Another reason to buy locally:

[hedgehog]

I figure, if you're cooking and baking, it's worth the extra effort to have the actual ingredients and not a cheap imitation:

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/technology/science/honey-laundering-the-sour-side-of-natures-golden-sweetener/article1859410/singlepage/#articlecontent

[Denninmi]

1. Yup. I agree. Been there, done that.

I grow my own. Those that can't do that should consider buying from a local beekeeper. Stuff imported from China could be compromised in so many ways, from deliberate adulteration to contamination with pesticides that are banned in North America to contamination with industrial waste dumped into the environment by Chinese industry.

My bees are sleeping the winter away, waiting for spring.

[hedgehog]

3. I've long been tempted by bee keeping - how much time, money

would it take to start with 1 hive?

[Denninmi]

4. Time -- not that much. Money, fairly considerable.

A starter hive of bees, known as a nucleus colony or "nuc" runs about $75 to $100. The equipment to keep a hive of bees is a fairly substantial investment, probably $300 to $500. It depends a little bit on whether you want basic equipment or high end equipment, and whether you want to go all out with all of the bells and whistles and get all sorts of stuff, or just stick to real basics. Some of the equipment investment is the same whether you do one hive or a hundred -- protective clothing, hive tools, smoker, honey knife, centrifugal extractor if you want to go that route to extract honey from the frames, etc. Time wise, it takes roughly 10 to 30 minutes of maintenance on a hive two or three times a year.

You can often score stuff a lot cheaper by looking for used equipment for sale -- check out the postings on the bulletin boards of local and state beekeeper's associations. When I got started, I actually bought out an elderly gentleman's entire supply of equipment, enough to keep and maintain about 20 hives, for $100. He no longer could handle the manual labor involved.

[housewolf]

2. I had no idea...

Thanks for posting that article, it was a revelation to me. Stuff I had no idea about, but it's important to know.

[trud]

5. honey, maple syrup, Whole Foods

The honey I buy is from hives about 6 blocks down the street. The farmers' markets around here sell local maple sugar, too.

BTW, the last shred of my confidence in Whole Paycheck disappeared when I read that a lot of their "organic" food they buy from China.

[tigereye]

6. is that really true? Most of their produce and fish

doesn't appear to be, but then I don't go there that often. (too expensive and I often feel like I'll make one wrong move and crush the self-involved as I try to navigate the aisles.) :D