Jan Arteaga of Roseville has been keeping bees for 18 years.
She said bees kept locally by small producers are better cared for than those grown for commercial products.
“We have strict rules and regulations on what we can treat our hives with,” she said. “My bee vet actually has had to take classes and get a sort of certificate saying he’s had these classes and that he’s allowed to treat our hives.”
Arteaga said she weighs her hives before winter, making sure they have at least 70 pounds of honey stored.
She only harvests what the bees do not need.
Arteaga said when you buy locally produced honey, you’re helping the environment.
“Getting it from a local person severely reduces the carbon footprint because we’re not importing it from halfway across the world, we’re not even importing it from California, I’m 20 miles away,” she said.
She also said some honey sold at grocery stores might contain refined sugars, syrup, or other fillers, whereas the product she sells is 100 percent honey produced by bees.
In addition to honey, Arteaga sells beeswax lip balm, beeswax lotion bars, and other bee-related products at the Macomb farmers market every Thursday and Saturday in Chandler Park.
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