[Hambone]

Starts of saying they are selling organic honey. Not sure that's possible. :scratch:

At the 20 second mark they take off a queen excluder and there are 2 black plastic looking things on both sides of the super. Anyone know what those are?

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/story/25782484/lone-star-adventure-bee-keeping-school

 

[Hambone]

Oh. Those are SHB traps.

 

[melliferal]

Starts of saying they are selling organic honey. Not sure that's possible. :scratch:

Controversial statement warning: I think any competent beekeeper who claims to be selling "organic" honey is making that claim in bad faith.

 

[Michael Bush]

Since the USDA kind of owns the word "organic" now and since they have not been able to finalize a standard for honey (after more than a decade of discussion) I assume there is not such thing as "organic" honey.

But from the theoretical point of view, even your organic food (cereal, fruit etc.) is raised on a planet that is permeated with chemicals...

 

[sqkcrk]

I sure would like to see what their vehicle looks like. Somebody spent some money on that Van Skin. I bet their honey is pricey. Which is a good thing.

Check out their Facebook Page. These guys are great honey marketers and beekeeping marketers. Round Rock Beekeepers Academy? What a great idea.

 

[Acebird]

But from the theoretical point of view, even your organic food (cereal, fruit etc.) is raised on a planet that is permeated with chemicals...

Of course, when big Ag gets involved "organic" had to get dumbed down but it is still a far cry better than non organic.
I would take the term "organic honey" as a honey producer that doesn't put chemicals in the hive. At least that is what I would like it to be. I would never think of organic honey not having some trace of chemicals in it. But the levels should be far less then a keeper that does use chemicals.

 

[sqkcrk]

better than non organic? who says so? by whose standards?

it doesn't matter how you or I see organic honey, it's how the consumer see it.

 

[melliferal]

Of course, when big Ag gets involved "organic" had to get dumbed down but it is still a far cry better than non organic.
I would take the term "organic honey" as a honey producer that doesn't put chemicals in the hive. At least that is what I would like it to be. I would never think of organic honey not having some trace of chemicals in it. But the levels should be far less then a keeper that does use chemicals.

The problem isn't what we know about our honey as beekeepers. The problem is the false impression that calling it "organic" gives to our potential customers who don't necessarily know what we know about how honey is gathered and made. We don't have the same control over what goes on and into our crop as, say, fruit and vegetable producers and that might not be intuitive to the consumers.

 

[sqkcrk]

Not to mention that there are people who question whetehr honey I sell is honey or honey w/ corn syrup in it.

 

[Gypsi]

I think organic honey is impossible unless you own enough land to control what is planted on every inch of it within bee-flight. But I'm guessing they are doing treatment free and calling it organic. This is a guess (should be my trademark)

 

[melliferal]

Not to mention that there are people who question whetehr honey I sell is honey or honey w/ corn syrup in it.

I would be sad, but I guess not surprised, if some people were trying to promote their own honey by implying that other local beekeepers' honey is adulterated or otherwise "not real". That's ridiculous.

 

[GLOCK]

I sold 40 QTS. of my organic honey last year for top dollar .
I'm selling some of my organic bee's this FRI.
Organic is making me live better.
It's a feel good word and I feel great .:banana:

 

[sqkcrk]

I would be sad, but I guess not surprised, if some people were trying to promote their own honey by implying that other local beekeepers' honey is adulterated or otherwise "not real". That's ridiculous.

The situation was that a customer who I wholesale honey to called me to ask me a question that one of her customers asked her, "Is there anything in your honey other than honey? The reason I ask is that a customer wanted to be sure it is really only honey and not a blend of honey and corn syrup like she had heard about in the news."

When people buy Gas do they wonder if there is something other than gas coming out of the nozzle? When people buy milk do they think it might be cut w/ something else? Honey has lost its image.

I also had a phone call recently from a Start Up Company in Queens, NY that was looking for Raw Organic Honey produced in NY to use to sweeten their bottled tea. He was surprised to hear that no organization in the US certifies honey produced in NY as organic. That one cannot, by any definition, produce organic honey in NY State. Yet people will believe what they believe.

 

[clyderoad]

Along these same lines, the following were questions I was asked, in writing, by a purveyor of my honey before they would commit to purchasing any.

>>Just to confirm, your honey is raw, correct? Are you heating it up at all? Also, is it 100% from LI? Or is it blended from honey from other places?
I know there are different trains of thoughts and philosophies with "local" honey and just want to get your take on it.<<

The retailer is more informed about the products they offer for sale, and the consumer is more informed about that which they purchase. Just as it is with other specialty food items, the retailer and end consumer demand more information about honey. I have even had a purveyor come out to the bee yards to get a feel for what goes on.
An educated consumer is my best customer.

It's no wonder honey has lost it's image for many consumers, with foreign 'honey' dumped on them, adulterated honey and misleading
source labels leading the list of wrongs.

 

[sqkcrk]

Not to mention the 24 Hour News Cycle.

 

[Acebird]

When people buy Gas do they wonder if there is something other than gas coming out of the nozzle?

The higher the price goes the more I wonder...

When people buy milk do they think it might be cut w/ something else?

Funny you should pick two examples where there are a whole lot of additives. All milk is cut unless it is raw.

 

[Andrew Dewey]

I sold 40 QTS. of my organic honey last year for top dollar .
I'm selling some of my organic bee's this FRI.
Organic is making me live better.
It's a feel good word and I feel great .:banana:

You want to be careful calling honey organic without some type of certification to back you up. The USDA has control over using the term "organic" in regards to food - and if I read the requirements for certification correctly - you need to prove (not be able to but actually do it) that the potential forage area (extending three miles in all directions) is in compliance with the organic standards. So as I read it, one neighbor using weed and feed on their lawn and no organic for you. {I haven't studied the exemptions for small producers - which I presume you'd be selling 40 quarts/year}

I hear you that "organic" is a feel good word - and I agree with you mostly - with the caveat that USDA has bastardized the meaning to the point where in my opinion "certified organic" doesn't mean anything. And I understand that you feel good when you put the $ from sales of "organic" honey in your pocket.

I readily concede that the USDA meaning of the term is not well understood by most consumers.

Certified Naturally Grown is a program that comes pretty close to the original meaning of organic.

Both of these programs cost time and money to be involved with. :scratch:

AFAIK no entity has muckled onto "Pure" and "Natural" yet.

So let's hear it for those Free Range Bees a/k/a marketing!

 

[melliferal]

My bees are definitely free range. I don't know about some people's...

 

[Schnee]

In reading through this thread, I was thinking about organic farming; does the USDA take into consideration what is in irrigation water when certifying organic foods. Even though I may not use any substances in my garden I irrigate with river water, Boise River water to be exact, and that water has flowed out onto agricultural fields into run off canals back into a reservoir back into supply canals and eventually into a pressurized irrigation system and onto my garden. This would be the case for any organic farmer from the first non organic fields on the Snake / Boise river to the Oregon / Washington coast including the Columbia River. Considering of course that they use water from the river drainage system I am referring to. Just a thought.

 

[Michael Bush]

>In reading through this thread, I was thinking about organic farming; does the USDA take into consideration what is in irrigation water when certifying organic foods.

The USDA standards take into account practices, not contamination. You follow USDA practices you get certified. In theory the practices should be more humane and cause less contamination, but contamination is not tested for nor is a lack of contamination a prerequisite.