Suzanne, Al, Bill and Tim......and ALL,

This year I decided not to do a fall harvest because of stinky goldenrod. You are correct in that the taste and color are excellent. But I just can't stand the smell. I work for a company that manufactures sugar cane equipment and sugar is king down here. So I have a tough sell when it comes to any other sweetener. I bring honey to work and when I can't open the honey container because of the smell, it makes it hard to sell. "Your honey smells like that?!?! And you are trying to sell that for how much?"

I also find the viscosity to be almost like paste, thick like grease. I have a hard time getting it through my filter.

I thought like you Al in that this may have been nature's way of providing me a way to winter over my hives.

Thanks for the head's up on storing the honey for a couple of years, heating it up and filtering it warm. That might help with the viscosity problem.

P.S. There is an old wife's tale in south Louisiana about the first frost and the goldenrod. When you see the goldenrod blooming fully, not just starting blooming, blazing yellow in the fields, mark your calendar for 6 weeks from that time for your first frost. My dad told my mother that tale and she did not believe him. She marked the calendar and said "we'll see". 6 weeks and 1 day our first frost appeared. My mom said, "I stand corrected." We'll be observing this for the years to come to change this from an old wife's tale to a "rule of thumb" or a guide.

Buddy Gauthier

Systems Programmer/Analyst - Beekeeper Hobbyist (9 hives)
CAMECO® Industries, Inc. - A John Deere Company
Thibodaux, LA  70301-1602
Email:  [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>

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