bee facts

Life of Bees

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Queen Bee – lives up to 5 years – has a productive life of about 2 to 3 years – can lay up to 2,000 eggs per day and produces 1 million offspring in her life time. Her only role in the colony is to keep it going by producing bees bees bees as well as secreting a pheromone that keeps all other females in the colony sterile.

Drones – male bees their only role is to mate with the female then once mating is done they die very soon after.

Worker Bees – these are female bees – they tend the hive, collect nectar, store pollen, build the honeycomb, guard the hive against invaders (esp wasps), preserve honey, fan the hive if too hot and collect water and fan to make it cool if too hot – basically they do all the hard work. Women power!

honey info, remedies

Raw Honey and shingles

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UPDATE 15 APRIL 2019 – Today we took aunty to see the doctor who said he was surprised how well aunty’s face had healed up after five days and that usually the way her shingles looked was usually after two weeks when it was about to go. We explained that she had been putting honey on her face every three hours during the day and leaving it on during that time then washing it off. Good news only need to persuade her to put in her eye the honey now.

My aunt who hates honey has just agreed to using raw honey on her shingles. She has it on her face only just under her eyes and above her lips and speaking to my mum this is the second time she has it. It is very painful she woke up this morning with a pain in her eye and it was weeping badly we thought it was in her eye thank Allah it was not. Otherwise i would have put a drop in her eye once or twice a day of #rawhoney. I used #rawraspberryhoney as it was the one on the table but you can use any of our honeys.

#rawhoney has antibacterial, antifungal, anti-microbial properties that make it effective in healing shingle blisters and also in helping to remove the ugly scars from the shingle-damaged skin (it is used in some parts of the middle east when people have injuries on their face to heal and stop scarring). #Rawhoney also has a soothing effect on skin a factor that helps in getting rid of burning sensation, itchiness and dryness.


Remedy – apply #rawhoney to the affected area . Ensure you only use natural, unheated #rawhoney (heat-extracted honey destroys its natural enzymes). Just apply a thin layer to the affected area and put a cotton bud over with some micropore to keep it on. Wash off after a few hours and start again we put on every two to three hours and washed off then restarted again. Do this for seven (7) days. Make sure when using #rawhoney that you put a teaspoon in a small flat plate and whatever is leftover you wash away. I used cottonbuds to apply and did not put them back into the honey but used a new one then lightly covered the area with cottonwool and used micropore tape to hold it on lightly and after a day just left it open

honey recipe

raw honey recipes part 2

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Raw Honey Lemonade

  • 1/2 cup raw honey (raw alfafa honey was lovely as well as raw multifloral honey but any raw honey is lovely) or more depends on how sweet you like your lemonade
  • 1 cup of freshly squeezed lemons
  • 6 cups fresh water
  • bunch of mint (optional)

mix well and serve cold or with ice and fresh mint leaves

Raw Honey Mustard Vinaigrette

  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tablespoon vinegar
  • 1½ teaspoons Dijon mustard, (coarse or smooth)
  • ½ teaspoon raw honey (all the raw honeys have their uniqueness best i found is the raw raspberry honey and raw apple honeys)
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • Freshly ground pepper, to taste
  • ⅓ cup virgin olive oil

Mix first five ingredients in a bowl for a minute then whisk in the oil slowly

Cream Cheese frosting using raw honey

2 cups cream cheese

3/4 to 1 cup raw honey (i liked the lemon and orange honey for this)

put into a bowl mix well with a hand blender and use on cupcakes and cakes makes about 2 cups in total and no sugar

honey recipe

Recipe raw honey and nuts in a jar

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Very easy to make and a lovely wee gift.

Ingredients

Nuts or other seeds such as pumpkin or both

Raw honey

Take different nuts and put into a small sterile jar (wash the jar and put into a warm oven for an hour or two). you can mix or put in layers in the jar. Fill the jar until the nuts reach the bottom of the lid when you close the lid. Add raw honey until it comes to the top and keep tapping and adding until all the nuts are covered in honey and there is no holes without honey when you look through the jar.

Put on lid tightly and add a nice wee cloth cover. Lovely wee homemade gift.

honey info

My Great Grandmother and honey in her eye

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My mum has always told us that her grandmother used to put a drop of raw honey in her eyes every day and that when she died at 113yrs old she could still sew and needed no glasses. I have researched this a few weeks ago after remembering this and there is a lot of information of how helpful it is. I had not realised this just thought it was something that great grandmother did as had not heard anyone else in the family or others using it. Using raw honey does sting but it worked for their eye conditions and no side effects unlike the chemical drops that can cause dry eye further problems which is interesting. It is best to use raw honey.

Aristotle mentioned in 350 BC “… honey is a good salve for sore eyes”.

In 2010 Current Eye Research (Vol. 36, No.9) documented that honey has anti-inflammatory properties as an effective eye drop and that such properties can treat several corneal inflammatory and other infectious conditions. . Also researchers at the International Bee Research Association also reported that honey is a better natural eye cure for dry eyes rather than artificial tears. American Apitherapy Society showed a significant improvement in a corneal ulcer condition with topical honey when antibiotics, antiviral agents and corticosteroids had no effect.

According to Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine (Volume 2014), a double blind clinical trial with 60 patients in Iran revealed the effectiveness of honey drops in treating Vernal Keratoconjunctivitis, a form of chronic allergic conjunctivitis which results in severe eye irritation, abnormal sensitivity to light, swelling, tearing, and excessive mucus secretions. It is believed that the flavonoids in honey can access and heal the eyes lens and improve vision, and along with its antioxidant and osmotic properties it can cure eye infections.

In 2014 dr albeitz in australia did a trial of honey eye drops and said her studies had shown the use of honey offered significant benefits in treating eye problems.

Lots of evidence about using honey for eye infections and dry eye and pink eye but if using a dropper make sure it is sterlised before using and after every use.

Any raw honey can be used as long as it is not heated or processed or mixed with other honeys from the research i have been doing online. All our honeys are raw, unheated, not mixed with anything or other honeys.


honey info, Uncategorised

Crystallised honey and sore throats

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Taking a spoonful of crystallised honey suck on it slowly helps to reduce a sore throat and will start the healing process. Take it first thing in the morning when you wake up and dont eat or drink anything for an hour. Repeat before going to bed dont eat or drink anything for an hour and a half then take a spoonful of crystallised honey and suck on it slowly.

Many people are under the impression that crystallised honey has “gone bad” or that it is a sign of contamination. No No No! It is actually a sign of high quality honey. Don’t throw your crystallised honey out, unless you like to waste delicious food.

Temperature is a factor in crystallisation. Honey will crystallize in the hive if the temperature goes below 50ºF (10ºC), and honey will crystallize in your jars if you have a cold cupboard. Finding a warmer spot to store your honey will slow crystallisation.

Honey which has a higher concentration of glucose crystallises quicker, and some types of honey are more resistant to crystallisation because they have low glucose.

Also honey with higher concentrations of pollen crystallises quicker . Fresh, raw honey has a lot of those in the form of pollen grains.

Many of our honeys have crystallised for all of the above reasons though some have resisted.