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Bee Keeper Reveals Benefits of Raw Honey in Northeast Michigan

One native of Alpena is maintaining the cycle of sweetness for northern Michiganders with raw honey.

“It helps our neighbors, our farmers, and every little bit that I can do, I try,” Bee keeper, Evelyn Avery said.

With cold temperatures approaching bee season is finally over, but that doesn’t mean the health benefits of honey are.

“If you have allergies to flowers, to trees, and things like that the bees are going to have that right in their honey. Scientist has proven that raw honey is good for allergies in your area. Say you’re here in northern Michigan but you buy North Dakota honey, it’s not really going to benefit you because it’s not the same plants and flowers. So you want your own local honey,” she added.

A bee’s life span is only 21 days. The local bees here in Michigan travel up to 2 miles to harvest. Avery said that’s what makes the difference between light honey and dark honey. With a cold summer, Avery had to remain optimistic.

 “It’s frustrating because sometimes you lose your hives. I lost three of them this year. I lost them in June. It could have been the cold weather; it could have bee the rain. There are diseases that a beekeeper has to watch. A bee keeper has to treat them if they want a healthy hive,” Avery said.

If you think bee keeping is easy, think again.

“It’s definitely a slow process when you’re processing your honey. But at the end of it when you get to put it on your cereal or your piece of toast it’s all worth it,” Avery said.

Avery has one rule, no wasting honey.

“You keep bee wax for lip balm, soaps, there’s several different things that you can use the wax for. There’s a lot of locals that really want that,” she explained.

A fascinating fact: honey was found during the Egyptian times, and reused. So next time you think about throwing out your liquid gold, just reheat it in a pan of water and the sugar filled jar will come back to life.