Last week, we offered to donate a jar of our Wallingford-produced honey to anyone who would donate $50 or more to FamilyWorks, the Wallingford-based food bank and helping-families-who-need0-helping agency. So many of you have taken us up on the offer, that we’re a bit teary, thank you for lending a hand to FamilyWorks and for valuing the fruits of our labor.
Since the orders keep coming in, we’re going to extend the offer by one week, to Sunday, November 20th. You can have your honey in time to put it on the Thanksgiving table!
Want in? Donate $50 or more through the FamilyWorks web site donation site and specify “Wallyhood Honey” in the “Designation” field. We’ll get in touch with you to arrange drop-off or pick-up.
And, in case you need an extra incentive, it’s widely believed that eating honey produced by bees from your area confers relief of allergies (by habituating you to your local pollens). This is Wallingford honey, produced from Wallingford flowers and trees, so it couldn’t get any more local.
Store bought honey typically comes from China (whether or not it’s labeled as such), where their bees make honey from corn syrup…if it’s honey at all. According to researchers at Texas A&M university, most store-bought honey contains no pollen at all, either because it’s been “ultra-filtered” or because it simply isn’t actually honey. Here’s an abbreviated list of honeys that mysteriously contain no pollen at all. The full list is on the above web site:
Archer Farms Orange Blossom Honey, CVS Honey, Fred Meyer Clover Honey, Full Circle Pure Honey, Kroger Pure Clover Honey, Natural Sue Bee Clover Honey, Naturally Preferred Fireweed Honey, Rite Aid Honey, Safeway Clover Honey, Silver Bow Pure Honey, Sue Bee Clover Honey, Walgreen MEL-O honey, and Western Family Clover Honey.
(Photo of a Wallingford bee (c) 2008 by Matt Freedman)
Holy smokes, really? I don’t see Trader Joe’s honey on the list so I’m hoping that’s a safe one to buy. Otherwise, Jordan, you’re my new dealer.
Yeah, what she said. And Beek’s in Lower Wallingford when I run into him.
Yikes! Some of that info is scary – heavy metals, illegal antibiotics? I just pitched my Silverbow honey that says it was packaged in Moses Lake. Time to open up the jar I got at the Farmer’s Market.
TJ’s honey is fine, according to the article.
Wallyhood rocks. Anne
Thanks for this Jordan – I appreciate the opportunity to indulge in the honey and donate at the same time. Great link!
BTW, Jordan — was 2011 a good year for your bees?
A long-time amateur beekeeper and friend who now lives in Indianola told me that, for him, this year was much better than last year. He lost a couple of hives to colony collapse in the winter of 2010, and had very little honey.
This year, the hives seem very happy and the honey output, while not setting any records, was very good.