What do your bees eat? Their diet depends on the season. Throughout the year, we plant buckwheat, clover, and chicory for them. They also have access to naturally growing white and red clover, goldenrod, sunflowers, milkweed, Queen Anne's Lace, and other natural tree, shrub, and wildflower blossoms on our farm. We try to leave several wild areas on our farm where the bees can forage.
How do you process your honey? We remove surplus filled honey frames from the beehive, always careful to leave enough behind for the bees' use. Then, we use electric and manual uncapping knives to release the honey from the honeycomb. Next, we extract the honey from the newly uncapped frames using an electric centrifuge. The honey leaves the centrifuge and passes through two stainless steel sieves to remove large wax particles (see below:)
then is drawn into an electric bottling machine that weighs it as it is pumped directly into its final container (see below).
Any spilled or leftover honey is taken outside and left for the bees to recover.Help! My honey has crystallized! Is it still good? Yes, it sure is! Crystallization is a natural process of unheated honey where the honey's glucose separates from the water content over time, forming solid crystals. This is especially true in unprocessed and raw honey. The easiest way to prevent this is to store your honey at room temperature. If it still crystallizes, the recommended way of returning it to it's original form is to place the sealed jar into a bowl of very warm (not boiling) water and wait for the honey to soften. This method won't remove any of the natural nutrients or enzymes.
What accreditations do you have? We are members of the Cook-DuPage Beekeepers Association. We are also registered with the Illinois Department of Agriculture Apiary Inspection Section.
Can we come and visit your farm? At this time, we are not allowing outside visitors for safety and security reasons.
Thank you for your interest in Five Trees Farm!
