The Honeyfarm

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Special Notice! Our Honeyfarm in Dryden, Michigan will open this fall on Friday, September 5 - PLEASE SUBSCRIBE TO OUR MAILING LIST Please check back for more details! Take a "Virtual Tour" of our Farm Make sure you are on our mailing list for  email notification.

Click here if you wish to purchase honey on line.

 

 

We are located in Dryden, Michigan (southern end of Lapeer County & 1/2 hr north of Rochester). We are open only on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays from Labor Day until mid October. Please visit our website often for details of fall activities.

Did you ever wonder what really happens each month at a "Vineyard" or a "Honey Farm" or a "Candle Shop." Our newsletter describes all of these activites. (click for sample) Click here to be added to our Mailing List.

Click here to view pictures of customers & activities at our farm.

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New Items at the Farm! Visit our Stained Glass Factory for Honeybee Suncatchers! Click here for details.....

 

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The Honeybee in Michigan

Because of the variety of clovers, trees, wildflowers and vegetables that grow in Michigan, the honeybee produces a honey of exceptional quality. Honey gathered in early spring is used to maintain and rebuild the hive which has been depleted by our long and cold winters. This nectar is gathered from early blooming fruit, flowers, and deciduous trees.

As the hive grows in strength, the summer flowerings then provide an abundance of nectar and a surplus of honey begins to be stored in the hive in anticipation of the coming of winter. To our delight, the bees store well in excess of what is actually needed to maintain the hive over the winter. From the excess comes our honey crop.

The first summer honey is usually light in color and mild in flavor. The fall honeys have an amber glow and a stronger flavor. Sometimes this fall honey is preferred by persons seeking relief from allergy problems. Relief is thought to be enhanced by using honey gathered from the area of the U.S. in which the sufferer resides.

When to use Honey
Use honey whenever you want to add a sweet, smooth and distinct taste to your recipes. Honey has marvelous keeping qualities due to its ability to absorb and retain moisture. This retards drying out and the staling of baked goods. Cakes and cookies in which honey is an ingredient stay fresh and moist much longer that those made without it.

Storing Honey
Honey should be stored in an air tight container in a dark, cool place. Refrigeration will not harm the honey but may hasten granulation. If granules do form, place the jar of honey in a bowl of warm water until all of the crystals are melted and the honey is again liquid. Too high a temperature will scorch the honey.

Honey and Health
Honey contains many vitamins and minerals essential to good nutrition. It is also a quick source of energy because it is already in its natural form of dextrose and levulose.

Wildflower Honey
Our wildflower honey has been warmed only to 135 degrees. Many large packers filter and heat at higher temperatures to retain a much longer shelf life. We prefer a more natural or "raw" product that will only stay liquid for three to six months, and will not have lost its beneficial nutrients by overheating.

Creamed Honey

Creamed honey is naturally granulated honey that has been seeded with finely ground honey crystals.
It granulates into a smooth spread that looks and is used like butter. Fruit and spices are also blended into these spreads.

Comb Honey
Comb honey is honey in its most natural and tasteful form. Bringing this form of honey to the market involves an exceptional amount of work by the beekeeper. The rewards for this extra effort is in obtaining a honey with all of the delicate essences that the bees seal up in the comb. The comb, being beeswax is also edible and can be chewed as an added delight. It is the only sweet in the world that is neither made nor processed by man!

Beeswax
Beeswax is a fascinating and complex product. Its color may vary from white to yellow or brown. It possesses a subtle aroma, the fragrance of honey ingrained with the other scents present in a bee hive. The demand for beeswax exceeds the supply in most years. For this reason, it is expensive. On the average, eight pounds of honey are consumed by the bees for each pound of wax made by the colony. A large amount of the available beeswax is used in cosmetics and in many waxes and polishes.

Another major use of beeswax is in the candle industry (see our candle page). Although a pure beeswax candle is a delight to eye and nose, its availability is increasingly rare due to the cost and the decreasing supply of beeswax.

Pollen is the honeybees main source of protein. (Honey is their carbohydrate source) Pollen contains from 10-36% protein. It also contains essential sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids and in its natural form is nearly perfect as food. It has been used throughout history as a nutritional supplement and health food.

The Value of Honey Bees As Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000 - Visit this excellent website at Bee Culture magazine for the most complete article on pollination I have read.

 

What happened to all the wild honeybees?

Within the last 10 years the U.S. has seen the spread of two different types of mites. The microscopic Trachael mite affects the bees breathing tubes, and Varroa mites (the size of a pinhead) infests the young bee. Both mites will weaken and kill the honeybee colony.

This has caused almost complete elimination of the honeybees that live wild in the trees. The honeybees that are managed by beekeepers are able to survive only with the aid of the beekeepers by using new treatments and new breeds of bees that are resistant to these mites.

This causes a shortage of honey and pollination in some years, and can make life very difficult for beekeepers or farmers growing fruits and vegetables.

 

Interesting Fact & Figures

It takes approximately 36,000 foraging trips by the honey bee to produce one pound of honey! A teaspoon full of honey is a lifes work for one honey bee!

Although a honey bee colony can produce more than 700 pounds of honey per year, only 10% is usually harvested by the beekeeper! The rest is consumed by the colony during the year.

The honey bees pollinating value to agriculture is estimated to be in excess of 20 billion dollars! Almost one third of the American diet is from insect pollinated crops.

Honey has bacteria fighting properties! Honey soaks up water like a powerful sponge. Therefore, living organisms in honey tend to lose much of their life supporting moisture to the honey and their growth is effectively stopped. Honey has historically been used for wounds and first aid for cuts, abrasions and burns.