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Making Honey – The Secret Life of Bees

I was given the book The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd and just as the book was coming to a close and had completely enveloped me in the romance and spirituality of owning bees, the opportunity came for us to own our own bees. In the past, I’d been so daunted by the arrival date of bees coinciding so closely with our sailing date that I’d all but given up on having our own honey and resigned myself to only envying our friends who have been able to make it work.  Hoping for a small, precious jar doled out sparingly and only for the most special of occasions like a perfectly made baguette or a ginger and toasted almond scone.

One phone conversation and my whole attitude went from resignation to delight.  It began with Rebecca The Fabulous asking if she could store a new hive of hers on our property and ended with us hosting two or three hives this summer, one of them being ours.  They will come from Erin at Overland Apiaries.  Rebecca has ordered all of the gear, requested already established, over-wintered queens, which is apparently important, although is news to me, and will be on site all summer long while she tends to the happy lettuce and tomatoes in the garden.

There are a couple of videos on the Overland Honey site on keeping bees.  So interesting.  For example, before I watched, I didn’t know that almost all of the bees in a colony are sister bees and they do all of the work.  The few males in the hive are there to mate with other queens.

Courtesy of Briget Ganske/Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.

Annie
Happy scones are in my future!

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3 Comments

  • Norm Lampton
    March 2, 2010 at 10:40 am

    There are warning signs in the stores and on the bottles of honey not to give honey to children under 1 year old. They don’t explain why but I wanted to pass it along.

    Reply
  • Norm Lampton
    March 2, 2010 at 10:40 am

    There are warning signs in the stores and on the bottles of honey not to give honey to children under 1 year old. They don’t explain why but I wanted to pass it along.

    Reply
  • Annie
    March 2, 2010 at 11:36 am

    Yes, this is a common warning. It has to do with botulism spores that are found in nature, more so in honey. Most adults have the digestive and immune functions to cope easily but infants’ systems are not yet fully developed. Source: http://www.wisegeek.com,www.mothering.com, http://www.kidshealth.org and http://www.parenting.com

    Reply

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