Golden Rule Apiary

Our Honey

Because of our natural management practices, our honey is free of chemicals that are recomended by nearly every industry group, university research lab, and guide to beekeeping.  Even bees kept by a local backyard beekeeper are likely to have Apistan (a pesticide) Terramycin (an antibiotic), Fumigilin-B (another antibiotic), and/or Checkmite (another pesticide) used in the hive much like they are in raising commercial livestock (routinely rather than only when needed..as a prevention rather than a treatment).  It's much easier to overmedicate based on the calander in order to mask numerous problems than it is to evaluate each colony constantly throught the year and take more natural and subtle measures to correct problems before they become serious.  Bees that cannot survive without chemical treatments are best not tolerated, as they influence the gene pool in ways that insure they will require such treatments in the future, and they breed for stronger diseases.  We feel strongly about not subjecting our customers (or our bees) to chemicals that we don't feel are safe being around.  We are commited to spending time working with the bees rather than spending money and squandering the opurtunity to breed for stronger bees by medicating them. Most honey is heated to 110-160ºF (and higher!) in order to facilitate extracting, filtering, bottling, and to reduce crystalization.  Our Honey is never heated. This makes processing more time consuming and labor intensive, and it allows the honey to crystalize more quickly, but it avoids diminishing the floral flavors, the denaturing of enzymes and killing of yeasts that are an integral part of the health benefits (and pleasures) of honey.  Many beekeepers consider heated honey as "mere sweetener."  Good honey should be enjoyed the way the bees have made it for millions of years...raw, unfiltered (so that pollen and small wax particles are present), and chemical free! The bulk of our bees are located at Stillman's Farmin New Braintree, MA.  There is an abundance of wildflowers, as well as 300 acres of "Conscientiously Grown" crops sold in and around Boston at over 16 farmers markets and CSAs.  Our bees significantly increase the per acre yield, as the flowers are more densly pollinated (which means more flowers fruit, and the plants are stiumulated to make more flowers), and farmers in surrounding land should also see the benefit, as the bees will fly up to 3 miles.

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