Who are we?

I think this is the most common question which confronts us almost everyday of our lives. We think, well, I've made it here now what? or what's next?

well how we answer that is first we need to introspect as to how have we reached where are today- good or bad is equally; if not more important to suggest future course of action. Mistakes are very important, if looked at  with the right perspective with constructive efforts are made to build them in; they can work wonders for each of us.

We proudly see ourselves as a micro organisation in a highly competitive market with similar products available. However, what makes us different or what we would like, for us to be perceived differently would be our persistence and single-mindedness with regards to our quality of our products. We understand we might not be able to cater to our market base at all times- especially in the monsoon season, as no honey is harvested at this time of the year; but we are not willing to compromise on our quality and work with shortcuts for any of you. What makes this easier is the fact that we ourselves consume the same honey we sell to you. So, the question of compromise does not arise. This is how elementary and convinced i am about our products; their safety and their premium quality.


An example i would like to quote is one i am very fond and very attached to. An elderly man had once entered our retail store and i was alone at that point for some reason. He had been referred of our shop and honey from someone. He had come from far and was a asthma patient. He said that he had to consume with honey with his medicines and had been suffering from this for the past few years. He seemed to be really struggling to breathe and to be honest i thought i might have to rush him to the hospital or call an ambulance any minute to get him a ventilator to aid in his breathing. The only piece of advise i gave him before he left was to give up his medicines for 5 days and consume honey with water twice a day. If he didn't feel any better he could go back to his medicines.

After 3 weeks he was back, looking for me; elated with his condition and could not thank us enough. I met him 2 months after our first meeting and he said only your honey has worked to save me; i felt like i was dying everyday and nothing was working. He also made a few other pleasing statements which i would not like to discuss on this forum. Similarly, my grandmother uses honey for her eyes as they used to water a lot. Instead of eye drops which contain chemical traces of course. The honey has proved to be equally if not more beneficial for her.

The basis of the above examples is only to reaffirm your trust and remind you that you are in safe hands and we will do our best to maintain that and look at a long-term relationship which may go beyond our lives.

Thank you for your time.

The last few years...

So this is based on the experiences and learning process of the last few years which has gone in and made us come out stronger and more prepared than what we could think.

We believe in experimenting and learning from our own experiences, yes this is a costly affair; but equally rewarding- beyond monetary boundaries. In our search for the best possible honey and from terrains which were not considered 'advisable' by veteran locals, we still ventured into them with the best intentions of getting the best Honey possible. The first year where we procured our own boxes. In beekpeeing/ apiculture, we have bee boxes where the bees store and collect honey in the hives. These hives are covered and the temperature is maintained to get maximum output and protect the bees and making them less prone to viruses.

Year 2007: We moved from a site close to Delhi and after a successful season of collecting Mustard Honey, moved to Himachal Pradesh as the heat was catching up around the plains and needed to protect the bees. The area chosen by us was supposed to be highly infested with rats and the 'Varrora mite' - the Beekeeper's worst nightmare. This mite is just like a lice and a parasite in nature. It feeds off the bees till it sucks the life out of them. Also, whatever was left was played havoc by the rats who destroyed the boxes and their stool is extremely toxic and poisonous. Ideally, to get rid of the Varrora might you need antibiotics and pesticides to nullify its existence. The unfortunate-if you can call it that was the fact that we did not use any of the chemicals which could have saved the bees but made the honey poisonous.


Loss suffered: 150 boxes


However, this did not deter us from doing things differently and believing that we could have a Bee farm free of viruses without any external elements.

Upset and frustrated, we packed our bags, picked up the pieces and were back to level 0- our favourite level (where we spent most of our time!) We again got fresh boxes 100 in number and the rest of the year was quiet and incident-free: boring we agree.

Back at base camp (Delhi) we began the process of plotting the strategy to go forward and avoid such incidents in the future. Back to Himachal we went, this time more prepared. This time no mites, no rats; what was in store was something rather peculiar and unheard of- The Beeater. This is a bird almost an insect which swoops on the hives like a kite or an eagle catches its pray in the form of a pigeon or a mouse and takes it into it's hideout. This was perplexing to watch and

 

Summer 2009: Time for yet another migration of the bees to the hills with the summers again getting unbearable for the poor bees.

This time destination Dehradun: Well known for its litchi fruits and litchi honey, this was our next stop to try and get some honey from these plantations. 4 weeks of good to great days with the outlook looking more than perfect or maybe a little too perfect. In come the wild elephants who destroy anything in their paths. With their sense of smell- Honey was the first thing they would like to get rid of!...and they succeeded. We were 2 days away from extraction of all the honey collected over that period and there- everything came crashing down.
RESULT: Another learning experience. 250 boxes damaged.


Time to go back to the drawing board and understanding what was going wrong and where were we lacking. Lot to do, lot to think and analyse. More on the same in the next blog!

Keep following!

Conceiving the idea of Honey: 2006-2009

Continuing from where we left...

So in 2006, we thought we would like to manufacture our own honey and learn more about this wonderful product.


We as a family knew that Honey is good for us, but little did we know HOW GOOD IT IS!! That's when we started to research about it and now we know that from Common cold and cough to Arthritis, from Wounds to Cancer; Natural Honey is where your search ends. We started with only one honey type- Multi-flora/ Forest Honey from Himachal Pradesh. We were like the most of us, who think that Honey is Honey, how different could one be from the other, what could differentiate them. Soon, we learnt that there are over 300 types of Honeys in the world!!!  Honey has varying flavours- from light amber to jet black; the thumb rule is that light coloured honey has a appealing taste which is on the sweeter end while the darker ones have a more robust, stronger taste.

Next, we moved to Uttaranchal in search of other Honey types apart from the Forest Honey we already had procured. Also, it was too cold for the bees to stay up in the hills in the winters. So, more as co-incidence rather than intent, we stumbled upon Litchi Honey in Uttaranchal. This honey had a higher glucose content and would crystallize; especially in winters. Another myth i would to clarify for all of you- Honey DOES CRYSTALLIZE. But, more importantly-

Q. Why does Honey crystallize? Well, the Glucose content of the Honey decides whether Honey will crystallize or not, and how much if so. The higher the glucose content, the more the crystallization. We have discovered a Cotton Grain Honey which is completely crystallized- even in Indian summers!

Q. How does Glucose come into Honey in the first place?

The glucose content is dependent on the nature of the flowers and the soil where the Honey is sourced from. This may also decide the colour of the honey to an extent.

Q. I have a bottle of Honey and something sugary has settled at the bottom, i thought this was good quality Honey?
Some types of Honey do crystallize while others do not. This is dependent on the glucose content of the Honey. The glucose is from the source of the flowers. The test for natural honey is to either leave the bottle under the sun and allow the Honey to melt. The sugar won't. Also, you could take a spoonful of the honey and let it settle on your tongue, Honey will melt and disappear in your mouth leaving a wonderful taste, while for sugar/ jaggery- you will have to bite into it.

I thought these questions are like FAQ's and needed to be answered. I will think of more and share with you all. Hope this was helpful meanwhile.

Another quote from my personal of quotes: "No question is stupid or dumb, not asking one is the stupidest thing to do." -Preet Singh

Well, in search of these questions is where our quest for Natural Honey began; this is an insight from a keyhole of what we have learnt so far. I will keep sharing my knowledge and request you to do the same!

Hope this was helpful.

How it all began...

Hi everyone, this is the story of us....where we come from, where we were, where we are today and lastly; where we would like to reach.

Life is a process of continuous learning...a quote composed by none other than myself goes "the more i see; the more i realise how stupid i am". Allow me to elaborate on this. A child who may be 5 years old, who explores his surroundings, asks questions and tries to analyse the answers he gets is wiser than a 70 year old man, who has never stepped out of his room in the house. Being confined to that room, the old man knows each of the articles present in it and their exact location; but for him that is the world he knows of. If you asked him to move beyond the room, he is out of his 'comfort zone' immediately. No single person can know everything. The world is too diverse, there is too much going on and maybe 1000 years won't be sufficient to understand it, however, the hunger to learn and find new ways is what is revolution; which is the history we have created and continue to pen down as our actions will influence the outcome of our times; which will be history for generations to come.
A person who states "i know it all" might be the biggest fool you ever come across. It might offend some, humour others and set a few of you thinking at what is this guy talking about. Well, i would like more of the few to join and take a minute or two to think the way i did.

Allow me to share some of my personal experience(s) and realisation, from where i formulated the quote "the more i see; the more i realise how stupid i am". In May 2008 i reached the city of London, my first international trip (apart from Nepal if you consider that abroad). This was a true eye-opener of sorts. Living in India, i thought i knew so much about the world and everything around it. Suddenly, i was part of this setup which worked very differently to the one i was accustomed to- i was "out of comfort zone". Even how they greeted was different and confusing!! In my first week at work, most colleagues i met, asked me one question to begin with- 'you alright?'. I had to eventually ask someone what it meant, did i look unwell or sick? No, "you alright" meant 'how are you' !! That's when the realisation started to kick in. An open mind , willing to accept and learn and take things in its stride will take me much further; not only me, but each one of us, and also make life much easier.

I do not wish to dig down further into this topic, but would like to come to what this is all about and Societe Naturelle and our Honey. What makes us different? Why do we want to be different? Where did we conceive this idea? and ofcourse How it all began....

I have been brought up to believe that do not believe everything as it is, try and look behind those curtains as how someting happens. In case you need to do it yourself, you will succeed. As a child i hated this exercise because this involved concentrating and focussing on something, whereas i could jump around and create havoc in the apartments i still live in.

When i was still a baby, my family posessed a piece of land where we used to grow mushrooms and needless to say, we did not spray any chemicals, external elements on the crop and it tasted wonderful! So the drive to go natural and organic has been always there, only difference being it was self-sustaining and not medium or large scale.

In 2006, my uncle and i started to learn about honey and  its benefits and not to mention the dark side of  Pure Honey. We realised that honey in itself has so many health benefits and the Honey in the market was not exactly Honey. This prompted us to dig deep (will write a seperate article on this) and the relevations were stark and obtrusive to an extent; that is when we decided that we are going in to get our hands dirty and manufacture, consume and sell our own honey and let others benefit from this gift of nature. The holy Quran quotes:



Please share your views and comments on this. I will try and update this blog on a weekly basis and promise to share each of my experiences, good or bad- no prejudice.

Thanks,

Preet Singh
co-founder
Societe Naturelle