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| Properly Storing Pure Raw Local Honey That Will Last For Years; And Natural Beekeeping The Disabled Can Do | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: May 5 2010, 08:10 PM (2,253 Views) | |
| yass | May 5 2010, 08:10 PM Post #1 |
'night owl'
  ![]](http://z6.ifrm.com/static/1/pip_r.png)
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 STORING HONEY One of the finest foods we can store for survival is pure, raw local honey. Honey stored under proper conditions will last for years, and can be used for cooking, canning, and general health maintenance. But the secret to success is in those first two sentences. The honey normally sold in stores is NOT pure, raw honey. It is blended, heated, and generally not of origin in this country, let alone local. America is one of the few countries in the world where most honey is sold in liquid form. Note that honey is sold by weight (avoirdupois), and not by volume (pints, quarts, etc). To attain and maintain that liquid state for a long shelf life in retail stores, honey must be heated to 181 F for 24 hours, which destroys most of the inherent good qualities of honey. Indeed, the heating produces the chemical hydroxymethyfurfural (HMF), which in Europe is considered an unwanted adulterant, and heated American honey is therefore illegal to sell in Europe due to their pure food laws (Dr. Roger Morse, "Gleanings in Bee Culture," March, 1985). It has been said that "honey is honey, as long as it has FDA approval, so you might as well buy it from a discount store." Nothing could be further from the truth. The Clinton Administration allowed the importation of Chinese "honey" as early as 1992, which sold for $0.25 per pound, wholesale. Studies in Canada found that Chinese "honey" was at least 40% corn syrup, contained carmel coloring, and Canada joined Europe in banning its importation. Charles Mraz reported ("Gleanings," Dec. 1978) that unfiltered, unheated honey contains active glucose oxidase which supplies oxygen to the digestive tract. Such natural honey is reputed to prevent botulism poisoning, relieve constipation and prevent congestion in the intestinal tract...and that heating and pressure filtering will destroy and/or remove the valuable enzymes in the honey. Studies since 1978 have shown that pure, raw local honey is excellent in the prevention and cure of various allergies, as it contains minute trace amounts of pollen and mold spores, and acts as a homeopathic medicine. One allergy clinic in Iowa (employing 22 physicians!) uses pure, raw local honey in its treatments, and arranges for their patients to obtain local honey, which they defined as being obtained from floral sources within 5 miles of the patient's home. As most honey in North America is obtained in June and July, now is the time to find a local beekeeper and arrange to purchase honey packaged to your specifications, if possible. Your local county extension service should be able to provide you with a contact telephone number for the county bee association. There you should be able to find a beekeeper who meets the qualifications, and who could extract, filter and package honey for you this summer. Most small scale beekeepers (less than 24 hives) remove the honey supers from the hives and extract it the same day at hive temperature (about 94 F), as the viscosity of honey at that temperature allows easy extraction through centrifugal force. Ideally, you would want them to then filter the honey through a fine grade nylon filter (paint filter) immediately, and pour it into two (2) gallon food grade buckets you provide. Expect to pay slightly more for such service than you would for Chinese honey, but the expense is certainly justified. Raw honey as described in the paragraph above can be expected to granulate or crystallize rapidly, the actual rate depending upon the floral source - (for my area) maple (April, May) takes 2 months or more, blackberry (June, July) may granulate in 2 weeks, while fall honey (wildflower/herbal mix) takes about a month to granulate. Mid season honeys are generally preferred for quality. Honey granulates quickest at 57 F, and slower at temperatures above or below 57 F. Proper storage, then, would be at temperatures as close to 57 F as possible, but cooler is preferred over hotter; basement storage is excellent. Granulated honey is normal. By law, honey is sold by the pound, not by avoirdupois liquid measurements You can purchase 3 pounds of honey, but not a quart of honey. The reason for the weight measurement in poundage is very ancient. In England, heather honey will gel extremely fast - right in the comb - and could not be extracted by any methods then available. So honey was traditionally sold as a solid block of honey and wax, by the pound, and the weight measurement laws have remained intact for hundreds of years. To liquefy the honey for normal use, the honey must be heated slowly in a double boiler to 145 F until clear, then cooled quickly to preserve quality by circulating cold water in the double-boiler. Just be sure to have a wire rack, a circle cut from expanded metal, or something similar, on the bottom of the stock pot or container used for the double boiler, so that water may circulate under the bottom of the honey bucket. And always loosen the lid of any honey being liquefied, as it gains considerably in volume as it is being heated - it will burst a container! If honey is stored in glass containers, the water in the double-boiler must be high enough to cover the top of the honey in the container!!! The honey must be able to expand upwards into the neck of the container, or the bottom of the container will be broken right off, ruining a lot of good honey. Trust me. I've done it. A gallon of honey is about 13 pounds, and that is a lot of good honey to waste! It is much easier to liquefy 20 pounds of honey in a two gallon plastic bucket than it is to liquefy 50 pounds of honey in a five gallon bucket not only because of the weight, but also because the water surrounding the honey container in the double-boiler (large stock pot) must be as high as the honey inside the bucket. Honey really expands as it liquefies, and the bottom of the bucket can be split if the honey at the top of the bucket is still granulated solid. http://www.endtimesreport.com/storing_honey.html |
| -Love will lead | |
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| yass | Oct 13 2010, 07:04 AM Post #2 |
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'night owl'
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Raw Honey - Real Raw Honey Raw honey is not filtered or heated. Real raw honey contains all the enzymes, pollen, and floral essences that the honeybees put into it. Raw honey contains all the floral essences from the flowers where the bees collect the nectar. For at least 2700 years, honey has been used to treat a variety of ailments through topical application, but only recently have the antiseptic and antibacterial properties of raw honey been chemically explained. Antibacterial properties of real raw honey are the result of the low water activity causing osmosis, hydrogen peroxide effect and high acidity. Osmotic effect Raw honey is primarily a saturated mixture of two monosaccharides. This mixture has a low water activity; most of the water molecules are associated with the sugars and few remain available for microorganisms, so it is a poor environment for their growth. Hydrogen peroxide Hydrogen peroxide in raw honey is activated by dilution. However, unlike medical hydrogen peroxide, commonly 3% by volume, it is present in a concentration of only 1 mmol/l in real raw honey. Iron in raw honey oxidizes the oxygen free radicals released by the hydrogen peroxide. glucose + H2O + O2 → gluconic acid + H2O2 When used topically (as, for example, a wound dressing), hydrogen peroxide is produced by dilution with body fluids. As a result, hydrogen peroxide is released slowly and acts as an antiseptic. Acidity The pH of real raw honey is commonly between 3.2 and 4.5.[26] This relatively acidic pH level prevents the growth of many bacteria. http://www.sleepingbearfarms.com/raw_honey.php |
| -Love will lead | |
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| yass | Oct 13 2010, 07:09 AM Post #3 |
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'night owl'
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http://www.biobees.com/ Due to a dream I had of the Internet going out and being told to 'save', I've been on a mission to ferret out things I would not want lose informational and image wise, the natural bee system here is one of the things I'd like to keep a reference of. When I revisited the page I didn't get the specific information I was looking for which was what to rub in the flower pot to attract the bees I want to capture and home. I went on to the images and somehow, thinking I was returning to the page I started at I ended up on the page that had the information I was seeking. I'm going to share some of that here and add that at the end, just because I ran across them separately, I have a book link for both the US and UK (different amounts and currencies). We don't know what, if anything, is going to happen, and the man speaking in the ipod recording gives a warning to people to learn more before they go out catching bees, and said that he found many people at (a forum on bee keeping?) had gone out and caught their bees and were then asking questions about what to do with them, or do next, and he expressed that this is not the way to go about it! That said, I still want to retain this information. We never know what life will throw us, or if we'll end up somewhere far, far, from the cities trying to survive and be well. We may not know what to properly do beyond this, these steps, but having this much is something to go on. People have kept bees for millenia, and natural RAW honey is very beneficial and to be preferred over cane sugar. This is a guide, a starting place, and from here perhaps we can build (learn more). This is probably a good foundation to that learning.  A swarm looking for a new home  A flowerpot makes an excellent swarm-catcher and temporary nucleus hive. The 17" top bars are the same length as those used on Phil Chandler's top bar hive, making it easy to transfer swarms to a new hive after settling for a few days.  New comb with brood.  Phil Chandler with his own design of top bar hive. Note entrance holes in centre section.  Newly constructed comb. [url="http://www.biobees.com/photos.php"] Images link[/URL] Are you looking for a way to keep bees... ...which -
...and is easy to learn? If so, you have come to the right place! How to Start Beekeeping - for free! Beekeeping has suddenly become popular again, having been in decline for more than half a century. Honeybees have been in the news for all the wrong reasons: collapsing colonies, pesticide poisoning and parasitic mites and all this bad news seems to have triggered an almost primitive desire in people to want to help and nurture this vitally-important insect that - despite all our scientific advances - we still do not fully understand.c Ever since I can remember, beekeepers have been regarded by the media as harmless, doddery old men (mostly), who do strange things with wooden boxes full of bees, while dressed in sartorially suspect garb. However, this image is beginning to change, with more and more women and young people being attracted to the idea of learning this ancient craft and a new urgency in the air about preserving our honeybees for their important role as pollinators, as well as for their own sake. When people first consider keeping bees, their most likely first port of call is their local Bee Keepers Association. Here they will almost always find a friendly welcome and a great deal of technical chat among the 'old hands', most of which will sound like a foreign language at first. When the jargon is translated, it turns out that one will be required to part with a not inconsiderable sum of money in order to buy one's ticket into this arcane world: the glossy catalogues full of shiny, stainless steel are beguiling, but the accompanying price lists can come as quite a shock. Did this put you off beekeeping? Don't let it! It is perfectly possible to become a beekeeper a good beekeeper without blowing a good chunk of one's hard-earned savings. In fact, as I shall show you, you can even do it virtually for free! The next hurdle to confront the would-bee keeper is the hefty weights that you are expected to lift and carry. Using conventional equipment, you need to be able to lift at least 50 pounds (about 25 kilos) dead weight from ground level not something to try if you are lightly built and not used to box-shifting in that class. Again, this does not have to be the case: I will show you how the least fit person can become a beekeeper. In fact, using my system, you could even work a hive from a wheelchair. Another obstacle that may kill off the newbee's enthusiasm is that of storage space. Using conventional hives, you cannot fail to accumulate all kinds of 'extras' odd-shaped boxes, frames, roofs, extractors all kinds of stuff the 'old hands' forgot to mention at that first, exciting meeting and you will need space to store it. We are talking garage space, folks. Once more I have good news: follow my system and you will not need any extra storage space, as everything can be stored inside the hive itself. So what does it really take to become a beekeeper? The essentials are simple enough: some sort of hive, a hat and a veil, an old, white shirt and to start with at least - some gloves and the agreement of the people who share your living space. It doesn't matter whether you are a town or a country dweller, so long as there is an abundant and varied supply of flowering plants from early spring onwards. In fact, bees often do better in well-gardened, urban areas than in the 'green desert' of modern, industrial farm land. Like many beekeeping novices, I began with a conventional, framed hive the kind with sloped-sided outer boxes familiar from children's books. Soon, I acquired a couple more and began to realize that if I was to continue along this road, I would have to build myself a big shed in which to house all the spare woodwork and other paraphenalia that was rapidly accumulating and I would have to find a way to pay for all the 'extras' I would soon be needing. Does it really need to be this way? That innocent question led me on an exploratory mission of reading, study and experimentation that showed me conclusively that, no it does not need to be that way: beekeeping does not need to be complicated, expensive or dependent on machine-made parts and equipment. My search for an alternative approach led me to the top bar hive - one of the oldest and simplest types of beehive - that requires little skill and few tools to build. A good start on the road to sustainable simplicity, but is it a practical hive for modern beekeeping? After some years of experimenting and testing various designs, I believe I now have a top bar hive design that is easy to build, practical and productive, while being comfortable and easy to use for both the bees and the beekeeper. So what are top bar hives? The principle is simple: a box with sticks across the top, to which bees attach their comb. Mine have central, side entrances, sloping sides and a pair of 'follower boards' to enclose the colony. There are many variations on this theme and all have the essential guiding principle of simplicity of construction and of management. There are no frames, no queen excluders, no ekes, no mouse guards, no supers, no foundation and there is no need for extractors, settling tanks, filters, de-capping knives... in fact no need for any other equipment or storage space, other than that provided within the hive itself. And if you have just spent an hour leafing through suppliers' catalogues, wondering how you can possibly afford to keep bees, that will come as some relief! Building a top bar hive is no more difficult than putting up shelves and can be done using hand tools and recycled wood. Top bar beekeeping really is 'beekeeping for everyone' including people with disabilities, bad backs, or a reluctance to lift boxes: there is no heavy lifting once your hives are in place, as honey is harvested one comb at a time. From the bees' point of view, top bar hives offer weatherproof shelter, the opportunity to build comb to their own design without the constraints of man-made wax foundation and minimal disturbance, thanks to a 'leave well alone' style of management. So where do you get bees from? You can buy them or catch them, or if you are lucky, they will adopt you! Catching or luring a swarm is by far the most fun and much easier than you might think. Bees swarm in response to their instinct to reproduce mostly in spring and early summer and the sight of a swarm in flight is certainly impressive. However, contrary to popular belief, this is the time when they ar least likely to sting you: their only concern at that moment is to find a new place to live. So if you offer them the right sort of accommodation at the right time such as a pleasant-smelling, cosy beehive they are very likely to move in of their own accord. Many people become beekeepers by enticing a passing swarm using a few drops of citronella or lemon grass oil, or better still, rubbing the inside of the hive with pure beeswax. Capturing a swarm is not difficult either hold a basket or cardboard box under their football-sized cluster on a tree branch and give a good shake! It is not always as easy as that, but it is rarely as difficult as getting a cat out of a tree. If you think you want to keep bees, I suggest you first get to know a local beekeeper who is willing to let you visit and handle their bees. Most beekeepers' associations have 'meet the bees' days during the spring, giving newcomers a chance to see inside a hive and test their responses to being surrounded by bees. Will I get stung? Most likely you will get stung from time to time, however careful you are. Local swelling, redness and itching is a normal reaction: faintness, breathing difficulties and collapse are true allergic symptoms and are potentially life-threatening. Most people who keep bees become less sensitive to stings over time, but sometimes it goes the other way and occasionally an experienced beekeeper may suddenly become allergic. So if you have any reason to suppose you may be sensitive to bee venom (only about one in 200 people are) be sure to carry Benadryl or an Epipen (adrenaline injection) and ensure that whoever you are with is properly equipped to deal with an emergency. Whether you approach it from the point of view of conservation, entomology, crop pollination or simply a love of honey, beekeeping is an engaging pursuit and a fascinating window on the natural world. Bees are in trouble right now from pesticides, industrial farming, pollution, parasitic mites and viruses and we need all the 'natural' beekeepers we can get to build up their numbers and give them a chance to solve their own problems. So, if you want to keep bees, build yourself a hive before the swarm season, and you could be tasting your own honey by the end of the summer! Philip Chandler In his book The Barefoot Beekeeper, Phil describes his top bar hive and its management and discusses the philosophy of natural beekeeping: working with the natural impulses and habits of the bees. You can buy The Barefoot Beekeeper from Lulu.com [US] The Barefoot Beekeeper (Paperback) [UK] or from any bookshop using ISBN 978-1-4092-7114-7. http://www.biobees.com/how_to_start_beekeeping.php |
| -Love will lead | |
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| yass | Apr 9 2011, 04:33 AM Post #4 |
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'night owl'
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Mead making, historic reference: Labour the honey with the Liquor, Lade it... to dissolve the honey in the water = In mead making, these and similar phrases mean to mix and stir together the honey and water using your clean hands and arms, or a wooden paddle, until the honey is completely dissolved in the water. It is a time-consuming step since cold water is usually called for, meaning that the honey dissolves very slowly. It is possible that this was done in the belief that more scum would rise to the surface, thereby rendering the final product less bitter. Some of the recipes containing these phrases also include the instructions to now and then pour to it a ladle full of cold water, which will make the scum rise more. (Sip) http://www.thousandeggs.com/glossary.html |
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| yass | Apr 9 2011, 04:36 AM Post #5 |
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'night owl'
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The Spanish-Roman naturalist Columella gave a recipe for mead in De re rustica, about AD 60. Take rainwater kept for several years, and mix a sextarius of this water with a pound of honey. For a weaker mead, mix a sextarius of water with nine ounces of honey. The whole is exposed to the sun for 40 days, and then left on a shelf near the fire. If you have no rain water, then boil spring water.[13] How much is a sextarius? 540 ml liquid or dry measure according to this chart. 540 ml = 2 cups, 2 tablespoons, & 2 teaspoons according to this chart. (figure from Canadian metric to US measurement) One ml = one gram |
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