Authentic honey meets elegant style @sofitellondon @wildhoneystjames

Good to step back from the actual beekeeping (a full-on job in the last couple of months!) & take a moment to reflect on bee-dependant outcomes, like this strawberry from one of my raised beds (an echo of our farm’s historic crop: Tiptree is just up the road from us). All in context…

My musings on the constancy of honey fraud on Valentine’s Day are featured in the MailOnline (see link in bio).

As Shakespeare famously wrote about cheap, highly-processed supermarket honey:

“If blending be the food of fraud, hold on! Don’t sell me excess of it - that, surfeiting, the appetite may sicken, and so die.”

Please shun any honey with the word “blend” on the label. Fall in love with authentic honey from a local beekeeper instead.

(And by the way, while Saint Valentine is the patron saint of beekeepers, there is no patron saint of honeypackers (the big-business industrialists whose “honey” confections stuff the supermarket shelves). Just saying…)

(Photo credit: Richard Brown)

#bermondseystreetbees #honeysommelierlondon #sarahwyndhamlewis #sustainablebeekeeping #plantingforthebees #honeyfraud #fakehoney #honeylaundering #mailonline #richardbrown #therichardbrown #HANUk #HAN #honeyauthenticitynetwork #honeyauthenticitynetworkuk

The last 3 bee-notebooks of 2024 ready for recycling. “Notebooks!” I hear you cry- “which century are you living in?”

Well, if you’re working a hive, adding honey, wax, propolis & debris to your mobile’s charging point isn’t a great idea.

Write first, then upload to the Cloud. Hive records are essential: high knowledge = low intervention.

#sustainablebeekeeping #sustainablenotekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #hiverecords #highknowledgelowintervention #plantingforthebees #honeysommelierlondon #bee-cycling

Heavenly honey. Take a little time. Enjoy.

#sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #plantingforthebees #honeysommelierlondon #realhoney #onetakewonder #slowfood #heavenlyhoney #heavenlyhoneyinahex

New year, new apiary site.

This chilly weather is an ideal time to move bees, since they are warmly clustered together inside their hives, with no temptation to attempt outbound flight. Which means that we leave no bees behind in their former location. Job done.

#sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #amovingexperience

Winter trees and Winter bees.

At this time of year, both look skeletal and still. But, deep down, the sap is stirring and the bees are budding.

#sustainablebeekeeping #bermondseystreetbees #plantingforthebees #buddingbees #stirringtrees #honeysommelierlondon #itshappening #daysaregettinglonger

Nice to see our hives strong & well-provisioned just before Christmas (as the varroa treatment went on).

Especially gratifying since the first half of 2024 was dreadful - so we risked leaving the honey supers on our hives in August, delaying the harvest for a month.

The bees filled them up!

#bermondseystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping #farming #plantingforthebees #honeysommelierlondon

A little last-minute Christmas shopping…

#bermondseystreetbees #sustainablebeekeeping #beescantshoponline #plantingforthebees #honeysommelierlondon

In today’s Observer article on fake honey, I’m quoted calling for the provenance of U.K. blended honeys to be labelled, so that the consumer can make an informed choice.

Since Brexit, we’ve broadly aligned our food regulations with those of the EU.

But wait! Back in 2021, I posted this image of this French supermarket honey with a list of the countries of origin on its label, yet the public still has no such information on its mealy-mouthed UK “Blend of EU / non-EU” labels.

What is more, the EU is moving towards adding the exact % provenance of the geographical components of each blended jar of honey.

It’s a scandal that the U.K. does not require labels to explicitly state the origins / percentage contents of “blended” honey.

#sustainablebeekeeping #honeysommelierlondon #jonungoedthomas #observerarticletoday #justdoit #realhoney