Gillard Family Honey

08/21/2020

Honey may be more effective in treating coughs and colds than over-the-counter medicines, a new study has found.

06/20/2020

I'm waiting to sell you local raw honey. I've got honey comb today. I'll be here till noon.

05/26/2020

Opening day for the Lee's Summit (MO) farmer's market. Different format, different location, same great stuff.

Vendor Layout | Saturday, May 30 | 8am-12pm

We're looking forward to providing access to locally grown and locally sourced products in a minimal to no contact option this weekend.

Pictured here are our attending vendors. We highly recommend pre-ordering as many of our vendors will have limited selections at the market and it will help to improve traffic flow.

Visit our website (www.downtownls.org/market) for information on how to pre-order!

02/01/2020

What is "local" honey?

I'm always asked, "Is this honey local?"

I normally respond, "Yes, I'm from Holden."

The comeback is, "Is that within twenty miles? I heard you're supposed to buy honey within twenty miles."

I usually smile because not many people really know where Holden is, or if it even exists. I go on to explain that "local" honey cannot be measured in miles, rather, one needs to pay attention to the crops, the weeds, the wildflowers and the forage options available to the bees. It's about the plants, not the miles.

So I ask if this potential customer if they have the same flowers and weeds in their backyard that my bees are finding in Holden. Since we're talking about similar soil types and similar geography, they normally concede we share many of the same plants. If we have the same plants, the nectar and pollen will be the same. "Local" honey is about the flowers.

But most people don't really pay attention to what is blooming, and even those who do notice the flowers can't identify which plant is which, or even if that particular flower is beneficial to the bees. So we feel we need to come up with an arbitrary number like five miles, or ten miles or twenty or whatever.

It's the flowers, not the miles that define "local."

That said, even within short distances, some farms will grow different crops or leave their fields in the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). Now we have small little islands of flowers that may not be shared over an entire county. These little islands may result is a slightly different honey, though much of the honey will still share common floral sources.

When I starting out, I had bees on three different farms in Cape Girardeau County. These farms were all about three or four miles apart. I kept the honey from each farm separate as I wanted to give each landlord a jar of honey that came from their respective farm. I would likely conclude the honey was going to be the same from each farm as it certainly qualified as "local."

Much to my surprise, even sitting right down the road from each other, these farms produced a honey that was slightly different than the next. The difference was very subtle, and if you had a sensitive pallet, you could taste a slight difference.

Is my honey local? Yes, but bees forage on a lot of different kinds of flowers, which may yield certain subtleties in color and flavor even if the hives are kept within short distances of other hives.

If you are buying honey from a local beekeeper, chances are very good you're getting local honey. When in doubt, ask. To get to know your local honey, get to know your local beekeeper.

I'm Grant Gillard from Gillard Honey in Holden, MO. I sell honey at the Lee's Summit Farmer's Market on Wednesdays and Saturdays (in season). Stop by if you have some questions.

01/25/2020

Local raw honey from Lafayette county.

Bzzzzzzz....RAW LOCAL HONEY now available! Happy to welcome Gillard Honey to our store!