Sleek Urban Hive Lets You Keep Bees in the Comfort of Your Apartment - http://pulse.me/s/30NrM

Most of the honey sold in chain stores across the country doesn't meet international quality standards for the sweet stuff, according to a Food Safety News analysis released this week.

One of the nation's leading melissopalynologists analyzed more than 60 jugs, jars and plastic bears of honey in 10 states and the District of Columbia for pollen content, Food Safety News said. He found that pollen was frequently filtered out of products labeled "honey."

"The removal of these microscopic particles from deep within a flower would make the nectar flunk the quality standards set by most of the world's food safety agencies," the report says. "Without pollen there is no way to determine whether the honey came from legitimate and safe sources."

Among the findings:

• No pollen was found in 76 percent of samples from grocery stores including TOP Food, Safeway, Giant Eagle, QFC, Kroger, Metro Market, Harris Teeter, A&P, Stop & Shop and King Soopers.

• No pollen was found in 100 percent of samples from drugstores including Walgreens, Rite-Aid and CVS Pharmacy.

• The anticipated amount of pollen was found in samples bought at farmers markets, co-ops and stores like PCC and Trader Joe's.

Why does it matter where your honey comes from? An earlier Food Safety News investigation found that at least a third of all the honey consumed in the United States was likely smuggled from China and could be tainted with illegal antibiotics and heavy metals.

Foreign honey also puts a squeeze on American beekeepers, who have been lobbying for years for an enforceable national standard to prevent foreign honey from flooding the market.

The Food and Drug Administration does not have a standard of identity for honey like it does for milk or other products, a spokesman said.

The lack of regulation is what enables potentially unsafe honey is able to make its way into the country, Andrew Schneider, author of the Food and Safety News report.

"Where there's no pollen, there's no way for authorities to confirm where the honey came from, so it's easy to smuggle illicit honey into the country," he said.

from the original:  http://eatocracy.cnn.com/2011/11/09/most-honey-sold-in-u-s-grocery-stores-not-worthy-of-its-name/ 

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Why Bee Trucks Keep Crashing

it's not working

...my brain is NOT WORKING today (at work)...let's see if I can at least be creative here.  COOL nights look like they're here to stay from here on out.  We had a nice warm-up this last week - GOOD if  you're treating hives - you need the temps to activate some of the chemicals.  I'm not sure it was so great for the bees though - it was DRY (not much for nectar?) for a good week & a half.  It seemed like within a very short period the leaves TURNED colors and DROPPED OFF.

My harvest update:  I took about HALF as last year.  HALF the hives though!  BUT - I can't fault them...'cause I'm also overwintering them as 3 DEEPS HIGH!  which means....their top deep is PLUM FULL of honey (do i need to say HEAVY????)...and they fill THAT before they fill MINE.

I'm planning on getting to them early in the spring...and when I do the hive body switch (with 3 deeps)...i'm going to rearrange and grab 5 nuc frames from each (provided they have a big enough brood nest to do so).
And with the "mother" hives - I'll give them another deep when they need it.  Whatever genetics I've got cooking in these hives.....they LOVE 3 deeps....no swarms last year!

THIS IS THE SAD TIME of the year for me.  Less time outside, Less time with bees, hearing bees, watching bees. All the while crossing fingers and just HOPING they'll make it through the next 4 or 5 months.

We saw some evidence around the yard of MICE moving into things (behind our fountain, under a piece of wood that had fallen in the fenceline)....NEED to get out and check the bottom boards for EVIDENCE (you know what:)  though I've had entrance reducer/mice proof things on the entrances for about a month already.  Mice can squeeze themselves down SO FLAT!...still have to check.  THEY CAN REALLY DO A JOB IN THE HIVE!  Last year, half of a deep was chewed out, bees dead....and ICKY MOUSEY doo everywhere.  I'd just as soon burn the whole box!

I've tried a NEW JAR this year.  I'm "putzing" less on the small jars - going for the BIG RING TOTAL :)  this square jar is 2.5#.  I like it - the little corner elements make it look "skeppy".

Updates of note

The club has purchased (2) refractometers for USE BY MEMBERS.  I've made a NEW PAGE here called ECWBA LISTS.  This page will maintain info and numbers that you may want to take note of....including who is in possession of the refractometer you may want to use.  The "western" person has yet to be named.  To test your honey - you need only bring a small sample to the possessor...and it only takes a few minutes.