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| A family portrait. Me, Hubster, Jbone, and Watts with Chickens and Ron. |
I was not fond of honey, or rather I had never tasted honey that appealed to me. James was about three months old and I was still having problems with my addiction to white sugar from my pregnancy. All I could think about was birthday cake and pie, it was on my mind....mmmm cake. I think it's still on my mind actually. just say no...
The hubster and I had just done a long hike with the kids and I was starving as usual. We came across a Christmas sale at our local firehouse, and this booth offered a taste test of different honey's. A white bearded man and lovely woman sat behind the booth and immediately started to chit chat with us (the hubster) about their grand children and how cute our kids were. Meanwhile, I'm eating all the honey. Just grazing... and then I realized how different they tasted. Butter bean... tasted like happiness! Pine Barrens tasted like pine trees, Wild Flower tasted like strong scented perfume... not the bad kind... you know the good kind... I don't know if it was the fresh air that had cleansed my pallet but I was hooked on the Butter bean. They had little sample sticks, so we bought some butter bean honey and some sticks and ate them on our trek home. Little did I know that I would soon become obsessed with Mill Creek Apiary honey.
Remember, I said I was addicted to white sugar. I thought about it constantly, and would get edgy and irritable if I didn't have a dose of it by early morning. Now that I had my honey it was easy to control these urges. Anytime I had a craving or melt down I would take a baby spoon and fill it with honey, suck on it, and count to ten. I went through a bottle of honey in about two weeks. It took a day to replace the white sugar with honey. I drank a large cup of coffee with a heap of white sugar- no longer. Now it was a baby spoon of honey (with almond milk). It tasted richer and had no terrible aftertaste, and I was using it like Methadone. At night I would make my "lemon elixir"- hot water, squeeze of half a fresh lemon and a teaspoon of honey, this helped get rid of my cravings for pie, cookies, and ice cream. It was a miracle.
A week later I was addicted to honey but feeling much better. I was down to two baby spoons of honey a day and no white sugar. I went to the Mill Creek Apiary website so that I could find more. My bee guy Stephen would be across the street from our house in a few short days. I have never been so excited. I could now eat the rest of my honey! Reading this makes me sound like "Winnie the Pooh" I was a human Pooh. That sounds weird, I know a few people that would like to take the "h" off the end of that line. Anyway.....
In a few short days we were standing in front of the bee booth once again. Only this time I took more of an interest in this guy's work. He came over like last time, was very friendly and of course loved our kids. Both the hubster and I bombarded our bee guy with all sorts of questions about bee keeping, bees, honey.... It turns out that not only does he make great honey, but he's interesting, intelligent and is very passionate about what he does. It was refreshing to say the least.
This time I left with some Butter bean and Pine Barren Honey, and some Bee Pollen. Apparently, the taste of the honey is reflected by the plants the bees go to; or rather the hive boxes are placed near the plants that you want your honey to taste like. So my Butter bean honey comes from butter beans and pine barrens honey comes from.....? Pine trees!! Yup. I could play this guessing game all day AND I'm good at guessing the answers right for once. (If you want to have a boring time with me, play me in a game of Trivia Pursuit. I sit there like a couch cushion with the look of serious thought on my face, and yet, I know not one answer). I digress. My mom will beat you at Trivia Pursuit though, I would put money on it... just saying. still digressing....
The wild flower honey helps reduce spring allergies because it is made from the bee's that go to the wild flowers which I suppose most people are allergic to. The bee pollen is a whole different story. I grabbed this directly from The Mill Creek Apiary website. I think it does a good job explaining Bee Pollen. It's a little complicated..
** Pollen is collected from flower stamens, formed into granules and used as a food source. Pollen is one of the few vegetable sources of vitamin B12. It also contains a wide spectrum of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, hormones, proteins, amino acids (23), enzymes, coenzymes and fatty acids. It is known to contain high concentrations of the nucleic acid RNA and DNA. You can exist on Honeybee Pollen, water and roughage. It is used to treat many illnesses, relieve airborne pollen allergies and enhance athletic performance.
**CAUTION - Pollen is what people are allergic to. Anyone with any unhealthy condition or suspected sensitivity is recommended to see a doctor prior to using pollen
I don't have allergies, but the hubster does, I have been feeding him a spoonful of the bee pollen in our green juice. He has not had any bad reactions to it, it will be interesting to see if he is allergy free this spring! Oh my... just the thought warms my heart... no more... "whats wrong with you" "I told you I have allergies leave me alone" and then he tries to blame poor Ron (the cat) on his sniffles and clogged throat.... (Ron is a very clean outdoor cat. He grooms himself for several hours. The hubster is just jealous of my love for the creature, maybe even jealous of his look... he is a handsome devil). Anyway, Allergies suck, even for us that don't have them.
It felt good to support a small business and speak to the man that makes the product. In this case his name is Stephen Alexeichik and he is from Medford Lakes, NJ. His website is http://millcreekapiary.com/. He is an open book of knowledge. I asked him if I could do an interview with him and he agreed.
Why did you get into beekeeping?
I got into beekeeping because of the Boy Scouts of America, they have a beekeeping merit badge.
Is beekeeping your hobby or full time job?
Beekeeping is my full time job.
How did your wife and neighbors react when you began to think about taking up this new hobby?
My wife has always allowed me to do my own thing. We only start hives here, our working hives are at other locations, so although the neighbors know they don't mind.
Once you made the commitment, how did you go about acquiring the equipment to start that first hive? What kind of initial investment is required?
We joined the NJ Beekeepers Association and purchased hives through other beekeepers. We went online and purchased woodenware. Our initial investment was about $300
Once you had the hive, where did you decide to put it and why?
We chose The Mill Creek Organic Farm to place our hives because we wanted better nectar sources, more sunlight and less of a chance for harsh pesticides.
When the hive was ready, where did you get your first colony?
We purchased established Nucleus hives from a NJBA member that sold bees for a living.
Once they settle in to their hive , what do they need from you the bee keeper?
Almost nothing, the chosen site had a good water source close by, we checked to see if the queen was laying eggs and moved frames around occasionally and checked to make sure the hives weren't disturbed by anything.
What are the do's and don'ts of buying bees?
It's a personal choice, DON'T buy bees that aren't local (you can purchase 3 lbs. of bees and a queen from GA) because the bees do not acclimate as well; DO buy NUCLEUS hives, they are already established; Know the source and you won't get burned.
Do you need any kind of license to raise bees?
No, as a hobbiest there is no license required, however, some townships may have regulations.
How do you determine what kind of bees are right for your area?
The generic honeybee is the Apis Melifera Ligustica or three banded Italian, other subspecies have certain qualities that some beekeepers look for.
How and at what time of year do you introduce bees to a hive?
You slide the frames of bees into the wooden boxes. In this area, we start our hives in mid to late April.
How do you avoid getting stung? Be very calm and move slowly. Wear lighter colors. Smoking the bees can quiet them.
Next time you see a bee enthusiast stop and talk to him or her. They are interesting people that are doing great things for this environment.
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| I grabbed this from the Mill Creek Apiary facebook page. It's a picture of the bee box's at the Mill Creek Apiary Organic Farm. |
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| Mill Creek Apiary Honey |
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| Mill Creek Apiary Bee Pollen |
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