Sainfoin Honey

[parsley]

Young couple set up honeybee hives on our farm. Delightful people. Honey production is the most fascinating ag venture I've seen for a long time, prob because I knew nothing about it. Light coloured honey is pouring out. The bees are in honey heaven here. And they are everywhere!

They keep stacking more boxes on top of more boxes. He's experienced with honey, and bees, and I'm agog. Do any of you have an apiarist in your neck of the woods? Pars

[RD414]

Couple of the young guys at the colony beside us thought they should try a few hives 10 years ago. They now have 25 to 50 hives in every old yard for miles around. Put up a processing building and are doing tons of honey every year. Don't see as many wild bees as before so I expect it is a win/win situation for everyone having tame ones around.

[freewheat]

Getting set up for next year, Miss Parsley.

[Jay-mo]

Ya might want to look into where the honey market is at. Chinese and Argentine honey currently is depressing the price badly.
Apparently, distributors can market "made in Canada" with 49% Chinese content.

[stonepicker]

yep, have a bee guy set up hives on my land usually every other year.. all the free honey i can eat! yum yum!

[sumdumguy]

Honey in the morning -honey in the evening, honey at supper time. our nephew in Saskatoon has a box of bees that make honey. We have chicken that we hatched in June -oh yeh and mosquitos.

[newguy]

Had a relative in Ontario grew buck wheat.Then someone had bees and it made a certain type of honey.

[biglentil]

Planted a 60 acre patch of Borage(bees favorite food supposedly) a bee keeper set up hives. He promised me a jar of honey but he didn't follow through. The borage yielded terrible but I did enjoy the sweet taste of the edible flowers.

[parsley]

RD414, Sainfoin is normally crawling with bees, every variety imaginable, and it seems the honey bees have joined the party.

Glad to hear it Freewheat. I find the honey-process fascinating. Sainfoin makes light honey which is the goal of the honey industry.

JayMo, I also heard that Chinese are adulterating honey with other ingredients to ramp up the yield. As well as diluting dark honey with light Canadian honey. The Canadian legislation has to be tweaked.

What kind of flowers for the honey bees, stone?

Buckwheat is to honey what dark laager is to beer. It's strong. Dark.

Well Big Lentil, maybe the honey wasn't processed properly. It's the kind of business that has to be tended to each and every day. Since you missed out, I think you and I should be invited to sumdum's for fried chicken in the fall . With perogies! Pars

[stonepicker]

Always canola for me pars.

[sumdumguy]

Beetniks are on the menu at our house. Lots of cream, dill and ppppparsley in the garden.

[AlbertaFarmer5]

All we get is Buckwheat honey. My Russian Wife and all of her family think it is the best thing ever. Dark, thick, and apparently very healthy. One of her friends practically lives on nothing but Buckwheat honey.

[parsley]

I agree, albertafarmer that buckwheat anything is really healthy. I love buckwheat honey, but some find it a bit strong -tasting, they tell me. Dark bread and buckwheat honey for breakfast is the best! Pars.

[sumdumguy]

The wild buckwheat has me quite irate this year. I think I will boycott buckwheat anything .... except buckwheat cabbagerolls. 😝

[Jay-mo]

JayMo, I also heard that Chinese are adulterating honey with other ingredients to ramp up the yield. As well as diluting dark honey with light Canadian honey. The Canadian legislation has to be tweaked.

From what I hear, the Chinese honey was blocked from import because of some chemical residue they could not hide. Now they have figured out a method of filteration to remove this residue and open the floodgates to Canada.
It's the Canadian distributors that are blending the 49% Chinese with 51% Canadian honey and passing it off as "product of Canada".

Personally, we only get honey from a friend locally. 100% local.