Honey or Sorghum For Growing Sugar?
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- Опубліковано 24 сер 2024
- Many people who decide to homestead think about honey or a natural more health option for creating sugar. Sugar is a preservative and helps in making jams and jellies and other things. PLUS, most sugars you buy in the store are unhealthy for you and HIGHLY processed.
We chose Sorghum over Honey. Here is why!
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As a beekeeper I’m bias to bees. You forgot a few pros to having bees. #1 bees help to pollinate your garden. #2 you get a better harvest off a box. (3-4 gals off of a honey supper more if you use deeps.) 3# The wax you get from honey have a ton of uses too #4Mead!!!!
Bees are free if you caught swarms in the spring. And you could easily multiply you hives every year with splits and new swarms. Equipment is only expensive as you want them to be. Build your own boxes, foundation less frames, and jackets don’t have to be expensive either. We started out the expensive way but when we do more we will know how to do it better and more affordable.
We see the benefits to both , but honey taste better. Remember one is none and two is one.
Not to mention the benefits to allergy sufferers. Must find raw local honey. (Less than 50 miles)
Bees start up could cost as little as $250. Maybe less.
Bees start up could cost as little as $250. Maybe less. You can start right for $500 with bees and equipment.
I agree Scott I am a beekeeper also, we started out 9 years ago with our first hive my husband built our hive and a friend came out and caught a swarm of bees for us now we have 16 hives, we harvest over 50 gal + of honey every year, we not only sell the honey, we sell candles, make balms, lotions, honey butters, soaps, we sell bee pollen to health food stores, we sell bees for medical use with arthritis, we sell queen cells, I am sure I a forgetting something btw I have less than $500 in 9 years invested, I sell honey for $14 qt, I do like sorghum but the expenses of getting started with that far out ways the expense of getting started with bees. Love this channel and videos. Peace, love, and blessings
@@Reddoorpaintingllc I am thinking about bees, I have mostly wooded land (8 a). How can I get started for $500.
I would love to see a video of you processing and preserving sorghum.
Hey my friend so good to see you again. We will be starting to make our cane syrup next week. We are believers in our cane as far as expense is concerned.
Before I begin, let me tell you that this is a good video. It is a good conversation starter. It's a good opening for an intellectual debate. Before I get any further, let me say that if you buy a $1,000 machine, even $1500, it can likelt be shared between various homesteaders. ... Same as a honey extractor.
I am a modestly capable beekeeper, though my neighbors and Friends seem to be better at it than me. I had one 150 lb honey harvest about 8 years ago and I'm still living off of it.
As a recovering engineer I find the process stimulating.
As an engineer who shifted to teaching I find it to be a superb learning tool for young folk.
It is as much animal husbandry as anything else.
It is soothing and intellectual on the one hand and a good networking platform for getting to know other homesteaders, preppers.
I've never done it, but setting out some hives at another person's garden can you end up with some you some portion of their yield.
I don't know what sorghum tastes like but molasses must be close? Honey tastes better/different. The only thing that compares favorably to Honey appears to be honest maple syrup.
That said, I've had good years and bad years. ... Much of it has to do with Hit and Miss on your source of nectar. ... Sometimes you can have great flowering tulip poplars and it rains just before the nectar flow.
Another factor is all of the assault by all of the critters that attack the bees: for all mites, small Hive beatles, wax moths. All of these take time to combat.
You can also grind sorghum grains into flour for baking bread. It's considered an ancient grain. The downside to picking sorghum over honey is that you can't make mead from sorghum. ;)
Yep you can't make mead. You CAN MAKE RUM! :)
Sorghum grains can also be boiled and served like you would rice or quinoa. It's gluten-free, so you may need to make adjustments for that when baking bread. It's incredibly versatile. I don't like the taste of the syrup, though, but I would highly recommend growing it for the seeds and then selling the syrup as a by product if you don't like the flavor. In that way, it's a highly productive product.
@@Anamericanhomestead You can?? I didn't even think about that, but that's a definite pro from me! Haha
Sorgum beer is gluten free as well
I did both on my homestead and loved it and I say do both. Each have their own pros and cons.
I started my bee experience only with $53, the rest paid for itself. In 1 year I ended getting 20 bee colonies by getting paid to do bee extraction. I kept the 20 and even sold about 10 more colonies. I was an amateur when I started. The reason I had 20 colonies is that I kept some in my gardens for pollination, and I rented them to other farms. I also sold my honey and the honeycomb wax I got from the bee. I didn't really have any crazy problems with my bee. I addressed most of the issue upfront. I built my boxes and insulated them and had a water dripper next to it. Then I made sure that had on a good stand to keep the bugs out and then I never had really bad things in over 5 years. Some other benefits of the honey is that you have different flavors, it also treats allergies, and many illnesses. My grandfather was a homesteader and he used honey to preserve raw meat by filling a Mason jar of honey and then suspended red meat in it and it kept for a real long time raw. Bees are really easy to do and really fun. With the stinging issue, I only had 1 bad experience and that was my fault of being careless. There are some types of bee wher you don't need bee protection like the Russian breed. They are little breed and very gentle behavior. I actually kept that species inside my aquaponic greenhouse.
Honey will not go bad
Nor will will Sorghum. Sugar is a natural preservative when its reaches a certain sugar to moisture ratio.
@@Anamericanhomestead that's good to know. It's a plus on both sides
Honey is known as one of the world’s few ‘complete foods’, like a quality raw milk. Having your own hive offers you the experience of learning and seeking to gain those skills whilst harvesting the honey (for food to treat wounds), improving fruit/veggie yields for you and your neighbors, the wax (like eating the honey in the bees wax) has been proven to been helpful for lung/breathing issues as well as the addition for your homestead salves, soaps, candles, wood preservative, etc.
You also can have the energy, Vitamin B’s and more from the pollen - shared by many as an allergy alleviation.
Bee sting therapy has been used for a LONG time to help with issues like MS.
I say, never discount a learning opportunity and potential family benefit because it’s hard or you don’t have the skills of the professionals. How many could say the same for gardening, improving soils?!
Bees can help improve an entire garden that can include your livestock feeds as well as Stevia, Lemon Verbena (both natural herbal sweeteners) as well as your fruits, sorghum, sugar cane, beets, agave, many we haven’t identified...
It’s like companion planting - learning to incorporate many advantages and increasing knowledge through experience and the joy of doing!
And I tell you, it’s a treat to be in your garden, working near the hum of diligent bees and other beneficial insects, singing birds and more - all valuing every effort working as unto the Lord.
It won't preserve your health.
LOL
I got a sugarcane juice extractor that weighs a ton because its cast iron from ebay. Couple hundred dollars. Hand crank. You'll need evaporatiin pans to cook down the juice.
I hope you continue to keep making videos here! I was bummed when you stopped, but I do understand why you did. God Bless!
What a pleasant surprise to find An American Homestead current content recommended for me from UA-cam. I do appreciate your content, values, family, and efforts.
It’s nice to see you folks again. 👍🏻👍🏻
I live in NE Texas and have two hives. Going on my 3rd year. I treat my hives 2x a year for Varroa Destructor. Hands off otherwise. Call me a lazy beekeeper i harvested 6 of 10 frames from 1 hive last year and got 4.5 quarts. I don't feed my bees sugar or anything. They either make it or they don't - like in nature. They are already out and about this year, in healthy numbers.Since I don't feed them sugar all of the nectar they harvest is from local foliage. My honey is so dark, like motor oil. And it is absolutely DELICIOUS! Any time I give a friend a taste their eyes get as big as saucers. I really like my honey but this year I plan on planting Sugar Drip Sorghum. Already bought a manual cane press. Added bonus is the sorghum can be a source of pollen for my bees. As you suggested in this video, I bought sorghum syrup online before going to the trouble of planting. Man-o-man, sorghum syrup is delicious too!
Sorghum is the workhorse of sweetners. It is useful for everything and adds health and flavor. Honey was used in our family more for the 'fancy' foods, where the strong flavor wasn't wanted. Cane syrup was also used, but was purchased. In the early years, my people found honey trees and harvested that way. They never "kept bees"...just followed the bees back to their trees. Back when land was more naturally kept, bees were plentiful and chemicals were not. So robbing the trees wasn't the big deal that it may be today. If I were homesteading, I would use the sorghum, and perhaps purchase honey if I needed a lighter flavor.
So happy you are posting some videos on UA-cam again. I miss and love your channel.
You can see all our videos for free at www.patreon.com/AnAmericanHomestead/posts
I need pollination on my farm...the bees are gone...so I have been considering bees....I have grown sweet sorghum for a few years but not made any syrup since I have no press
I love this video!. Just thought I"d add some considerations that we have here in Kenya that may not be factors in North America. First is honey badgers - both with four legs and two legs. Second is hippos. They don't eat bees but they do eat sorghum or anything else we grow on the ground. Then comes cane rats, which we eat but would not want getting into our sorghum plants because that's their main food.
Hi there, I have missed you guys. Are you back doing some videos on UA-cam again? Have an amazing weekend, Andreas from Off Grid Sweden 🇸🇪
I am allergic to bee stings, so I would go with sorghum. I love honey and sorghum, but for me a risk of needing to go to the hospital for a bee sting over rides the benefits of honey for the environment and the benefit of producing honey and bee's wax.
You're back!?! Awesome!
Don't put all you're eggs in one basket, Honey won't go bad and try at least three or four options like Sorghum, Sugar Cane, Sugar Beets, and Honey Bees. that would be a win-win option.
Couldn't help myself.......That's right! A 3 Basket Living. ;)
My only experience is with stevia. I used to make a small bundle and put it in my sun tea. Just perfect.
Honey has significantly more advantages than what you listed. But you still make a great point about how risky and difficult it can be to produce honey efficiently and reliably. Thanks for this video. Now I'm going to buy sorghum syrup to see if we like the taste enough, because that sounds like a great sugar option.
That nutrition chart was exactly the opposite of what I thought it would be! Thank you.
Diabetes has become quite popular among those who are addicted to ingesting any of the many types of sugar. Sugar is sugar no matter if it's derived from plants or bees.
I saw a video of someone using just a juicer to get the liquid from the cane. And then he boiled it in a pot until it thickens. (no expensive equipment needed)
I like Bees. I can double my hives every year by making queens.
Zac, great comparison, I am a Maple Sugarer and believe that here in Michigan and other Northern States Maple is the answer. Last year I produced 12.5 gallons on 28 taps (23 trees). I did a test in making Granulated Sugar (I have a video on the channel), it took 1 quart to produce 5 cups of Granulated maple sugar. My wife figured it would take 9 gallons of maple syrup to meet our complete sugar needs, Take Care, Joe
One positive about honey. your producing something that is very very valuable because most people want it and don’t produce it. Also good for gut heath. Wax also.
Great job on the video! Learned alot
I love both Sorghum and Honey I have helped with the harvest and the cooking down of the Sorghum and when I was in High School I was in FFA and built 2 BEE hives and had no problem with the raising of the BEEs know with that said I went into the U.S. Army out of High School and left detailed instructions on how to care for and rob the honey and my family killed my BEEs the family got 40 lbs of Honey and I got not a drop because I was in Germany I believe both Honey and Sorghum are great sweet sources it is just what you want to do to go about getting the product in the end
Natural honey has hydrogen peroxide. This is evaporates when it is heated to get it out of the comb. But some harvesters use the warmth of the sun to get the honey out at lower temps.
Both. Each fills a different need.
I love honey but have no problem leaving the process to another person who knows what they are doing. Especially when it is local to me. I will go even more out of my way to buy from them. Agave is something I bought a few years ago to try as a honey alternative. Found it to be very mild tasting but good. I’d buy it if I can’t find local honey. Maple syrup I am not a fan of at all. Never have been. Flavor is too strong and consistency more thick than my liking.
Sorghum is something I recently learned about and want to try growing in the near future. Don’t care a lot about making it into syrup as much but flour to try. Very likely to get chickens as well. So if I don’t find a usage for Sorghum. Those chickens are going to love me. By the way. I’m currently in Utah but moving back to Western Kentucky in a few. Got a little home out in the county with a few acres.
Your back yes
Helpful video thanks.
1. What's the advantage of distilling the sorghum?
2. What about Stevia compared to sorghum?
1. RUM!
2. I don't know about Stevia but we did try to grow some this year.
Why do you treat this as an either/or situation? I keep bees and put up my own honey, and also help out a friend when he is processing his sorghum and take my pay in product. We make our own bread and have a wonderful recipe that uses both ingredients.
So glad to see y’all again!
I'm a new subscriber. I found this to profoundly interesting. Love it!
Are back on UA-cam? Cool!
So good to see a video on here again, we miss yall
Glad to see you back!
I still have not gotten around to doing bees yet, but I traded a couple of hives and extra supers to a friend for a couple of sheep. He did bees this year and stacked 3 and 4 deep supers on each hive and he got tons of honey. I am wanting to try several varieties of sorghum and sugarcane next year here. The cane I got from you was groing pretty well, reaching about 3 feet quickly but our sheep got in and ate it down. I would say you can put out a cheap box with foundationless frames out and attract wild bees, let them come and go and then collect free honey and wait for them to come back again.
I’m trying to grow Sorghum this year And I am growing sugar cane also
You can buy a suger cane press for a few hundred online or make your own even cheaper
If I had the space, I would have bees just for pollination. The best ones are the wild strains that you were talking about. If you don't want to purchase boxes you can make them. Wild strain hives are adapted to your climate and will survive better than store bought ones. Sorghum like you said can be grown and processed easily. Why not have both? Bees for plants and sorghum for sugar, maple syrup for pancakes.
I don't think sorghum will grow where we live. This year we got 3 gallons of honey from 2 small 7 frame hives. Last year we got that from 3 hives. That's plenty for our family plus extra for trade and gifts. Everything gets pollinated in our garden. Get Beekeeping for Dummies. It'll help with the learning curve. Join a Beekeepers Association. Great way to share local info. Yes bees die, sometimes you loose an entire hive, etc. Other times your hive is full to the brim and you split your colony and get two colonies! The allergy and antibacterial benefits are nice. And watching bees is more entertaining than watching sorghum grow, nuf said.
Are you in an arid region. Sorgum is grown from the tropics to southern Canada so it has a large area where it can be grown
This is something I need to consider growing next year in my garden separate from where I grow my corn so it don't cross pollinate. But both bee keeping and growing this sound costly but both reap the rewards. God bless you
How do u keep sparrows from eating all ur grain heads ?
I’ve been keeping bees for a year and a half. Yes it’s a challenge , just like other live stock there is a learning curve in understanding care and behavior. Personally I have the ability to plant an acre of sorghum, let alone harvest it. Thinking both are great options for sugaring . Just depends on your personal situation. Great to see you back. I’ve missed your channel. 😊
Where's the link for the cancer seminar?
Fair enough ........
what kind of sorghum are you growing? which one do you prefer?
Sounds interesting. As an older person I would not do this. While I like sorghum I just would rather use cane sugar. Your information is good and I appreciate your time and effort to put this out here!
How about do both?
hhhmmm! interesting information. I'll check that out. thank you for sharing. Have a wonderful day
I think both sorghum & honey are good sources of natural sweeteners. But I am a coffee drinker. So I would want the one that tastes good in coffee. Cause honey doesn't taste good in coffee. And I'm a fan of sugar cane. Cause it has multiple uses too. Great share!
Where is the link for “The truth about cancer” A global quest?
Does sorghum cause more ants? Thank you God bless you Maranatha
What you gone total corporate ....... Nothing free I come hear to leave the commercials behind.
Do you have bills to pay? congratulations....so do I.
Well bees are out of the question for me because I am allergic to bee stings and Epi pens now are expensive. I like the sorghum route. I would love to see a kinda time lapse video on how to from planting, growing, harvest,pressing, and boiling to finished product. That would be a invaluable video.
Great video !
Hello, I am a secomd generation bee keeper from Australia. I start by saying i didnt know you could make sugar from sorgum till 1 video before yours. I am not pushing the honey over the sorgum its very interesting. How much sugar do you need a year?. What is your seasons where you live. I think you have been given information which may stray your thinking. I what really like to connect with you about the honey and sorgum story. I think it can clear many things for us both ❤ i dont use social media. Email is ok . Hope to hear from you soon if you are truely interested.
Lots of good info. I've been looking at sugar beets but I think I might see if theres a sorghum that will grow in northern canada.
WOW, that is really far north. Sugar beets might be your only option.
Honey will never spoil
We love our honey bees. It was the second thing we learn to homestead with, after pigs. It isn't that difficult, we had one hive for almost 15 years. We did lose a few other hives in those same years but we allow the hives to live or die without treatment for disease. That might sound careless but our hope is to create hives that aren't dependent on constant care, sort of like, good breeding. My Grandparents were very poor and lived on about 1/8 of an acre in town but my Pawpaw had bees. The equipment isn't extremely expensive, unless you want it to be and the cost can be recouped in a year if you don't mind selling some of your honey. My husband can sell all that I'm willing to part with for $100 a gallon at his job. I would love to try sorgham and cane but not in place of our honey. If you've the room do both, if not do honey. :) -Kim, Kevin's wife.
I agree with everything that you talked about, but I am going to still be doing bees because the bees do good here and you can sell it for a lot, it will make a great income on the homestead
Honey yes, but thst is just one thing that they are producing, propolis wax and beebread are the big other, and protein, you can eat the larva... and then there is the pollination.... but yes there is a few downsides with keeping bees..
The way i see it there is not ether or, it is both!
I planted a very small box (4'x8', 50 plants) of sorghum, how much juice/syrup could that yield?
gotta watch halway thru to get valuable info but thanks 4 it.
I know you have had a frustrating time with YT, but I hope to keep seeing you guys on here. Did Shalom Acres go over to Steemit too?
Honey is a super food and it's highly medicinal. Honey has no experation where sorghum does have a shelf life. They are both very valuable but for different reasons
sweetener. I use Honey(used daily because it is antibacterial) or maple syrup. If I am looking for a powdered sweetener I use stevia.
Can you grow stevia where you are?
From all my research, keeping bees does seem to be a fairly complex endeavor. I would opt for a plant based sweetener myself.
I was just looking into sugar sources. Have you used sorghum as the sugar to make wine or vinegar? That would be my main interest in growing it. I can live without sweet, but would like to be able to make vinegar without depending on store bought cane sugar (which would be hard to grow here in VA, I think).
Do you know what the shelf life of sorghum. I am 63 years old and remember helping my grandfather cook it off and can it back in the early sixties great memories.
it lasts indefinitely, just like honey!
Sorghum never finishes here in Canada, bees do great.
Do you mean it doesn't ripen in time? What's your zone? I'm in Toronto 6a
@@bobs3694 - yeah I should have said "this part of Canada"! I live in central Alberta, 3a, I think 😁
One advantage to honey: it is a side product of getting crops pollinated
Beekeeping is lots more work than 20 yrs ago - mites, diseases, etc
I do not know what Sorghum is
Sorgum doesn't grow well in northern climates, while bees can overwinter if the hive is winterized. Additionally, Sorgum also requires more space than bee hives do. So, if you have limited space in a cold climate, bees would be the way to go.
Sorghum sounds like a good option, but you neglected to mention what zones it grows in. Sugar cane isn't an option in the north, and neither is agave. What kind of climate does sorghum require?
Thanks for another great video. We raised bees for a few years. Your absolutely correct in the cons. Much easier to buy your honey then keep bees.
The first year we had great success but it declined every year after.
Cancer sucks agreed. It’s demonic. Proper diet and is key and fasting is key.
Keep up the great work. Go read your Bible.
Honey can be used for treating allergies naturally
The difference between shooting a bullet and throwing one....🤣🤣🤣
Honey is the only all natural sweetener, sugar beets and sugarcane are heat and chemical treated to produce a sweetener, sugar, sorghum juice and maple sap, has to be boiled down so both are chemically changed by heat to caramelized sugar. It’s all a learning experience
Do you think sorghum can be grown in Wisconsin?
Maybe...that may be too far north. Sugar Beets?
I am allergic to bees so that is never an option for me.
Here in the South most folks grow sugar cane so that is an option.
Sorghum looks a lot like cane but what is the differences in growing/processing it compared to cane?
Bees are expensive especially when you first start out. It also time consuming. The more time you put into it the more you get out of it. You learn how to manage them split them to make your own hives. The best is to catch bees in your area they have become used to pests and climate. You can learn how to make your own hives to lessen expense. You also learn how to expand the amount of honey you can get from a hive depending on the hive. The more bees you have the better your cane will be. The more you work your bees the better and more you will get. Cane are easier but you do have the expensive of the equipment, time, labor and at the mercy of the elements. So maybe I would lean to growing cane as better.
Have you compared the use of Sugar Beets vs Sorghum?
When i lived in michigan my mom bought some sugar and it tasted weird to unlike other sugars she'd bought in past times, i wonder if that was sorghum sugar, there's a amish & menonites living in that area but who knows if it was sorghum sugar,will have to buy some online and try it.
I’m curious, what state do you live in? I live in NW Arkansas and have considered growing sorghum next year, but am starting to doubt if it is feasible.
I live in Fayetteville and have grown sorghum in my garden before, both for grain and for sugar. I used water extraction to get the sugar out, as I don't have any equipment that would extract the juice from the stalks, and I didn't love the result. That said, growing it is no problem. Heat requirements and days to maturity are similar to field corn. If you can grow johnsongrass, you can grow sorghum.
Is it just me, or does the Truth About Cancer link pop up then go away?
sounds like sorghum is by far the winner. I think I like the idea of honey, but the reality of it may not be so good.
I believe the benefits of bees and and thier byproduct of Honey outweigh sorghum.
I've neither attempted to grow sorghum or raise bees but I did to your previous video have you guys processed in your sore gum and it looks more difficult than getting raw honey.
Lastly, I shared this video!!!!!!
Do you sell your sorghum seeds?
Sorghum is great but i don’t think a ton of people use it or even know what it is anymore. Honey however has more meat on bone money wise for you and your family!
Have you thought of making mead alcohol with sourgum??
I think mead is made with honey.
Yes your right but it can also be make with sourgum but l haven’t tried making it and wondered if you had.l think there’s a video on it.
But honey is mentioned in the bible! Lol
Sorghum doesn’t pollinate your garden.
do both...bees pollinate...pollinate ur sorghum African style hives are good and can be home made and easy to handle if your not in it for money
Hi guys what’s going on every time you post a new video it doesn’t stay on your channel are you deleting them after you post? You had such a good video a few weeks ago about the washing machine and another one after that and they’re not here anymore☹️
You can still see it at our website or for free at www.patreon.com/AnAmericanHomestead/posts Scroll down. Its there! :)
Honey is good for those that have allergies