Get'cher pollen on... BEE POLLEN info ...Buzz Buzz!

Greetings of health and happiest of the New Year!

A few weeks ago I stumbled across some bookmarks I had saved and was "smacked upside da head" with BEE POLLEN!  It seems the Schulze/Gerson/Christopher trio didn't utilize or know about the fantastical benefits and nutrition factors of bee pollen...so I read my old info, found some new info and started testing it out.

You'll see that most say it needs to be kept in the dark and refrigerated (and I'm certainly not one to argue with experts).  But just so you know, the pollen I used for two weeks was purchased at a local farmer's market in August/September, and it's been unrefrigerated in the pantry all that time.  I discerned "extreme goodness" the first tablespoon I took (even though it had been unrefrigerated for MONTHS).

This is not meant to be a "teaching post" (I haven't compiled/learned near enough for that yet...or for answering anything but the most basic of questions).  BUT I do think it's a fantastic idea for everyone to start reading and learning about the fantastical benefits...so I'm posting this now.

Also, I'm pretty sure I'll be adding bee pollen (in some amount) to addend or replace part of the Superfood requirements...and I see nothing wrong with getting some and starting to experiment on your own (if you want to after reading through the links below).

It IS important to source a good quality...and so far "good quality" = bee pollen from hives where the beekeeper does NOT use chemicals and pollen that has not been over-dried.  My experience (and logic) tells me that we likely don't need to buy it from the 'refrigerator section' (because people have been collecting, storing and ingesting bee pollen LONG before there's been refrigerators).  But we can learn & experience more together and see what we come up with.

I just received a 6 pound jug a few days ago from Dansk farms in Florida, and me and my doctor within are very pleased with the quality.  Currently, he only offers it in 1/2 pound and 6 pound selections...and even though he doesn't use chemicals in his hives, he's yet to respond to me regarding information about the drying process he utilizes (which can make a major difference in 'pollen quality').  If/when I get that information (and find it's a good drying process), I'll ask him and see if he'll add a 1# and a mid-range size between 1# & 6# selection to his Storefront...and if that all works out it's likely Dansk will be my "recommended supplier".  Right now with what I, Rocky and Willowley have learned & experienced so far, it seems like he has a very good product for a VERY fair price!  Here's the links if you wanna check out his site (and FB page): www.danskfarms.com/servlet/StoreFront   www.facebook.com/#!/organichoney

Also/fyi, It seems to me that this man has a LOT on his plate....so if you contact him, don't be impatient if he doesn't reply asap.  From what Willowley says, it seems like he's had difficulty coming up with "good packaging" for the mid-range sizes of bee pollen (but I haven't yet emailed him and let him know that we'd all be happy with plain ole baggies :::grin:::...although I have informed him of our forum and asked if I could post his links)

Whew-wow-burn-yum...on a whim, I just added a spoonful of our homemade Thai red curry paste to a bowl of veggie soup.  Wow, it's super-duper-tasty and my mouth is on FIAR!   ('just had to sneek that in!)

Anyway, here's a few good overviews on the myriads of beneficial & nutritional aspects of bee pollen. 

Bee Pollen - The Perfect Food

Bee Pollen's Medical Miracles

Benefits of Bee Pollen

Suggesting starting doses range from a few lil' pollen granules to a tablespoon (I initially stuck a wet finger in the jar and came up with 15-ish granules for my 'safety test' and then started taking 1 Tablespoon at a time.  I'm up to 2T daily and really excited to work my way up to 4T daily.  People (particularly the nutzo-type body builders) have been known to take a cup or more daily.  It's said you could live on it for months without suffering any type of nutritional deficit, so who knows...maybe the body builders aren't so nutzo.

I've been putting the pollen granules in the bottom of a 'rocks glass', squeezing honey on them 'till they're covered (maybe a Tablespoon?) and then adding dairy kefir to about 3/4 full.  I stir it thoroughly and let it sit awhile (10-60 minutes), so the pollen can dissolve while the honey & pollen feed the microbiota in the kefir.  That's not something I read is "correct", that's something that I discerned/intuited to be a good way of taking it.  Today I had my biggest "dose" so far, a bit over 2 Tablespoons of pollen, honey and about 1 1/4 cups of kefir.  Yesterday 2T of pollen made me a bit "urpy-queasy" for a 20 minutes or so (it felt like I'd eat something way to "rich"), but today it didn't do that at all.  Maybe it was the extra kefir diluting it, but I think I'm ready for a heaping 2 Tablespoons tomorrow!

What I know for sure?  Whether it be this spring or next spring, Rocky and I are going to be learning and purchasing everything it takes to have several hives of our own.  Then we'll have all the honey and pollen we need, and likely plenty leftover to offer in our Storefront (for the lowest price possible).  We've got a couple of commercial fields nearby, but we've got also got 30-ish acres of timber (and big open areas where we could plant "mini-field" of clover and all kinds of flowering herbs.  I've seen several places where it's said that bees naturally avoid any plant that has been sprayed with chemicals in favor of plants that haven't been...and since our 'back forty' is jam-packed with all kinds of plant-life, it should support the bees even if we didn't plant our "mini-fields".  The only thing keeping us from doing it this spring is money (grrrrr).  We have to save up enough to refurbish at least half of our VERY compromised basement if there's any way we're to keep up with the growth of the Storefront (and we HAVE to do that before we could possibly afford bees & hives)...but we'll get 'er done eventually, for sure and for certain!

I'm researching now on the postitive affects that bee pollen has on our intestinal microorganisms (something we all need to be devoted to repopulating & recolonizing, even if we think we don't)...and it's looking REALLY GOOD so far :)

PLEASE feel free to dig in and start researching & experimenting...and post all the links and your experiences you find and have!  We'll likely be adding this thread to the FAQs fairly in a month or so.

buzz-Buzz-BUZZ!  Uny

Buzz P.S.    Get out your lil' coffee grinder thingy - add about 4T of Turbinado & 3T of Bee Pollen and grind/powder them finely.  Throw that in a bowl and add 1T of Himalyan Salt (I don't want 'powdered salt)...then mix thoroughly and put in some kind of a 'shaker'.  Then pop a great big bowl full of hot organic popcorn and shake it on LIBERALLY!  Yep, sweet & salty - almost exactly like kettle corn...but jam-packed with nutritional goodness!!!!  It's enough for a LOT of bowls full....YUM!!!