763.html

[Astrojewels]

I don’t know the regulations in Australia, but I am sure they are as stringent as the US, we have very strict laws on labeling food, but in reality the label really just means no lies! Like the chicken nuggets can say 100% and they are, but that 100% is offal, so it is chicken but not what you would like to think, or ‘no added sugar’ translates to no ‘added’ sugar after the product is mixed, but it contains heaps of sugar. We also have the problem that Gertrudarose suggest, there are not enough enforces to enforce these regulations.
I think your discussions here are the best source of information because you can all discuss what is good and bad about the different products available in your area. It is stories like that one Richard that should be exposed because that is how the mad cow disease began, they were feeding cows-cows!

[Richard]

Luckily we live in the country like you do and we know a bee keeper that lives a few miles from us. He’s a great guy and I know he’s producing excellent organic raw honey. Here’s a link to his site if anyone is interested in trying Michigan honey. http://www.blossomland.com/index.html

[Astrojewels]

There is some very interesting stuff on that site Richard, have you been out to his farm? It is always interesting to see the workings of the bees, and I find there is always a very special energy from those farmers who just love bees.

Does anyone bake or cook anything special with honey, that would be interesting to read.

[Mercy Now]

My grandfather raised bees but basically for his crops and and some honey for the table. I've been looking into building my own hives. I have some honey recipes somewhere amongst our renovations. I will post a couple when I come across them.

[Astrojewels]

Interesting MN, cliffs uncle had a property way out in the bush and he also was a bee farmer amongst many of his talents. He died last year at the age of 94, his funeral was the first I had been to where people were joyous, not at his death but his life, perhaps it was his age, but his life was so interesting and he was never famous or wealthy, but there was an interesting story with his eulogy, he was drafted into the army and he went AWOL for his bees, yep he just up and left and walked thousands of kilometers home because no one could take care of his bees like he could. He was an amazing man.

We have a Tafe school here that teaches bee hiving; are there classes available for you to learn? Can’t wait to see those recipes, yum….