Bee Raw

Bees need food. That's why our beekeepers harvest only excess honey, leaving the rest to maintain the vitality of the hive. But even if you’re not a beekeeper, you can still help! Planting bee-friendly flowers is one of the easiest and most beautiful ways to support the bees.

One hundred percent raw, real varietal honey.

Sounds good, right? But what does it mean? The raw part is easy: raw honey has not been processed, heated or filtered. (You could just as well call it unadulterated, but that didn’t fit on our jar.)

In other words, raw honey comes straight from the hive. It can be strained to remove large particles and other non-honey elements, but the honey itself, including the pollen, remains.

For some, urban rooftop honey is about as high altitude as it gets. But it gets even higher. And the higher it gets, the more difficult it is to pull off making and harvesting honey. Below, long-time bee keeper Jean Vasicek shares her high-altitude secrets and what she does throughout the summer and into the fall to keep her bees alive throughout the year.

Honeybees lives in a sophisticated, well-organized society. Colonies comprise a staggering 50,000 to 60,000 bees, each performing different roles in order to help ensure the smooth running, success—and life—of their colony. The lifespan of honeybees varies, depending on the role of an individual bee within its colony.

Let's take a look at those roles and what they mean for one of the most sophisticated and organized animals on our planet.

So-called "lower" organisms often show sophisticated learning abilities that aid their survival and reproduction. Bees and their relatives are especially good at learning the location and appearance of flowers.

How do they do this? The waggle dance.

Sure, you may not be able to set up hives on your roof or in your back yard anytime soon. But to save our endangered bees, you don't need to. Believe it or not, there are several other simple things we can do to help keep bees in our communities flourishing.

In recent years scientists have fretted over the future of bees, and although research has shed much light on the crisis, those in the bee business—from hive keepers to commercial farmers—say the insects remain in deep trouble as their colonies continue to struggle.

At Bee Raw we’re not content to let honey steal all the attention. We’re out to save the bees, after all, so the more bee-related products we can conjure up, the better the bees', and their beekeepers', fighting chances.

Enter Butchwax, our concoction of beeswax, jojoba oil, and essential oils. Centuries ago, everyone from Midwestern farmers to Thomas Jefferson used beeswax for anything in need of moisturizing or conditioning. And why not? As we find again and again in our quest for sustainability, nature’s way is the best way.

Yes indeed. Pure, unadulterated honey is by definition kosher. And Bee Raw's single varietal honeys are all 100 percent real, raw honey. Cheers to kosher honey!

The kosher status of our honey is certified by Rabbi Zushe Blech with EarthKosher, a certification agency that specializes in organic, green and sustainable foods. Rav Ha’Machshir Blech was formerly the regional director for the Kashrus division of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America (the “OU”).

We recently sold out of our 2014 harvest of NY Aster flower honey. Ordinarily, once a honey is gone, it won't be available again until the next year's harvest. Single-varietal honey made from Aster flowers is harvested late in the season, usually September or even October. The 2015 Aster harvest might therefore not be available for purchase until November or even December. 

So, we thought we'd check in with Bruce, our Beekeeper