If you can certify that the bees don't travel beyond the limits of your property, then maybe you could call your honey "organic". But, if your bees have access to county roads and highways that are maintained with the use of chemicals for weed control as are most roads in just about every town these days, even rural areas, then no, I wouldn't call your honey organic. Your 151 sections are most likely divided up by county roads, access roads possibly major paved roads, I don't know. And regarding placing hives in a forest, unless you travel to a completely uninhabited area of the forest (if you can deliver your hives there, you're not quite "out of the woods"...) even forests are not free from chemical use to control vegetation. Most streams and rivers in this country are contaminated now, and I guarantee you, if you can drive your hive into the middle of the forest, others will have access also, and someone has to maintain the road to get there.
There are very few places that are chemical free in America, even forests. You don't necessarily have to use chemicals, even rainwater contains toxic chemicals depending on where you live. The bottom line is, people sometimes toss the word organic around because they discovered they can charge more for their product and get away with it. And organic is so new to legislators that they don't even know how to legislate it. California is the worst, they have basically adopted livestock regulations to regulate organic products! Organic means 100% chemical-free, uncontaminated by water runoff, exposure from neighboring plant health treatments, and the use of non GMO seeds. And unless you're raising a crop of flowering plants on those 151 sections where the bees don't have to go far to collect pollen, then I probably wouldn't consider your honey organic.
There are very few places that are chemical free in America, even forests. You don't necessarily have to use chemicals, even rainwater contains toxic chemicals depending on where you live. The bottom line is, people sometimes toss the word organic around because they discovered they can charge more for their product and get away with it. And organic is so new to legislators that they don't even know how to legislate it. California is the worst, they have basically adopted livestock regulations to regulate organic products! Organic means 100% chemical-free, uncontaminated by water runoff, exposure from neighboring plant health treatments, and the use of non GMO seeds. And unless you're raising a crop of flowering plants on those 151 sections where the bees don't have to go far to collect pollen, then I probably wouldn't consider your honey organic.
