Chances are you’ve bumbled by a little wooden stand across from The Union restaurant on Providence Road and wondered what the Milton Honey Farm was all about. When you stop by, my only word of advice, bee-have yourself! This is truly the land of milk and honey with homemade honey, lotions, soaps, and more, all made from scratch by a Milton couple and their very spoiled bees.
What started as a hobby in 2015 for Ed Parsons and his wife Carter, is now a thriving business, with locals buzzing about their homemade honey and sweet as a bee honey products, selling out almost daily at their self service stand.
“Our honey is extracted from the hive, strained for impurities, and bottled for sale direct from the bees, to you! It’s one hundred percent pure honey,” says Parsons.
Milton Honey Farm sells only raw honey made in small batches with no added high fructose, corn syrup or artificial sweeteners. Raw honey is rich in bee pollen and contains vitamins, antioxidants, and essential fatty oils that may help fight inflammation, improve liver function, help with allergies, lower the risk of heart disease and certain cancers.
When you hear the saying busy as a bee, they’re not kidding. There’s a hive of activity going on at the farm. With around twenty hives, Milton Honey Farm produced 75 gallons of local honey this year. It takes 12 bees working their entire lives work to make 1 teaspoon of honey! The average honey bee lives about 45 days, and they literally work themselves to death. And those hardworking honeybees are all women! In one hive, there are a few hundred males at most. The honey do list for the boys is simple, eat, mate with a queen, and die. And that’s pretty much the life of a male honey bee!
In Georgia, honeybees feast on nectar between April and middle June. After the season, the Parsons feed their bees sugar and water which the bees convert into honey and feast on
throughout the winter. Well fed bees survive the winter and are back in action in the spring to produce more honey. In addition to being fed, these bees are spoiled rotten, even taking field trips to the North Georgia mountains to produce some very rare honey. In a small patch of the Appalachian Mountains, it’s one of the only places in the world where Sourwood trees are found, blooming only for a very short period each summer. The bees are released to suck nectar from the flowers and re-captured to produce Sourwood Honey. This honey has a rich buttery taste with hints of caramel. If you like it hot, the Parsons just released their Murder Hornet Honey. Not from the murder hornets, it’s produced by honeybees with chilis added to spice it up.
And if the honey isn’t delicious enough, Carter’s homemade products will make you feel like a queen bee. There are a limited number of handmade goat milk and honey soaps, lotions and the bee kissable lip balm, all hand made from the Milton Honey Farm. For the holidays, you’ll want to catch the buzz with her special bundles. With local gifts like these, you’ll be the bees knees!
“Our own raw honey is in the products, I hand pour them and make them from scratch. I pay a lot of attention to details and take a lot of pride in them. It’s coming straight from our hives in Milton. Our products are aimed at hydrating and soothing skin,” says Carter Parsons.
The Milton Honey Farm stand is directly across from The Union restaurant near the Providence Road/Freemanville Road round about in Milton. The stand is all on the honor system with products priced clearly and a Venmo for payment. You can also find their products at Sis and Moon or order on their Facebook page Milton Honey Farm.
