When people stop into the Creekside Shop, we are often asked, “What’s the big deal about local honey? How is it different than what I can buy at the grocery store?” Aside from the importance of supporting small, local producers (which we know is important), there are some differences in honey you buy from the Nature Center and honey you buy at the grocery store. First, you can be sure that the honey you purchase from the Nature Center is 100% pure honey. Some large producers add sweeteners, fillers, even just plain water to their honey. What is in our bears is just pure and simple honey. Also, our honey is “raw” honey – it isn’t processed or pasteurized. Our honey is extracted straight from the flats, strained and bottled. Occasionally – usually during the winter and spring – we have to gently warm the honey enough to make it pourable but we don’t heat it enough to kill off the beneficial minerals, vitamins, enzymes, and powerful antioxidants it contains. It has anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-fungal properties, too.
Raw honey helps digestion, strengthens your immune system, stabilizes blood pressure, helps colds and sore throats, helps heal abrasions, and more. Many people swear by local honey when it comes to lessening or even eliminating allergy symptoms. Local honey contains small amounts of pollen specific to the area and ingesting a spoonful of honey daily is like taking a mini-vaccine. Your system builds up an immunity to the pollen and your allergy symptoms lessen or disappear.
Our bees doing a great job of producing honey for the Nature Center, but as demand increases, we sometimes can’t keep up. At those times, we buy honey from other local producers in Linn and adjacent counties. Most, if not all of those producers have gone through our beekeeping program here at the Nature Center and we know they are producing honey to our standards. You can always be assured that the honey you buy at the Nature Center is pure, LOCAL honey!