Eugene Makovec asked:
>Rob, I know very little about this stuff, but can they certify you 
>as organic if your bees are within foraging range of non-organic 
>nectar sources?

Two points here.

First:
The farm and crops are being certified, not the honey. I'm 
diversifying as I can't pay for the farm cost with bees alone. I grow 
and sell sweet corn, popcorn, and hopefully other products alongside 
my honey. I'm pondering, if the buckwheat works, to harvest it and 
market that, perhaps as flour or a pancake mix. Sunflower seed should 
be an easy sell. All revenues can help finance the bees. This farm 
venture is a fairly new thing for me. I'm not overly idealistic. At 
the market my sweet corn sold for up to $7 a dozen. Popcorn for 
$2.75/lb. And so far, I'm selling out. The Farmers Market is organic 
only, so certification for the produce is important. Whether this 
niche continues profitable for me into the future is not certain, but 
it is for now.

Second:
I doubt that there's any purely organic forage areas left anywhere in 
this continent. But I also think that the major problems with honey's 
quality and purity is more about what the beekeepers put into their 
own hives, or what the packers do with it. No, I can't stop the bees 
from leaving the acreage I manage and the forage I provide. The best 
I can do is provide something blooming all season, treat bees with 
things like powdered sugar, monitor the mite counts, and handle my 
honey with the best of care and respect. Keeping bees alive is 
important. Doing so without antibiotics or chemical treatments is a 
requirement of the market for me.

After my first full season last year, I understand why farmers use 
herbicides for weeds and insecticides.

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