We have snuck away for a little break before Christmas, as we'll be busy beekeeping over the holidays.  We will not be sending any orders from 14th December until 3rd Jan.  But don't worry you can still purchase our honeys at your local stockist and Harald will be at the Hamilton Farmers Market on Sunday 17th December!  We will also have our full range of honey, pollen, gift boxes, HoneyWraps and seeds at the Farm Shop in Gordonton Village.  Here are their hours up until Christmas:

The Farm Shop, 1060 Gordonton Road, Gordonton Village Hours:

Wed 13th Dec   10am to 6pm
Thur 14th Dec   10am to 6pm
Fri    15th Dec   10am to 5pm
Sat 16th Dec     9am to 5pm
Sun 17th Dec   10am to 5pm
Mon 18th Dec   10am to 5pm
Tues 19th Dec   10am to 5pm
Wed 20th Dec   10am to 6pm
Thur 21st Dec   10am to 6pm
Fri 22nd Dec   10am to 5pm
Sat 23rd Dec     9am to 5pm
Xmas Eve (24th)  10am to .........

As you can see they will be running 12 days straight to the build up to Christmas Eve!  Thanks team!

As you may have read in my last blog worker bees only sting if they feel threatened.   But there are times when you just can't avoid being stung, if this happens what should you do? 

Please note:  Bee stings can give different reactions, from temporary pain and discomfort to a severe allergic reaction.  This blog does not cover severe allergic reactions.  If you have a severe allergic reaction please seek urgent medical attention.  If a reaction persists for over a week or covers an area greater than 7–10 cm please see a doctor.
 

Taking the Sting Out

When a bee stings you, the barbed stinger remains embedded in the skin, attached to the stinger is the venom sac, which can carry on pumping venom into the body for up to 10 minutes. For this reason, doctors recommend removing the stinger as soon as possible.


It used to be said that pinching or squeezing the stinger could empty the venom sac into the sting, making things worse.  Studies have since shown the amount of venom released does not change whether the sting is pinched or scraped off, but a delay of a few seconds leads to more venom being injected.  Therefore, stingers can be removed by either scraping or brushing them away, or by pulling them out of the skin.

Check out  10 Ways to Remove a Bee Stinger Without Using Tweezers

 

Remedies

The sting may be painful for a few hours and swelling and itching may last for a week. You should avoid scratching the area as this may increase the itching and swelling.   Once the stinger is removed try to wash the area with soap and warm water and place a cold compress on top to reduce the pain and swelling.  Or you could try any of these remedies.
 

• If you are in a remote area you could spread mud on the area and let it dry, but wash with soap and warm water when you can
• Spread baking soda paste on the area and allow it to dry.  Using this or the mud draws the poison out of the area
• Pain medications and antihistamines can also help relieve pain, swelling, and itching in the area
• Apply toothpaste
• Mix a paste of vinegar and baking soda and place on the sting
• Apply honey
• Apply calamine lotion or hydrocortisone cream.

Some of our customers recommend:

• Rub an ice cube over the area till it is melted or the pain has gone away which might take two cubes! This method is so effective and seems to stop swelling and even the itchiness you get a few days later!
• Chop an onion in half and pop it on the sting, it seems to draw out the nasty stuff.
• Take Homeopathic Apis.
• Apply vinegar straight away, followed by a kombucha scoby wrapped on to the sting.
• distraction for a child can work a treat

 
Some information for this blog was research from www.en.wikipedia.org and www.wisegeek.com

Read 'Why Do Bees Sting'
 

You might have guessed but this month's 'Sustainable Me Challenge' is a waste free holiday.  Can you believe the average household waste increases by 25% over the Christmas holiday period! Here's some ideas for reducing our gift-giving footprint this Christmas:

• Buy second hand.  Our son wanted an expensive lego kit this year, so instead of spending mega bucks we've bought him a 2nd hand kit that looks as good and new for half the price.
• Use alternative wrapping.  Fabric is great because it can be used over and over, not like paper that usually gets used once and thrown out.  Furoshiki is the Japanese art of wrapping with cloth, check out some great ideas, I'm definitely keen on trying this!
• Don't buy over packaged products.  It really bugs me how over packaged toys and other items are these days.  It pays to think about the waste the gift may create and reduce where you can.
• Make it yourself.   If you've got a little bit of spare time it's worth making something from the heart. Check out some ideas online, we've got some recipes for lip balm, perfume, etc.
• Give experiences.   These are great, we do this with our parents now. It can be as simple as a movie ticket, theatre performance, concert or sporting event.  How about a voucher to go fishing, tramping, a picnic or even a service you could provide like to clean someones house!
• Give consumables.  Everyone has to eat so give food, maybe something they wouldn't normally buy for themselves or you could bake them something special.
• Give the gift of charity.  Make a donation to a charity in the name of your gift recipient, one that they would be happy with.
• Ask before you buy.  It's important we buy something the person would like or will use, it's a shame when they just sit in a cupboard unused or thrown out because it was the wrong gift for them.

See the OSOF website to read more tips

Read more about:

• The Sustainable Me Challenge
• January Challenge - reducing one use plastic
• February Challenge - drive less
• March Challenge - reduce personal care product footprint
• April Challenge - preserve fresh produce
• May Challenge - reduce energy usage
• June Challenge - reduce non-recyclable paper tissue waste
• July Challenge - reduce plastic use
• August Challenge - reduce water use
• September Challenge - reduce harsh chemicals in our homes
• October Challenge - eat less meat
• November Challenge - grow something.

Have you ever been stung by a bee?  I think I have only been stung once when I was about 10 years old.  I still remember it clearly as if it was yesterday.  I was walking in the grass in my lovely red roman sandals at school and as I lifted by foot to walk a bee flew under my toes and as I stepped it stung me.  It gave me a huge fright and man did it sting!  I didn't get a reaction and I don't even remember how I got the sting out but from then on I was scared of bees and getting stung again.
 
So my advice to you would be - don’t wave your arms around when a bee comes near you, just sit there quietly and still and when it realizes you are not a flower it will move on.  And if you are going to look into a beehive always wear a suit!
 

Here are some interesting facts about bees and their stings:

• Bees are the only insect with a strongly barbed sting
• As the sting lodges into the victim’s skin, it tears loose from the bee’s abdomen and the bee die within minutes
• The female bees (the queen and the worker bees) are the only ones that sting
• The queen’s stinger is smooth so can, therefore, sting over and over (but don’t worry she never leaves the hive unless she is swarming to find a new home)
• A swarm of bees is not aggressive, they are just looking for a new home and have no honey or young to defend
• The large drone bees do not have stingers
• A bee sting consists of three parts – a stylus and two barbed sides

The next blog will give you some tips on what to do if you are stung.


Some information for this blog was research from www.en.wikipedia.org and www.wisegeek.com

Can you believe it's only six Fridays until Christmas! There are actually only five Fridays until our last courier delivery for the year!  So it's time to think about Christmas gifts.

Check out our gift range here!

 

This month's 'Sustainable Me Challenge' is to grow something.  Most of our produce is trucked, shipped or flown and it accumulates greenhouse gas emissions with every kilometre travelled.  To help our environment we should at least buy local, where we can, and grow some of our own food.  
 

Here's What The Challenge Suggests:

Beginner: Buy local.  Look for NZ grown produce at the supermarket or visit your local farmer's market or farm shop.

Step it up: Plant something.  Start with strawberries, lettuce, spinach, herbs, etc

Want more? Grow more!  Challenge yourself t grow something new or grow everything you need for an entire meal.  Or if you're already a keen gardener help someone else set up a garden.

Every little bit helps!

See the OSOF website to read more tips

Read more about:

• The Sustainable Me Challenge
• January Challenge - reducing one use plastic
• February Challenge - drive less
• March Challenge - reduce personal care product footprint
• April Challenge - preserve fresh produce
• May Challenge - reduce energy usage
• June Challenge - reduce non-recyclable paper tissue waste
• July Challenge - reduce plastic use
• August Challenge - reduce water use
• September Challenge - reduce harsh chemicals in our homes
• October Challenge - eat less meat.

Wow, time is flying and I've just realised I haven't blogged about the 'Sustainable Me Challenge' for a while!

October's challenge was to eat less meat!  Kiwi's love meat, we are ranked 11th per capita for meat consumption.  We eat on average 106kgs per year.  And the problem?  The problem is that high levels of meat consumption impacts both our environment and our health.
 

Here's What The Challenge Suggests:

Beginner: Join the Meat Free Monday campaign by eating vegetarian one day per week.

Step it up: Give up meat 3 or 4 days per week.

Want more? Try going fully vegetarian, mmm not sure how well that will go down in our house!

I think that if we can just be more conscious about how much meat we are eating, cut down on its consumption each meal and have at least 1 meatless meal a week it will make a different! 

See the OSOF website to read more tips

Read more about:

• The Sustainable Me Challenge
• January Challenge - reducing one use plastic
• February Challenge - drive less
• March Challenge - reduce personal care product footprint
• April Challenge - preserve fresh produce
• May Challenge - reduce energy usage
• June Challenge - reduce non-recyclable paper tissue waste
• July Challenge - reduce plastic use
• August Challenge - reduce water use
• September Challenge - reduce harsh chemicals in our homes.

Spring is the time of year when you are likely to see a few bee swarms.  For those that don't know much about swarms I thought I would explain what they are, why bees swarm and what to do if you have one turn up at your place.

Firstly, have a look at one of our beehives swarming!


 

What is a Swarm and Why do Bees Swarm?

Mainly in springtime you may see a very large group of bees flying together or you may see a big clump (like a ball) of bees hanging from a branch, on a fence, against your house, or some other place.  This is a swarm of bees.  

A swarm is when a queen bee takes a large group of worker bees (usually about 50-60% of the hive) with her and leaves the hive to find a new home.  It is a natural means of reproduction for bee colonies.   A swarm of bees could consist of thousands to tens of thousands of bees.

The reason bees swarm could be due to one of these causes:

• There are two queens in a hive so one takes half the bees out and finds another home
• There are too many bees for one hive, a new queen is created and the old queen moves off with some of the bees
• The bees are simply predisposed genetically to swarming (instinctive)

What to Do if You are in the Path of Moving Swarm:

Don't panic! Don't run!  Don't fling your arms around!  Just remember they will have filled up on honey before they left and will be docile and unable to sting.  But to be safe just crouch down low and stay still until they pass.
 

What to Do if you Have a Swarm on your Property:

Don't panic!  Don't touch them!  Don't spray them!  They will not harm you unless you harm them.

The best thing you can do is to get hold of a local beekeeper to come and collect it. There are hobby beekeeping clubs all around the country and they are often looking for swarms to fill new hives.

Look for a beekeeper in your area on the National Beekeepers Association website.  Or google a hobby beekeeper's club near you.  Here are some club websites:

Waikato Hobby Beekeeping Club
Auckland Beekeepers Club
Whangarei Beekeeping Club
Christchurch Hobbyist Beekeeping Club

There's actually a great list of hobby beekeeping clubs on the Kiwimana website, there might be one near you.  Hobby beekeepers are always on the scout out for new bee colonies!

 

Read More:

Why do bees sting?
Remedies for bee stings
 

I recently wrote about beekeepers using plastic frames for honey storage in beehives.  We avoid using these as we are concerned from a bee health point of view but also environmentally.  But it's not just the frames that are available in plastic, you can now buy full plastic beehives.  When the hive is at the end of its life what will happen to it?  I find it pretty concerning when there are so many people trying to avoid plastic use that industries are just coming up with more plastic ware!  Shouldn't manufacturers be coming up with smarter, more environmentally friendly options? Do they not care about the future of our planet?

It's not just at the end of the beehives life I'm concerned about.  If a beekeeper has American foulbrood (AFB) in their hive, the hive has to be burnt to eradicate it.  AFB is a disease of honey bee larvae and pupae. It wipes out an infected hive and is spread to other hives by the movement of contaminated hives and equipment, it's highly contagious.  It is pretty upsetting when you have to burn a hive but I think it would feel pretty bad watching the plastic burn.  Can you imagine what that does to the environment if beekeepers are burning plastic beehives and frames? I would love to see plastic beehives banned.  Just my personal opinion.
 

Purchase Sweetree honey with no plastic residue

Have you ever noticed a white film over beeswax products?  It's called a 'boom'.  It develops over time due to cold air crystallizing the beeswax oils. It disappears when the wax is put into the sun for a very short time.  If it is a sunny but cold day then wait until the air gets warmer to use the heat of the sun rays or carefully warm with a hairdryer, fan heater, etc. They will then be completely back to normal! 
 

Check out our beeswax products

This month's 'Sustainable Me' challenge is to reduce the harsh chemical cleaners in our homes with natural alternatives.

It's the time of year we give our houses a spring clean from top to bottom.  It's a good opportunity to use more natural cleaners that are better for our houses, our families and the aquatic life that are exposed to it once it's washed down the drain.  There are lots of natural alternatives out there now and available in the supermarkets or you might like to try baking soda and white vinegar!
 

Here's What The Challenge Suggests:

Beginner: If you’re wary of baking ingredients as household cleaners, maybe the best way to begin is with commercially available eco-friendly cleaning products such as those available through the Earthwise or Ecostore brands.

Step it up: Start simple and find one or two cleaning product to change over. Baking soda as a scrub for your sinks, counters and tubs is a great way to begin.

Want more? Ditch your chemical cleaners and go all natural. There are lots of internet resources available for someone who wants chemical free cleaners – see the resources section below for suggestions of where to begin.
Every little bit (or drop) helps!

See the OSOF website to read more tips

Read more about:

• The Sustainable Me Challenge
• January Challenge - reducing one use plastic
• February Challenge - drive less
• March Challenge - reduce personal care product footprint
• April Challenge - preserve fresh produce
• May Challenge - reduce energy usage
• June Challenge - reduce non-recyclable paper tissue waste
• July Challenge - reduce plastic use
• August Challenge - reduce water use

Check out the eco friendly items in our online store!

This month is 'Bee Aware Month' in New Zealand the focus is on how important bees are for pollinating food and other products we consume.  
 

Why are Bees So Important?

Imagine the world without strawberries, kiwifruit, apples, nuts, chocolate or even denim jeans! These are all foods and products pollinated by bees!  Without bees, a huge 2/3 of our food would disappear.  

Bees around the world and especially in NZ cannot survive without our help, and in turn, we wouldn't survive without them.  Albert Einstein said, “If the Bee Disappeared Off the Face of the Earth, Man Would Only Have Four Years Left To Live".  So not only do bees produce a wonderful, natural food source, they also play a significant role in supporting our food chain.

 

How Can Everyone Help?

 

• One of the easiest things we can do is to plant bee-friendly gardens both in urban and rural areas.  Bees need food so they can help pollinate our food.  Bees will forage on these flowers for nectar and pollen which provide carbohydrates and protein for growth and energy.  Well-nourished bees are more capable of fending off disease and parasites.

• Provide a shallow pond in your garden for bees to land on the edges to collect water.  There are some great ideas in this blog.

• Find out what else we can do to protect our bees

• Buy local and support your local beekeeper

 

Many people, including Martin and I, like to limit the purchase of food in plastic packaging.  People do this for various reasons but mainly for environmental or health motivations.  One way of limiting plastic is to purchase food in glass jars instead of plastic.  When we were deciding how to package our honey it had to be glass.  It is so much healthier, attractive and environmentally friendly.

But have you thought about how honey is stored before it goes into the jar?  In the beehive honey used to always be stored on beeswax comb foundation which was wired into a wooden frame.  But what is most commonly used now is plastic frames with plastic sheets embossed with hexagon indentations for the bees to work with as a foundation. The other common one is a wooden framing with a plastic insert foundation.  Here are some photos of what they look like.

      

The thing that concerns us about these is the possibility of plastic residue getting into the honey, the bees health working from a plastic foundation, let alone the environmental issue of what to do with the plastic frames and foundations when they are broken or past their best.  We was concerned to see all these plastic beehives (the whole hive in plastic) for sale at a beekeeping conference we recently attended.  That's a lot of plastic!  What will happen to them when they are finished with?  I guess they will end up in the landfill!

Sweetree's policy is to use wooden hive gear and frames with beeswax foundations wherever possible for our honey collection.

Beehive frame with beeswax foundation
 

Purchase Sweetree honey with no plastic residue