The bustling aisles of a grocery store offer rows upon rows of food to choose from. In this space, the freedom of choice appears endless, though insight into where and how exactly a product originates may not be as readily available. Peering beyond the confines of the supermarket’s shelves can reveal the scope of this journey, all the way from pollination to plate.

Across the globe, a little over one-third of food crops and plants are dependent on pollinators for reproduction, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It’s estimated that approximately one out of every three bites of food individuals consume exist because of such animals and insects — from birds to butterflies, bats and especially bees.

“A large portion of our crops are pollinated by insect pollinators, whether it’s watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers, different berry crops and so on,” said Timothy Coolong, a professor in the University of Georgia’s department of horticulture and the program coordinator of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education. “So not only are they critical for environmental health, but we will not have a crop to sell if we don’t have pollinators.”

Despite the significant impact they have on food production, the landscape and its inhabitants, these insects often go unnoticed. UGA Honey Bee Program lab manager Jennifer Berry attributes this disparity not to ignorance, but simply to a lack of public knowledge when it comes to “how important they are for pollination.”

However, through local beekeepers’ involvement within and across their communities, this knowledge rift is slowly closing. From raising small bee colonies for farmers to purchase in the spring to selling honey at markets, over the past 18 years, Abby’s Apiary has contributed to bridging the gap in food trust and transparency.

Hutchinson poses for a portrait in his backyard workshop in Watkinsville, Georgia, on Oct. 24, 2023. Pictured behind him are the wooden bee boxes he makes. (Photo/Skyli Alvarez)

“[Bees] are one of the very few creatures you can keep that you don’t have to feed,” said David Hutchinson, founder of Abby’s Apiary. “They actually feed you.”

Hutchinson was first introduced to beekeeping when he was a freshman in college. He lived with his great uncle at the time, who laid the foundation for his knowledge and interest in the activity. Though Hutchinson took time away from it for several years, after his first child was born, he decided to revive his beekeeping endeavors, return to his very first honeybee hives and launch Abby’s Apiary, named after his daughter.

For Hutchinson, beekeeping is restorative and recentering.

“I just enjoy beekeeping,” Hutchinson said. “Thankfully, the business side takes care of itself, because there are enough people out there [who] want local honey.”

Abby’s Apiary regularly participates in the Oconee Farmers Market each year by selling honey, and the demand for this versatile condiment is evident. In the Southeast, Georgia is one of the top producers of honey, bringing nearly $9 million into the economy, according to USDA’s 2022 Honey Production Survey.

Florida and Georgia make up more than half off the southeast’s production value for honey. (Source: USDA)

The leading two honey producing colonies in the southeast are Florida and Georgia. (Source: USDA)

Along with Georgia’s substantial honey production, an interest in beekeeping persists. When Hutchinson sells his small colonies each spring, he looks forward to meeting customers, new and old, ranging from gardeners, to farmers and newcomers just beginning to familiarize themselves with backyard beekeeping. As opposed to previous years, “among the general public, there’s a lot more attention paid now to providing pollinators habitats,” Coolong notes.

“There’s been a real blossoming of beekeeping, and I love that, being a beekeeper myself,” Berry said. “The only problem I see is, when we have a lot of people doing something, is there going to be an impact?”

According to Berry, the rise of amateur beekeeping that she, Coolong and Hutchinson note has come in response to colony collapse disorder. This phenomenon occurs when much of a colony’s worker bee population disappears, leaving behind the queen and little else. Berry explains how the disorder can be attributed to viruses brought about by parasitic, invasive mites. A notable instance of this observance took place in 2006 and 2007, affecting bee colonies in over 20 U.S. states. Since then, colony collapse disorder’s impact on colony loss has decreased, though the issue of colony loss remains.

As per Berry, the solution to this disorder is reflective of “the state of [the] industry” at large, ultimately lying in the hands of bigger commercial operations with tens of thousands of colonies. However, this does not mean that independent and amateur beekeepers have no impact on their communities.

“I think one of the challenges with beekeeping is just staying knowledgeable as to what is happening with new diseases or pests,” Hutchinson said. “Management techniques are evolving, [but] if you just say ‘this is the way I’m going to do it’ and you do it that way forever, you may not succeed as a beekeeper.”

When it comes to colony loss, he expresses the importance of continually remaining “connected to research” and the beekeeping community, both of which have helped him prevent infestations of pests and sustain his bees’ wellbeing.

“Every time I walk into a grocery store and I see all of that fruit and all of those vegetables, I’m like, ‘thank God for bees,’” Berry said. “They are responsible for the nutritious food that we eat and the color in our diet.”

Skyli Alvarez and Melanie Velasquez are seniors majoring in journalism at the University of Georgia.

To access the complete article go to; From Pollination to Plate, Bees and Beekeeping Play an Irreplaceable Role in Food Production — Grady Newsource (uga.edu)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: From Pollination to Plate, Bees and Beekeeping Play an Irreplaceable Role in Food Production — Grady Newsource (uga.edu) 

No-mow zones create habitat, save time and money

By: Whitney Pipkin

A sign on VA State Route 7 near Purcellville lets drivers and maintenance crews know that the median is used to grow habitat for pollinators.

Here’s an item to add to your bingo card for long car drives: “no-mow” signs.

More highways and byways across the region are posting them next to strips of land — in medians, at intersections and along shoulders and curbs — as part of reduced mowing practices being integrated into their culture.

Mowing less frequently or avoiding it all together during certain times of year helps to leave habitat for native and pollinator-friendly plants, such as milkweed, when migrating monarchs and other wildlife need them most. Less mowing also means less pollution from gas-powered mowers, and there are financial incentives, too.

“The reduction in mowing has been a significant savings in both money and in time,” said Bill Lewis, state roadside program supervisor for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Spending about half as much time on mowing, he said, means the crews have the opportunity for other activities, like fixing road shoulders and potholes.

National volunteer programs also encourage state transportation authorities and energy companies to dedicate more of their rights-of-way to improved habitats that often require less maintenance and benefit local species. And many states have their own pollinator-focused programs and reasons for promoting them.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Transportation participates in a voluntary pollinator conservation program that tracks acres set aside as habitat for species that may soon be listed under the Endangered Species Act, such as monarch butterflies. The state enrolled more than 4,000 acres in the program, reducing mowing and implementing other conservation practices on those lands.

In addition to reduced mowing practices, the Maryland Department of Transportation introduced its pollinator habitat plan in 2017 in response to state legislation the year before. The plan sets aside locations such as welcome centers, rest areas and other government facilities for pollinator habitat gardens, creating five in 2019.

Maryland also implemented a revised mowing program in 2010 to benefit wildlife habitat. The agency doubled down on the effort in more recent years with turfgrass management guidelines that ensure most right-of-way grasses are not mowed until they have reached a height of 18 inches or are in areas where they impede drivers’ visibility.

The Virginia Department of Transportation has taken many of the same steps, starting by planting a different type of fescue grass that is bred to be shorter and mowed less frequently. But that was just the beginning of what Lewis describes as a slow cultural shift for the agency — and for the drivers who frequent the region’s roads.

The public appears to be divided on the subject. “I would say I get an equal number of calls from people who are upset that we have mowed as people upset that we have not mowed,” he said with a laugh.

To read the complete article go to; States give pollinators pit stops in rights-of-way | Wildlife & Habitat | bayjournal.com

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: States give pollinators pit stops in rights-of-way | Wildlife & Habitat | bayjournal.com

Rob Hessler

Savannah Morning News

There’s a buzz about the new Savannah Bee Company location opening across from the Enmarket Arena at 313 Stiles Ave., and it’s not just about the honey. Starting Nov. 6, world-renowned artist Matt Willey will be bringing his project “The Good of the Hive” to the space in the form of a new mural.

“It’s a global art project, where I’ve committed to hand paint 50,000 honey bees in murals and installations around the world,” he explained.

Over the past eight-plus years, the period during which the artist has been almost exclusively working on the project, Willey has created works for the likes of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Zoological Park and the global headquarters for Burt’s Bees, amongst many, many others. He’s over 10,000 bees into the estimated 21-year endeavor, and Savannah will be his 49th stop along the way.

‘Just one mural to raise awareness,’ but then…

But while the project has become massive in scale, its origins are much more humble.

“I was in my studio, it was 2008 in Manhattan in the East Village, and this little honey bee flew in and landed in the middle of the rug, like smack dab in the center,” he recounted. “And I got down on the floor and hung out with this little bee, because she was walking really slowly.

“I was fascinated with how beautiful she was,” he continued. “I got my magnifying glass out, and I was like, ‘These antennas, the giant eyes, the fuzziness’; there was a cuteness, like a puppy-type of thing, something I had never noticed before in my entire life about a bug.”

Ultimately the bee died, and after respectfully relocating it to its natural habitat outside for a final rest, Willey quickly got down to researching his new muse. That’s when he learned about colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon…..

To access the complete article go to; Artist Matt Willey paints mural at Savannah Bee Co. as part of global project (savannahnow.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Artist Matt Willey paints mural at Savannah Bee Co. as part of global project (savannahnow.com)

For David Roth, the hobby he picked up during the COVID pandemic is not only a source of sweetener and wax, but also inspiration

By CANAAN LIDOR

David Roth extracts honey from his beehive in London. (David Roth)

Finding a memorable Rosh Hashanah gift to give friends is rarely an issue for David and Judy Roth, a Jewish couple from London. They simply giftwrap one of the jars of honey that they extract regularly from the beehive in their backyard.

That product, which is traditionally eaten with apples on the Jewish new year, and the candles the Roths produce from beeswax, are a big part of the reason for the couple’s decision three years ago to join two other Jewish couples and invest time and money in apiculture, with the risks it entails.

Gradually, though, the honey took a backseat to the joys and spiritual insights that the new hobby afforded, David Roth, 61, said.

“I didn’t expect that I would think this way, but getting the honey is a nice additional benefit. Frankly, though, it’s not the main thing,” said Roth, a marketing executive who has three children with his wife Judy, a nurse.

Roth is fascinated by the intricacies and multiple unsolved scientific mysteries concerning bee behavior, he said. But beekeeping also has a strong spiritual element for him.

“I’m a religious person, I don’t believe that the world was created by accident. And when you see the wonders of how bees work and operate, it makes you feel good about God,” Roth, who uses the beeswax candles for Havdalah, the prayer ritual performed at the end of Shabbat, told The Times of Israel earlier this week.

David Roth uses candles that he and his wife Judy make from beeswax for weekly prayers after Shabbat. (David Roth)

London Jews have been flirting with beekeeping since at least 2011, when a local Jewish community center launched what it called the “Bee The Change” initiative, through which the center helped train two urban beekeepers from the community.

The Roths and their fellow Jewish beekeepers, however, took up the hobby during the COVID-19 lockdown, receiving guidance from a non-Jewish community center that launched the activity as part of its lockdown coping program. The Roths, who go to an Orthodox synagogue in the northwest neighborhood of Pinner in London, soon discovered that beekeeping resonated with their religious side, as well.

As a religion with deep agricultural roots, Judaism has a well-documented approach to apiculture, encompassing both the keeper’s responsibility toward their bees and detailing the legal complications that can occur when a swarm leaves its hive.

Beekeeping is one of the few situations when children can serve as witnesses according to Halachah, Jewish Orthodox law. It stipulates that if a child testifies that a swarm originated in an owner’s beehive, then the swarm can be returned to the owner based on the testimony.

Another rare exception, which attests to the significance that beekeeping had before humans learned to mass produce sugar: Bee owners may trespass – a big deal in Judaism – to retrieve escaped or errant bee swarms. They may even cut down branches of other people’s trees — another big deal — but are obliged to compensate the land’s owner for any damage they cause, according to what Rabbi Avraham Laber, himself a beekeeper and co-director of Chabad-Lubavitch of Southern Rensselaer County in New York, told Chabad.org in 2019.

One nonprofit in the United States, Bees for Peace, encourages as part of its mission statement rabbis, imams and priests to launch beekeeping projects in their communities for the spiritual aspect of the experience.

It doesn’t take clergy to appreciate how bee societies offer takeaways for life as a human.

“It’s an amazing reflective experience and it’s where humanity and nature sort of combine,” Roth said. Observing bees gave him “an immense appreciation for the marvel of God or nature, depending on your perspective,” Roth added.

An average colony has 50,000 individuals, he noted, and “all have a role and a purpose to them. They look after each other. None of the bees go to bee school. They instinctively learned it. It’s a micro-society, which doesn’t suffer from social media, by the way.”

Beekeeping isn’t for everybody: It can be done on a rooftop but ideally, it happens in a yard large enough for the hive to be kept away from windows. David and Judy Roth planted bee-friendly plants and have stopped trimming a portion of their garden to let it grow wild for the bees.

Extracting the honey requires special equipment and skill. The bees need to be fed throughout winter  – their sustenance, in lieu of honey, is sugar water – and cared for to survive…..

To read the complete article go to; In London, a Jewish beekeeper draws honey and spirituality from his hives | The Times of Israel

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: In London, a Jewish beekeeper draws honey and spirituality from his hives | The Times of Israel

Written by Jackie DiBartolomeo

Mike Palmer searches for a queen bee with a partygoer July 19 in St. Albans.  Jackie DiBartolomeo

FRANKLIN COUNTY — In a sunny field just off Kellogg Road in St. Albans, a group of 25 stood wearing an assortment of nets and hats. In their hands and swirling in the air around them were hundreds of bees.

The group gathered Wednesday morning to celebrate local and world-renowned beekeeper Mike Palmer. After buying his first two packs of bees back in 1974, Palmer is now in his 50th year of beekeeping. Over the decades, Palmer has become known internationally for his beekeeping methods with his brood of over 1,000 bee colonies.

Instead of gathering in a party hall to celebrate Palmer’s accomplishments, the group of beekeepers gathered in the place they and Palmer love best: a grassy field surrounded by the little yellow creatures that brought them all together in the first place.

When Palmer pulled up to the field to find 25 people waiting for him instead of the usual four or five, he was surprised and overwhelmed by the support.

“It means everything,” Palmer said. “It doesn’t feel like 50 years.”

Stationed at the 30-some hives placed throughout the field, partygoers took to searching for queen bees among the sticky honey and the dozens of bees attached to each frame.

With each queen found, the beekeepers carried her over to Palmer. Holding the queen in his hand with ease, Palmer took a dot of red paint to label her and put her in her own box, a throne of sorts. Guests watched on with each queen Palmer labeled, admiring his deftness with the small creatures.

Of the 1,200-some queen bees Palmer raises every summer, he sells half of them to beekeepers nationwide.

“This is my favorite thing to do…it’s nice to make nice honey, but it’s so much nicer to make nice queens and to send them all over the country,” Palmer said. “People write back, they call me on the phone; that, to me, is the reward.”

Guests at the party ranged from beekeepers who have been involved in the practice for decades, to amateurs. Yet with one guest qualifying herself as an “amateur” with eight years of experience, it is clear that learning is never really over in the beekeeping world…..

To read the Complete article go to; Local beekeepers catch queens for famed St. Albans beekeeper Mike Palmer’s 50th anniversary | Local News | samessenger.com

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Local beekeepers catch queens for famed St. Albans beekeeper Mike Palmer’s 50th anniversary | Local News | samessenger.com

• By HARLEIGH CUPP Daily News-Record

Barry Gibson, owner of Hannah Bee Apiary, inspects his hives.

A gentle humming filled the air surrounding 12 stacked wooden hives — some painted in pastel pink, blue and yellow — while Barry Gibson lifted the lids to peek in on his treasured honeybees.

Hannah Bees Apiary has a story as simple and sweet as the honey its more than 600,000 bees produce each year.

Gibson is a retired U.S. Navy corpsmen of more than 20 years that served on the front lines in Iraq during several different deployments. He peaked an interest in bees and read through several books about apiculture before having the opportunity to take free classes through Michigan State University as a serviceman.

His education certainly did not go to waste, as Gibson rattled off tidbits about the world of bees that he had grown so fascinated by.

He met Hannah Wills in 2019 and moved to their home in Harrisonburg the following year. Coincidentally, Wills father kept bees growing up and so she encouraged Gibson to start a few of his own in their backyard. He listened and what started as a hobby hive two years ago has grown into a vision for starting a small business.

Last month, Gibson received a $1,000 scholarship through a partnership of Tractor Supply Company and the Farmer Veteran Coalition that he had applied for earlier in the year. As one of 60 Veteran farmer honorees from across the nation, he plans to use the funds to construct a storage building for his beekeeping supplies — which are currently housed under the carport — and to expand his apiary to have hives in other locations.

Gibson’s real dream, he said, is to open a coffee shop as a place to display Hannah’s artwork and provide a space for veterans — and anyone else in the community — to gather and share “old war stories.” Honey is how he plans to get there.

“I didn’t start this to make a profit,” explained Gibson. “I have PTSD, and it helps me a lot just being up there [with my bees]. They have their own little world, and it’s soothing to me just to be up there.”

Get in touch with Hannah Bees Apiary and follow Gibson’s farm journey online through his new website at www.hannahbeesapiary.com.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.dnronline.com/news/harrisonburg-veteran-wins-tractor-supply-grant-to-expand-apiary/article_7e9ae844-4d1f-56ba-a432-e92939d28057.html

A botanical survey at the end of May revealed more than 30 different plant species

By: Safia Samee Ali

Trinity College in Dublin Dave G Kelly/Getty

A rare Irish orchid was discovered on a Dublin college lawn after the school stopped cutting its grass as part of a “no mow” initiative to promote pollination and wildflower blooming.

A botany professor at Trinity College Dublin found the rare flower, called the broad-leaved helleborine, under a birch tree in one of the school’s sprawling lawns after it stopped mowing.

The find was significant, as the plant is never very common in any one place and is mostly found in woodlands, the college said in a statement.

“This is super exciting; it is a rare native Irish orchid,” Jenny McElwain, who found the flower, told The Irish Times. “If you looked, you would find it in most counties in Ireland, but you’d probably only find one, and it would pop up so infrequently. It might pop up once, and you wouldn’t see it again for 10 years, and three of them have popped up in the lawn.”

The environmental factors required to grow are rare to find, as the seeds of this orchid need the right fungal partner to germinate and grow for the first few weeks of its life.

“This one needs a perfect set of circumstances. If it finds the exact right fungal partner, it forms fungi around its roots,” McElwain said.

This “complex” environment would never have been discovered if the university hadn’t stopped mowing. After discovering the flower, the school extended the no mow period through June, during which time a second orchid species popped up, the college said.

A botanical survey of the lawns at the end of May revealed more than 30 different plant species flowering on the lawns, the college said.

McElwain said it’s not clear how the orchid seeds found their way to the school’s lawn, but guessed they may have been transported by birds, humans, or the wind.

“Or possibly, these orchids have simply been lying in wait, dormant in the soil for decades, waiting to be given a chance to grow.”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: College Stops Mowing Lawn to Promote Pollination, Discovers Rare Flower – The Messenger

Texas Public Radio | By Brian Kirkpatrick

Brian Kirkpatrick / Eighteen-year-old Cashlyn Varnon was selected as this year’s festival Honey Queen.

Uvalde brought back its Honey Fest tradition this weekend to celebrate the local industry, little more than one year after the Robb Elementary School shooting that left 19 students and two teachers dead. It was cancelled last year because of the tragedy.

The bees that produce the region’s honey and the townspeople both share a strong sense of community.

“They are tough, and they are going to do everything they can to survive. They work together, and they all pull their weight. And it’s all about the hive,” said local beekeeper Linda Williams.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Beekeeper Chianne Delacerda at the Uvalde Honey Fest on June 9, 2023.

Fellow local beekeeper Chianne Delacerda liked the comparison, too. Delacerda operates Deer Valley Apiary just outside Uvalde.

“The community still tries to come together,” she said. “We still try to stay cohesive as a unit. Everyone kind of supports each other through everything.”

Festival manager Gloria Reza agreed.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Bees at work at the Uvalde Honey Fest on Friday, June 9, 2023.

“We are one big beehive. We’re a bunch of worker bees, and we will find a way to pick up the pieces,” she said. “Not just from this tragedy, but from anything that has happened to us.”

It’s clear the residents of this farm and ranching town will always remember the shooting victims.

Eighteen-year-old Honey Queen Cashlyn Varnon was asked if the festival is a step toward a new normal. “A little bit. It’s definitely still different,” she said.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Honey Fest in Uvalde on June 9, 2023.

The festival was held at the town square in the heart of Uvalde. There were all sorts of vendors, including those selling honey, made by the area’s bees.

At the park’s center, however, remained the wooden crosses with the names of those who died, along with photos and mementos from their lives.

Brian Kirkpatrick / Wooden crosses remain at the center of the Uvalde town square, where Uvalde held its 2023 Honey Fest.

And in the countryside around the town, bees were busy collecting nectar from wildflowers dotting the landscape, including from Guajillo brush, which produces what one beekeeper called a light, sweet, beautiful honey.

The beekeepers explained that honey has healing properties for humans — a quality Uvalde treasures more than ever before.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: ‘We are one big bee hive:’ Uvalde festival celebrates honey’s power to heal wounds and soothe souls | TPR

The Princess keeps bees at Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate, where each batch of honey has its own distinct flavour

By Patrick Sawer,

The Princess of Wales is photographed wearing a bee suit.

An invitation to one of the garden parties at Buckingham Palace has always been regarded as quite the hot ticket.

But the invite will now be all the sweeter, following revelations that the honey being served to guests as part of the refreshments may well have been produced by royal hands.

To mark World Bee Day on Saturday May 20 and promote the importance of bees to the biodiversity of the planet, the palace released a photograph of the Princess of Wales busy tending to her hives in Norfolk.

The Princess of Wales keeps bees at Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate, where each batch of honey has its own distinct flavour depending on where the beehives are situated at time of collection, including lime from the trees which line the roads, or heather and lavender.

She brought a jar of the honey from the hives for schoolchildren to try on a visit to the Natural History Museum’s new biodiversity hub in June 2021.

The firm’s founders Brian and Pat Sherriff had previously designed military uniforms, but turned to making beekeeping equipment after setting up South Cornwall Honey Farm in the mid-1960s, which now has 400 colonies.

World Bee Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of bees, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.

Apiary enthusiasm runs in the family

The Princess of Wales is not the only royal happy to don a beekeeper’s jacket and protective hood to gather the sweet harvest.

The Queen is also a keen apiarist, and keeps bees at Raymill, her six-bedroom retreat in Lacock, Wiltshire, 17 miles from the King’s Highgrove home.

During a visit to Launceston, Cornwall, last summer Queen Camilla met honey-producers selling jars in the town square, and told them she was a hands-on beekeeper and had only lost one colony during the previous winter.

King Charles in Argentina wearing a beekeeper suit for a visit to see bee keeping at Buenas Ondas organic vegetable garden CREDIT: Tim Graham

Honey produced by the Queen’s bees is sold at Fortnum & Mason to raise funds for charity. This year’s recipient is Nigeria’s first sexual assault referral centre, which the Queen supports as patron.

She is also president of Bees for Development, a charity training beekeepers and protecting bee habitats in more than 50 countries.

Buckingham Palace itself is home to four beehives on an island in a lake in the garden, and there are two hives in Clarence House’s garden.

These hives produced more than 300 jars of honey last year for the palace kitchens, which is frequently served to guests in honey madeleines, as a filling for chocolate truffles or in honey and cream sponge.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Princess of Wales tends her beehives in keeper’s suit (telegraph.co.uk)

To find Jim Hodder, owner of Eden Valley Honey, drive east on Haystack Butte Road about a mile and a half, then turn right at the big cottonwood stump.

Beyond the stump, about a dozen white-faced ewes — lambs in tow — are loose among a maze of corrals and outbuildings.

Hodder, 78, sits down on a diamond plate toolbox to take a load off and explain how he built a premium honey business in Sweetwater County over the past 50 years.

A bum lamb nibbles on a piece of orange bailing twine at his feet, reluctant to leave his side. In the background, a tiger-striped barn cat dives into a pile of straw and comes out with a fat mouse.

Hodder is a friendly fellow, but he’s lukewarm at best about being featured by Cowboy State Daily. That’s because every drop that comes out of his honey processing plant (aka, the honey house) is already spoken for.

Publicity is the last thing he needs.

Fine Honey Is Like Fine Wine

“Honey is a little bit like wine,” he said. “Not everyone’s palate is the same, but most people like the lighter-colored, sweeter honey. Some honey tastes sweet, but it will have an aftertaste. We don’t get that here and that’s one reason why our honey is so popular.”

Hodder started propagating bees in the early 1970s because he wanted to be more self-sufficient. Most of what he eats and feeds his family comes from his farm. He also raises laying hens, raises and butchers his own beef and lamb, and grows vegetables in a greenhouse.

Another important factor that sets Eden Valley Honey apart is the roughly 2.4 million bees working overtime to haul in the nectar from alfalfa and sweet clover in this part of north Sweetwater County.

For 50 years, Jim Hodder has been producing his Eden Valley Honey. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)

Better Bees

In more temperate climates, bees have months to do their work. But at this elevation (6,580 feet) the season is short, and plants only produce nectar for about six weeks. When nighttime temperatures drop below 50 degrees, plants don’t produce much nectar, Hodder said.

The bees must be in good shape when they arrive because they don’t have much time to complete their important work.

In his first year, Hodder said he had three hives that yielded about 200 pounds of honey. Over the years his production has increased to about 20,000 pounds a year.

Honey production correlates with bee reproduction, and when hives reproduce too fast it causes the bees to swarm. When they swarm, that means they have outgrown their hives and they go looking for a new place to live.

The best queen bees will produce up to 3,500 eggs per day. For optimal honey production, the hives ride a fine line that means the bees need to be in good shape, but not too good, he said.

“If your bees aren’t in shape when they get here you don’t get a good honey crop,” Hodder said. “You need your bees at full strength, but not too strong or they will swarm. To make them strong you manipulate. If you have a weak hive, you even them up by moving some bees in.”

Hodder further explained that some queens are better than others, and as a beekeeper it’s important to select queens that can acclimate to their environment. That makes buying queen bees similar to buying bulls for a cattle operation.

Hit The Road

The “getting here” part is another fascinating aspect of bee propagation. The hives that produce the golden Eden Valley Honey spend most of the year in other states. They only live in Wyoming from the end of June to the middle of October.

Hodder said in mid-October the hives are loaded on trucks and hauled to a storage facility in Blackfoot, Idaho. At this point they will check the weight of the hives and provide syrup as a supplemental feed if needed.

TJ Honey in Blackfoot is a business that boards about 20,000 colonies for honey business owners from throughout the Intermountain region every winter. It’s a huge, air-conditioned warehouse that holds the hives at about 42 degrees.

The warehouse is air-conditioned because the hives produce a lot of heat, Hodder said.

“If kept at 42 degrees they are almost in suspended animation and they don’t have to move too much,” he said. “If it gets too cold, they eat a lot of honey and fan to keep the nest warm, which creates a lot of heat.”

On To California, Then Oregon

In mid-January the bees are hauled to California’s San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, where they go to work pollinating almond orchards. Hodder said almond growers pay beekeepers for this service, but  almond trees produce a limited amount of nectar that keeps the bee colonies alive but doesn’t yield much, if any, honey.

When the bees go into the pollination cycle in California there are 6,000 to 10,000 bees per hive. By the time the hives reach full strength the following summer their numbers will have increased to 60,000 bees per hive, he said.

In April, the hives are loaded up again and trucked north to Oregon, where they’ll pollinate prune orchards. While they’re in Oregon they’ll make some honey on blackberry and vetch nectar, but Hodder said the hives are reproducing fast at this point and consume most of the honey they produce.

Back To Wyoming

Then in late June the trucks are loaded again and the two-day, 1,100-mile trip back to Eden Valley begins.

Hauling bees on semitrucks is a time-sensitive endeavor, Hodder said. They make stops along the way and wet the hives down with water to cool them and give the bees a drink. They also cover the loads with mesh tarps to help prevent losses.

Parasitic mites are one of the biggest challenges with bee propagation. Hodder said bee numbers peak in July and begin to drop after that. They treat the hives with an antibiotic, but as bee numbers drop as part of their natural life cycle, the mite problem multiplies.

Colony collapse disorder is another concern for the bee industry. Hodder said scientists have been studying the problem and looking for solutions for the past 20 years, but they’re still uncertain of the cause.

Finally, The Honey

After harvest, the honey is put through an extractor to remove wax, then it’s heated to about 125 degrees and bottled. Too much heat turns the honey dark. Raw honey is heated to 90 degrees before bottling and it contains some pollen.

Hodder added that he only eats raw honey because its better for you from a health perspective. His theory is the pollen in raw honey works like a vaccine against allergies and he has customers that seek it out for that reason.

Hodder said it’s difficult to hire people to work with bees because stings are frequent and working with bees swarming around your head can be unnerving.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/05/07/50-years-of-sweet-success-for-wyomings-eden-valley-honey/

Alicia Devine

Bees were buzzing as they were getting acquainted with their new bee boxes in the apiary built by Leon County Jail inmates.

Dustin Nixson, an inmate, was eager to learn how to care for the thousands of bees in the four bee boxes as part of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Ecology and Reentry Training Hub (EARTH) Haven.

He suited up in a beekeeper suit before gently blowing smoke into a bee box under the guidance of Sgt. Daniel Whaley, who cares for his own apiary outside of his day job.

The program has been up and running for about a week and Nixson is excited for what the future holds.

He’s looking forward to teaching his wife and children everything he learns through the EARTH program and turning beekeeping into a business to support his family when he goes home.

“We get a hive to take with us, the suits and basically everything we need to start,” said Nixson. “It’s going to be cool.”

Inmates who participate in the six-month program can earn a beekeeper apprentice certificate from the University of Florida.

If they don’t complete the program before they are released, they can choose to finish it and receive the certificate on their own.

Following the apprentice certification, inmates could choose to further their education and become master beekeeper, which would allow them to travel, inspect other beekeeper’s hives and help them better their apiaries.

“I’m definitely trying to take this all the way,” Nixson said with a smile. “It’s a very positive program. I see this one succeeding big time because everybody’s into it.”

There are currently three inmates working with the bees. Whaley hopes to grow the program to include 15-30 at a time over the next few years.

“It’s unlimited what you can do with honey, beeswax and the comb itself. It’s pretty amazing,” Nixson said. “You can make soaps, lip balms, and all kinds of candles.”

Nixson plans to focus on honey production as he gets his apiary off the ground and then getting his wife in on the business with the soap and candles.

EARTH Haven will offer other skills and trainings as well as possible certifications in pesticide application, arboriculture, landscaping, and horticulture.

This program is 100% funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund, in which monies are self-generated, non-taxpayer funds used to improve the transition of inmates back into the community.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Leon County jail reentry program trains inmates in beekeeping, business (tallahassee.com)

Maintaining natural wildlife is one of the pillars of saving our planet. Many insects, such as bees, are overlooked for their contribution to the natural landscape of the world.

Cross-pollination is when the pollen from one plant get transferred over to the pistils of another.  This action allows flowers to mix their genetic information, evolve, and survive in the wild. Without cross-pollination, new plants can’t grow and feed the wildlife surrounding them.

When bees land on a flower, they pick up some of its pollen and then fly to another. Cross-pollination occurs naturally from the bees transferring particles from one plant to another.

With an increase in pesticides used by farmers to ‘preserve’ their crops, every year there is a 40% decrease in surrounding bee populations. Without the insects, humans have to manually cross-pollinate, which is less efficient.

A Hollywood Legend Steps In

(YT)

One household name, Morgan Freeman, heard about this wildlife crisis and wanted to help. When he’s not in front of the camera, Morgan spends a lot of time on his ranch in Mississippi. He owns a sizeable piece of land, roughly 124-acres large and wanted to dedicate some of it to saving the bees.

Morgan imported 26 bee hives from Arkansas to his ranch. He works daily to feed the bees a mixture of sugar and water. This is necessary because when the hive moves, the bees lose track of where their food source is. He and his team have even planted bee-friendly plants such as magnolia trees, lavender and clover.

When speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Morgan said he has a special relationship with the bees. “What I’ve discovered is that I don’t have to put on a bee suit or anything to feed them.” He said, “They have the outfits for people who can’t resonate.”

At the core of Morgan’s new hobby is a mutual respect between himself and the insects he cares for. The bees are socially aware enough to understand that he brings the food source and poses no threat. “I’m never gonna get stung,” he said.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.goalcast.com/morgan-freeman-sanctuary-bees/

Lakshmi Varanasi

Marina Marchese is one of two certified honey sommeliers in the United States. Marina Marchese

I’ve never really understood why no one talks about honey the way they talk about wine or cheese or olive oil.

There are thousands of different grapes, growing in different places, and each one produces a unique kind of wine.

The same is true of honey. There are thousands of botanical sources that make so many types of honey that it’s hard to even quantify.

In Bulgaria, for example, honey is made out of the coriander flower. In Greece, honey is made from thyme. Just in Italy alone, there are more than 25 types of honey.

Yet most people in the US are only familiar with “mass market” honey — a generic, blended version with a singular flavor profile.

My origin story

I came into the world of honey tasting by way of beekeeping.

I visited a honey bee hive for the first time in 1999. Like most people, I was terrified, even though I was wearing full protective gear, a veil, and a hat. Yet I was surprised to see how docile the bees were.

Marchese tending to her honey bee hive. Marina Marchese

A year later, I started my own hive. At first, it was just a hobby, but soon it turned into a full-fledged career. I began selling my own honey under the brand Red Bee at local farmers’ markets. Then I started collecting honey from various botanical sources. I also started making connections with beekeepers across the country by attending conferences.

The deeper I delved into this realm, the more I wondered why there wasn’t a central database that catalogued every variety of honey. I read everything by the US Department of Agriculture. I read everything by Eva Crane, the mathematician who devoted her life to researching bees and bee-keeping. I started going to as many honey shows as I could.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a program in Italy called The Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey. The goal was to teach the sensory analysis of honey — similar to what exists for the smelling or tasting of wine.

The program has been operating for 40 years and has three levels. For your final certification, you need to pass a formal exam. There’s an oral portion, a written portion, and a blind tasting, where you must identify the botanical source of 18 honeys by smell and taste alone.

I was the first US citizen to pass through all three rounds of the program. Since then there has been a second, which only underscores the point that there are very few honey sommeliers in the country.

To read the whole article go to; I’m a Honey Sommelier, Here’s How I Landed the Job (businessinsider.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: I’m a Honey Sommelier, Here’s How I Landed the Job (businessinsider.com)

by Christian Senger

College of Charleston sophomore William Helfgott has turned a beehive he won through his 4H program when he was just 8 years old into a thriving business called River Bluff Honey.

In the summer of 2017, at the age of 15 , Helfgott set out with a backpack full of honey jars and a dream of selling out. Just thirty minutes later, his backpack was empty and he was hooked on the beekeeping business.

The following spring, Helfgott was selected to receive a scholarship to become a certified beekeeper in the state of South Carolina. In June of 2018, he was approached by a retailer and they agreed to sell his product. And with that, River Bluff Honey (named after the street Helfgott lives on) was born.

Unsurprisingly, many media outlets became interested in Helfgott’s story and business. After several appearances in magazines, newspapers, TV shows, and more, River Bluff Honey is now available in 30-35 stores in South Carolina and Georgia. Plus, Helfgott donates a portion of all profits to the Lonon Foundation, a Charleston nonprofit that provides resources to children affected by their parent or caregiver’s cancer.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: College of Charleston sophomore heads up successful local honey business | WCIV (abcnews4.com)

Catherine O’Neill Grace

In spring 2020, Heather Mattila, professor of biological sciences at Wellesley, was awaiting a shipment of honey bees for the hives on campus when it became clear that normal academic practice was in jeopardy.

“We didn’t know what to do or where to go or what life would be like,” she says. “So I just brought the bees home instead of bringing them to campus.”

Mattila lives in Boston, adjacent to the Arnold Arboretum. “I’d never had them at home before as a practice. But ever since the pandemic, I’ve had bees in the yard every year because they are so relaxing. It’s like watching a waterfall.”

Mattila grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. “At the time—you know, everything’s shifting now—but at the time, it was the northern limit of where people kept bees,” she says. “I remember seeing the hives at one particular house, but honey bees weren’t a thing for me until I was in university, the age of the students that we have at Wellesley.”

Mattila studied zoology at the University of Guelph, which for decades had one of the largest bee departments in the world. She ended up taking a bee biology course—and found her topic. “I’ve just always loved animals, and I love social animals. I love watching humans interact. I love watching the dogs we’ve had over my lifetime interact. And honey bees are really an extension of that,” she says.

Heather Mattila checks on a hive. Photo provided by Lisa Abitbol

At the beginning of the semester, Mattila takes students in her introductory biology class out to meet the bees. “It’s never easy to meet bees,” she says. “Even for me, it wasn’t. I wanted to shove my hands in my pockets for the first week that I worked in a bee lab. But there’s something about bees that just clicks with people.” Students new to bees are often surprised that the hives smell wonderful, and the bees’ buzzing—the humming of the hive—is soothing and peaceful. “You know how the students enjoy puppy therapy during exams? Bees can have that effect,” Mattila says.

Honey bees are an ideal research subject for undergraduates, Mattila says. “When you study animals, you want to see them actually operating in their natural environment—and bees can be kept and observed right on campus.”

Now that the Wellesley hives are back on campus, students are swarming to Mattila’s lab to learn about these creatures, which, as pollinators, are central to global food production. The world needs bee researchers, because bees, both domesticated and wild, are in danger. Threats include climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, pathogens, pesticides, and agricultural practices that affect bee diversity. Understanding bees has never been more important. We spoke to scientists who have gone out from Wellesley to conduct research in the lab and in the field.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Plan Bee: As Problems Assail the World’s Bee Population, Wellesley Scientists Step In | Spotlight | Wellesley College