National Honey Month Gets Sweeter
September is sweet for so many reasons. The leaves begin to change. The air cools and becomes crisp. Pumpkins pop up in and around our homes and hop back into our lattes.
The biggest reason September is so sweet?
It’s National Honey Month!
Initiated by the National Honey Board in 1989, National Honey Month is big for honey producers and beekeepers throughout the United States since September typically marks the end of honey collection season as the bees begin to prepare their hives for winter.
A few sweet facts about honey –
- There are nearly 20,000 know species of bees throughout the world – 4,000 of which are native to the U.S. (source)
- A single worker honeybee produces about 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime, meaning 27,000 bees are needed to fill a single jar! (source)
- A honey bee can travel up to 15 mph (source)
- A honey bee visits 50-100 flowers during a single collection trip. (source)
- Minnesota regularly makes the top ten list of honey-producing states every year. Other big honey-producing states include North& South Dakota, California, Montana, Florida, Texas, Idaho, Louisiana and, Washington. (source)
Clean, Minnesota Honey
One of our favorite honey producers here at Valley Natural Foods is Minneapolis-based, Bare Honey.
Bare Honey was founded by Grace and Dustin Vanasse – a husband and wife team – about a decade ago!
They create a wide variety of honey, including raw wildflower, barrel-aged, lavender, bee pollen-infused, cinnamon spread, hot & spicey and, cocoa spread – to name just a few!
Even Sweeter!
What’s even sweeter about Bare Honey is how differently they’re thinking about honey production. They’ve been collaborating with solar developers and Fresh Energy (a St.Paul-based non-profit leading the transition to clean energy) to produce honey via flowering solar farms. Bare Honey is supporting the planting of thousands of acres of pollinator-friendly habitats alongside photovoltaic arrays every year. Pollinator-friendly solar farms are proving to be a step we can all take to save pollinators and reduce our carbon footprints.
You can learn more about Bare Honey and Solar Based Beekeeping on their website!