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There's been a lot of talk about the Flow Hive™, we've heard pros and cons and we landed in the camp that says Flow Hive™ is the way we wanted to get into bee keeping.
This differs greatly from the processing traditional beekeepers must do which involves physical disruption of the colony, lots of strainless steel and movement of the honey from the hive to processing equipment before it ever sees a jar. Our honey is 100% pure, raw honey; never pasteurized or high-pressure filtered. Unprocessed, unfiltered raw honey retains all the health benefits like the live enzymes, trace vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, antibacterial properties, but most importantly, preserves the natural taste and aroma of the honey. |
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HONEY PRODUCTION
Our Flow Hives™ reside in the general proximity of the raspberry field. This doesn't mean our honey will taste like raspberries! It means our bees will enjoy all the flowers our raspberry plants produce in the Spring. Our raspberry field also has chamomile, dandelions, violets, blackberry flowers, strawberries and melons! Plenty for them to do! We've also installed over the years, flowering perennials for cutting, but now for the bees too! And if the raspberry field wasn't enough, Shagbark Farm is also home to many flowering herbs, fruit trees and wild flowers. The surrounding forested acres are filled with Tulip poplars, Locust, American Red buds Elderberry, Spicebush - all put on a pretty spectacular floral display in the Spring! Moving into Summer, the blackberries and melons begin to blossom as well as Summer flowers like Monarda, Hyssop, Yarrow and other Summer flowering herbs. Autumn brings wild Asters, Goldenrod and Joe Pye Weed. A honey bee will fly up to 2 miles searching for flowers. Since one has no control over pesticides and herbicides that may be used in a 2 mile radius, the prudent beekeeper attempts to keep his bees busy and local!
Each season brings a different type of honey as the nectar flow changes. This allows for seasonal variations in the color and taste of the honey, bringing out distinct floral flavors and aromas that are representative of all the flavors of Shagbark Farm!! We harvest honey in the Spring and in mid Summer, if production is good. We avoid harvesting after August to allow the hives to build up a store for winter. Bees in a hive need roughly 70-80 pounds of honey for survival in the Winter. The Flow Hives™ don't change how you keep care of your bees. In order to keep your bees healthy, there are tasks that must be completed if you have Flow Hives™ - or not. The Flow Hives™ change how you extract honey from the hives - less invasively. In fact we weren't sure the bees would like the Flow Hives™ and at first went with a hybrid setup mixing traditional frames and Flow Hive™ frames in the Supers. The bees didn't care. We harvested the honey from the Flow Hives™ and let the bees have the honey from traditional frames for themselves.
Honey is made up of 38.2% of fructose, 31% glucose and only 1.3 % sucrose. Raw unprocessed honey contains many substances important to human nutrition. It has all of the B-complex, A, C, D, E, and K, minerals and trace elements: magnesium, sulfur, phosphorus, iron, calcium, chlorine, potassium, iodine, sodium, copper, and manganese. The live enzyme content of honey is one of the highest of all foods. Raw unprocessed honey has anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-fungal properties. It promotes body and digestive health, it is a powerful antioxidant, it strengthens the immune system, it eliminates allergies, and is an excellent remedy for skin wounds and all types of infections. Raw honey can also stabilize blood pressure, balance sugar levels, relieve pain, calm nerves and can sooth ulcer symptoms. Raw honey is also an expectorant and anti-inflammatory and has been known to effectively treat respiratory conditions such as bronchitis and asthma. Local honey also has the added benefit of reducing symptoms of allergies. Consuming traces of pollen in the honey may decrease the impact of some airborne pollen. Read about the hive products we bring to markets here. |
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SHAGBARK
FARM HIVES
The
Flow Hive™ is a truly amazing invention. It eliminates
a lot of the interfering with the bees traditional honey extraction
requires. The Flow Hives™ don't change how you keep care
of your bees. In order to keep your bees healthy, there are
tasks that must be completed if you have Flow Hives™ -
or not. It does allow the keeper to pour the honey directly
from the hive to the jars that the end honey product will be
sold in. This benefit also gives us the ability to say we are
offering pure, raw, unprocessed honey and really mean it. 
HONEY
IS A SUPERFOOD
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2009-2020 Shagbark Farm Ohio L.L.C All Rights Reserved. |
