Sweet Service

Daniel's springtime allergies are really troublesome, and meds don't help much with symptoms (plus some make him sleepy).

One of my sisters suggested taking a spoonful of LOCAL honey year-round as a way of desensitizing the body to our area's pollens; she's found relief for her allergies this way. While that's just anecdotal evidence, it sounds logical and well worth a try.

Finding local honey was the trick. I wasn't willing to drive around to random farmers' markets (and some purveyors come from hours away anyway), so I searched on the internet. It was difficult to figure out which phrases would yield usable results, but I finally ran across an apiary's phone number.

My first call (months ago) went unanswered, but last week's "last try" worked. I was called back by a man who knew exactly what I was talking about, allergy-wise, and who even had some advice for me (like don't heat the honey, as in tea). His honey is collected just a few towns away, and from blooms the bees harvest from March through mid-July, so it should include trees, grasses, etc.!

The icing on the cake? He dropped the first two jars at my house with an envelope for me to mail his payment. Who knew anyone still does business this way?

We've got a long wait for the results, but in the meantime Daniel is enjoying his "medicine".

BTW, my sister sent me a link to local harvest.org, which helps locate local farms and farmers' markets. I got my "call back" before finishing my search there, but it seems to be a useful site.