Old Mill Apiary / Wissinger Farm LLC

10/20/2026

There’s a lot of thought behind what goes into our jars. For me, it starts long before there’s honey to harvest. 🍯🌿

It starts with how we care for our bees, the equipment we choose, and how we handle and store their honey.

Our brood frames never become honey-harvesting frames. I keep that equipment separate because supplemental feeding and necessary treatments belong in caring for the colony, and I want those kept separate from our harvest. Even though we choose treatments and supplements made from naturally occurring compounds, those details matter to me.

We use wooden frames and real beeswax foundation for the bees to build on—no plastic frames or plastic foundation at OMA.

After extraction, we move our honey from food-grade collection buckets into our bottling tank and glass jars as quickly as possible. We bottle only in glass, store it at household temperatures, and never heat it—even to reverse crystallization.

I put that same thought into every herb, spice, and botanical I pair with our honey.

Some I grow myself. Some I forage. There’s something meaningful to me about tending a plant, harvesting it, and knowing exactly where it came from. What I can use depends on the product and applicable state requirements.

For purchased ingredients, I look into where they come from and how they’re grown, handled, and tested. I look for certified gluten-free options, no unnecessary additives, and organic, non-GMO, fair trade, and sustainable sourcing where available.

Whether it’s Ceylon cinnamon, specialty peppercorns, or saffron, I want to understand what I’m buying and why I’m choosing it.

These are products I use myself and share with people I love. That guides what I put into a jar for you, too.

I’m still learning. The more I study, the more questions I ask. When I find a better ingredient or a better way, I’ll keep improving.

You’re trusting me with something you bring into your home. I take that personally. 💛

Old Mill Apiary • We Make Life Sweeter

10/20/2026

Honey has a sense of place. 🌿🍯

There’s a word for that: terroir. Often used when talking about w**e, it describes how the place something grows helps shape its character. But the idea belongs just as much in a conversation about honey and herbs.

About 15 years ago, learning about essential oils changed the way I thought about plants.

I remember learning that lavender grown in South Carolina could have a very different chemical makeup from lavender grown in the south of France. Not just a different scent—different amounts and combinations of naturally occurring compounds.

The soil, rainfall, heat, sunlight, and growing season could help shape what was inside the plant. That made a real impression on me.

Now, as I study apitherapy—the use of bee products in support of health—I’m thinking about honey in those same terms.

Wildflower honey from my South Carolina bee yard and wildflower honey from halfway around the world share a name. But the bees visit different plants, growing under different conditions. Even within the Southeast, a mountain slope and a river bottom offer different possibilities.

Those differences can reach beyond flavor and color to the compounds within the honey. Bee pollen, bee bread, and propolis also reflect the flowers and plant resins available to the bees.

And the connection continues with the herbs and spices I choose for our botanical blends, electuaries, and oxymels. Each ingredient has its own growing-place story—including the honey it’s paired with.

That has me thinking beyond how these ingredients taste. What beneficial compounds do they contain? How might those differences matter when we study their potential health benefits?

Different doesn’t automatically mean better, and origin alone doesn’t establish a health benefit. Those answers take testing and research. But understanding the differences gives us better questions to ask.

For me, that’s where learning about plants and learning about bees come together. It’s why I care about where our ingredients come from, how they’re handled, and what we’re still learning about them.

There’s a whole lot more to a jar than sweet. 🐝

Old Mill Apiary • We Make Life Sweeter

10/20/2026

🍯 Crystallized honey: there’s more to the story!

I’ve seen lots of posts lately about making crystallized honey liquid again. But…you don’t have to! Crystallized honey is delicious and perfectly fine to use as it is. Spread it on toast or spoon it into tea. Unless you need it to be liquid for a recipe, there’s nothing to “fix.”

Why does it happen? Honey’s two main sugars are glucose and fructose. Glucose forms crystals more readily; fructose tends to stay dissolved. More glucose generally means faster crystallization, while more fructose relative to glucose helps honey stay liquid longer.

Different flowers produce nectar with different sugar balances. That’s why some honeys crystallize quickly while others, like Tupelo, resist it. Temperature, moisture, and pollen also play a part.

Sometimes crystals settle below a runnier layer. That liquid still contains sugars and water—not just fructose. As glucose crystallizes, the remaining liquid can have a higher proportion of water, allowing natural yeasts to ferment if conditions permit. Separation alone doesn’t mean fermentation, but new bubbling, persistent foam, or a ye**ty smell deserves attention. Warming won’t undo fermentation.

The seasons tell another part of the story. Spring nectar fuels colony growth and wax making, while pollen helps nourish baby bees. New comb becomes nursery and pantry, providing room for a growing colony and its food stores.

Later nectar flows help fill the winter pantry. Spring honey can be light and delicate; later honey can be darker and bolder. But flowers set the pattern! Color alone doesn’t tell you sweetness, thickness, or crystallization speed.

At Old Mill Apiary, we do not heat our honey in any way before our customers buy it—including warming it to remove crystals. If it crystallizes, we leave it that way.

Warming it at home is your choice. If you do, use a gentle warm-water bath, keep water out, and avoid excessive heat.

Sometimes the story pours. Sometimes it spreads. 🐝

10/18/2026

10/16/2026

🐝🔬 PROPOLIS: The Science Behind the “Bee Glue”! 🌿

Did you know honey bees use plant resins to create propolis, a complex mixture of plant-derived compounds, beeswax, and other materials? They use it to seal gaps and coat interior surfaces of their hives (Simone-Finstrom & Spivak, 2010).

🧪 What makes propolis scientifically fascinating?

🌿 Complex chemistry: Propolis contains flavonoids, phenolic acids, and other bioactive compounds. Its chemical composition varies depending on botanical source and geography (Pasupuleti et al., 2017).

🦠 Antimicrobial research: Laboratory studies have investigated propolis extracts for activity against various microorganisms, although results depend on the sample, extraction method, and organism studied (Pasupuleti et al., 2017).

🐝 Social immunity: Propolis may help protect honey bee colonies by reducing microbial growth and exposure within the hive (Simone-Finstrom & Spivak, 2010).

✨ FUN FACT: Honey bees naturally coat the inside walls of tree-cavity nests with propolis, forming what researchers call a propolis envelope! This resinous barrier is part of the colony’s natural defense system (Simone-Finstrom & Spivak, 2010).

🔬 Why this matters: Because propolis varies chemically, researchers must characterize individual samples carefully. Laboratory findings also do not automatically establish clinical effectiveness in humans.

📚 References

Pasupuleti, V. R., Sammugam, L., Ramesh, N., & Gan, S. H. (2017). Honey, propolis, and royal jelly: A comprehensive review of their biological actions and health benefits. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2017, Article 1259510. https://doi.org/10.1155/2017/1259510

Simone-Finstrom, M., & Spivak, M. (2010). Propolis and bee health: The natural history and significance of resin use by honey bees. Apidologie, 41, 295–311. https://doi.org/10.1051/apido/2010016

🐝 The hive is more than a home—it’s a fascinating starting point for natural products research!

10/10/2026

🍂🐝 A change of plans means another chance to see you!

The Fort Lawn Community Center Fall Festival has been postponed due to the storm—and with the new date, Old Mill Apiary can now be there!

Join us Saturday, October 17, from 10 AM to 4 PM at 5554 Main Street in Fort Lawn. We’ll be bringing raw local honey, a selection of varietal and botanical honeys, and some sweet goodies from the farm. 🍯

Come enjoy the artisan and food vendors, live music, pumpkin painting, inflatables, games for the kids, and more. It’s a wonderful chance to enjoy a fall day while supporting our community and local businesses!

Mark your calendars, share the updated flyer, and come see us next Saturday!

Old Mill Apiary • We Make Life Sweeter 🐝💛

10/09/2026

Nobody tells you that part of signing up for vendor events is becoming an amateur meteorologist. 🌧️🙃

You’ve been really, REALLY looking forward to an event. You’ve never been before, you’ve paid your vendor fee, and you’ve spent days making products, labeling jars, organizing displays, and getting ready.

Then the weather starts looking questionable.

So you spend the day before checking approximately 5,000 weather apps, following every meteorologist on social media, asking Chat and every other AI you can think of, and messaging your vendor friends. Surely somebody has the answer, right?!

I WANT to be there. I want to spend the day talking to people about bees and honey, sharing my products, and introducing some new things I’m excited about. That’s the part I love. 🐝💛

A little rain? I can work with a little rain. But my weather app is showing a 100% chance of rain pretty much throughout the event, around two inches over the day, and strong sustained winds with gusts potentially reaching about 30-40 mph. Even the most heavily weighted and properly strapped tent isn’t safe in that. And forget about signs staying put.

Where DO you draw the line between “This is workable; I can deal with it” and “Trying to do this just doesn’t make sense”?

That doesn’t mean I’ve stopped hoping. I’ll be checking the weather through the night. If the forecast changes drastically—and I mean DRASTICALLY—and those wind and severe-weather concerns clear out, leaving us with something manageable like a little drizzle, I’ll get out of bed super early, load the truck, and be there with bells on…or maybe that should be ‘bees on’. 🤗

The products are ready. My heart wants to go. But I need to feel comfortable with the conditions, too.

As an event goer, where do you draw the line about attending?