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Month in the Hive – September

 

West Michigan bees have had a busy couple months making honey, and now it’s time for beekeepers to cash in on the gooey sweetness.

September is National Honey Month, or as beekeepers call it, “Harvest Month.” It’s a beekeeper’s favorite time of year as they visit their colonies and reap the benefits from the beehive’s work throughout the past couple of months.

Experts recommend that beekeepers harvest their honey crop when the hive is full of capped honey – or when a cell is completely covered in white wax and honey is not visible. In Michigan, this can happen anytime toward the end of August through the first frost – usually in early October.

Begin your honey harvest by clearing the honeybees off of the frames, then scraping the wax capping from the top of the honeycomb. (Don’t throw away the wax! You can do so much with beeswax – more on that later.) Once the wax has been removed, you are ready to extract the honey.

Trained beekeepers often use an extracting machine to get the honey out of the comb and into a jar. This helps to preserve the comb so the bees can still use it and fill it back up with honey.

If you don’t have a honey extractor, no problem. One of the more common ways to extract honey without an extractor is to crush and drain the comb. Using common household items, such as a wooden spoon or potato masher, mash the comb in a clean bucket and then strain it through a colander or smaller kitchen strainer.

We recommend feeding bees over winter and checking the sugar patties from time to time to make sure they have food.
Enjoy your freshly harvested honey by the spoonful or drizzled on top of your favorite dish!

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GLBC’s honey products now available at Whole Foods Market in Grand Rapids

You know that delicious Hasselman’s Honey and honey infusions we make? You can now purchase them at the new Whole Foods Market in metro Grand Rapids!

Whole Foods Market opened its first West Michigan store on Aug. 16 and features a variety of local products, including Hasselman’s Honey from The Great Lakes Bee Company. Our unprocessed, raw and unfiltered honey is collected from hives around Newaygo County, a region that specializes in honey production due to its unique environment that GLBC bees forage on, producing 150,000 pounds of Michigan honey each year.

As a local Whole Foods Market vendor, you can find GLBC’s Hasselman’s Honey, including comb honey and 3 oz. flavored honey infusions available for purchase inside the new store, 2897 Radcliff Ave SE, in Kentwood. Our honey products are currently located in the produce section, aisle four, and register seven in the check-out lanes.

If you’re as thrilled as we are about having GLBC’s Hasselman’s hometown honey in Whole Foods Market, the world’s leading natural and organic grocer, buzz on over to the store in Grand Rapids and check it out!

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Month in the Hive – July

 

Now that you have your bees and they have been pollinating the flowers and trees the past few months, it’s time to stand back and let them make that delicious honey!

July is honey-making month, so it’s a good time to let the bees be as they work their honey magic. You do, however, want to keep an eye out for any swarms during this time. When this happens, the reigning queen and about half the bees will rush out of the hive entrance together, clustering on a tree limb or another similar object. This is called swarming, and usually only lasts for an hour or so as the bees look for a new home. Once the bees have found a new location, the cluster breaks up and the bees fly to their new hive.

The bees that did not leave the hive continue their work in the colony, collecting nectar and pollen and building honey combs. Within the colony, a new queen emerges and looks for rival queens. A fight-to-the-death combat ensues until there is only one surviving queen. Once the new queen has mated, she begins to lay eggs and the cycle begins again.

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Month in the Hive – March

March is here! This is an integral time for the health of your bees. Just because the temperature is increasing, doesn’t mean your bees will survive. You’ll likely see lots of bee deaths this month, so it’s important to check the hive and clear out the dead bees to ensure proper ventilation into the hive. A good time to check on the bees is on the days when the temperature hits 50 F.

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The Declaration – St. Paddy’s Day Cocktail

For this year’s St.Paddy’s Day, up your mixology game with this Irish cocktail. What makes the drink Irish? Well Irish whiskey, of course! This cocktail is sure to help you celebrate the holiday without all the shots of Jägermeister. Prefer a botanical taste to your cocktails? Check out our recipe for The Irish Maid, which uses elderflower liquor for a light, herbal essence.

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Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate

Chocolate does more than make our bellies happy. It also makes our brains happy! That’s right, dark chocolate has the ability to increase serotonin in the brain due to its chemical make-up of tryptophan (amino acid that helps make serotonin), phenylethylalanine (natural anti-depressant), and theobromine (mood relaxer and stress reliever). The increase is serotonin leads to a good mood and reduction of stress. Thanks to dark chocolate’s mood enhancing properties, chocolate can even reportedly reduce symptoms of depression. In one study of over 13,000 adults, individuals who reported eating dark chocolate within 2 days had 70% less likelihood of reporting symptoms of depression compared to those who didn’t eat any chocolate.

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Health Benefits of Rose

Rose petals have a long history of being used in homeopathic medicine. Today, roses still offer incredible health benefits, and we even create infused honey flavors from it. Roses can be turned into rose tea, rose hip oil, rosewater, essentials oils, and more.

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Health Benefits of Cinnamon

Honey and cinnamon have a long history of being used in medicine. Honey is an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and an antiseptic. Cinnamon has similar properties. It is also an anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory, and an anti-bacterial substance. Combining honey and cinnamon could no doubt have major health benefits. That is why we created our Cinnamon Infused Honey. Not only does it taste great, but it’s packed with all the nutrients of honey and cinnamon combined!

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