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Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Honey is nice on toast. But did you know it will also relieve a multitude of medical issues — from taming a cough and alleviating allergies to healing cuts or burns. Because of its low pH and hygroscopic properties, bacteria cannot survive in honey. The pollen in the honey contains various minerals as well as enzymes and B vitamins, which impart immune-boosting properties that help the body fight infection. Good stuff. Generally speaking, the darker the honey, the greater the antibacterial qualities. If you are sensitive to sugars, the fructose and glucose in honey aid in maintaining blood sugar levels. The first gives you a natural burst of energy and the second sustains your blood levels so you will not get the sugar blues as you might with processed white sugar. Overall, honey is a wise choice — it is wholesome and the only naturally processed sweetener found in nature. Honey and diabetes There are all kinds of conflicting information on the Internet about whether honey is or is not ok for those with diabetes. Check with your doctor for the definitive answer. In the meantime, the following information from the Mayo Clinic is helpful: Generally, there’s no advantage to substituting honey for sugar in a diabetes eating plan. Both honey and sugar will affect your blood sugar level. Honey is sweeter than granulated sugar, so you might use a smaller amount of honey for sugar in some recipes. But honey actually has slightly more carbohydrates and more calories per teaspoon than does granulated sugar — so any calories and carbohydrates you save will be minimal. If you prefer the taste of honey, go ahead and use it — but only in moderation. Be sure to count the carbohydrates in honey as part of your diabetes eating plan. — Mayo Clinic website Honey’s nutritional value One tablespoon of honey (21 g) provides 64 calories. Honey tastes sweeter to most people than sugar and as a result, most people likely use less honey than they would sugar. Honey is also a rich source of carbohydrates, providing 17 grams per tablespoon, which makes it ideal for your working muscles because carbohydrates are the primary fuel the body uses for energy. Carbohydrates are necessary in the diet to help maintain muscle glycogen, also known as stored carbohydrates, which are the most important fuel source for athletes to help them keep going. Honey and children Children are advised by the medical community to be at least 18 months before introducing honey into their diets. Spores of botulism naturally find their way into any raw agricultural product or simply the dust that may settle inside a honey jar. Mature digestive and immune systems can normally handle this type of bacteria; however, children and infants are not advised to consume raw honey. Every individual will respond uniquely to ingesting honey, so seek the advice from a qualified medical care provider.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If you have a weak hive, you can combine it with a stronger colony. If you have two weak hives, you can combine them to create a robust colony. Keep in mind that it’s better to go into the winter with strong colonies — they have a far better chance of making it through the stressful cold months than do weak ones. But you can’t just dump the bees from one hive into another. If you do, all hell will break loose. Two colonies must be combined slowly and systematically so that the hive odors merge gradually — little by little. This is best done late in the summer or early in the autumn (it isn’t a good idea to merge two colonies in the middle of the active swarming season). A great method for merging two colonies is the so‐called newspaper method. Follow these steps in the order they are given: Identify the stronger of the two colonies. Which colony has the largest population of bees? Its hive should become the home of the combined colonies. The stronger colony stays put right where it’s now located. Smoke and open the weaker colony. Manipulate the frames so that you wind up with a single deep hive body containing ten frames of bees, brood, and honey. In other words, consolidate the bees and the ten best frames into one single deep. The “best” frames are those with the most capped brood, eggs, and/or honey. Smoke and open the stronger hive. Remove the outer and inner covers and put a single sheet of newspaper on the top bars. Make a small slit, or poke a few holes in the newspaper with a small nail. This helps hive odors pass back and forth between the strong colony and the weak one that you’re about to place on top. Take the hive body from the weak colony (it now contains ten ­consolidated frames of bees and brood) and place it directly on top of the stronger colony’s hive. Only the perforated sheet of newspaper separates the two colonies. Credit: Courtesy of Howland Blackiston Add a hive‐top feeder and fill it with sugar syrup. The outer cover goes on top of the feeder. No inner cover is used when using a hive‐top feeder. Check the hive in a week. The newspaper will have been chewed away, and the two colonies will have happily joined into one whacking strong colony. The weaker queen is now history, and only the stronger queen remains. Now you have the task of consolidating the three deeps back into two. Go through all the frames, selecting the 20 best frames of honey, pollen, and brood. Arrange these in the lower two deeps. Frames with mostly brood go into the bottom deep, and frames with mostly honey go into the upper deep. Shake the bees off the ten surplus frames and into the lower two deeps (save these frames and the third hive body as spares).

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

If you’re like most beekeepers, it’s only a matter of time before you start to ask yourself, “Gee, wouldn’t it be twice as much fun to have twice as many hives?” Well, actually it is. And the neat thing is that you can create a second colony from your existing colony. You don’t even have to order another package of bees! Free bees! Ah, but here’s the dilemma. You’ll need a new queen for your new colony. Strictly speaking, you don’t have to order a new queen. You can let the bees make their own; however, ordering a new queen to start a new colony is simply faster and more foolproof. Or if you want to get really adventurous, you can raise your own queen. To make two hives from one, you first need a strong, healthy hive. That’s just what you hope your hive will be like at the start of its second season — boiling with lots and lots of busy bees. The procedure is known as dividing or making a divide. Dividing not only enables you to start a new colony, it’s also considered good bee management — dividing thins out a strong colony and prevents that colony from swarming. Making two hives from one also helps control Varroa mites by hindering mite reproduction. The divide causes a pause in brood production within the “new” hive. Since Varroa mites reproduce by laying eggs on bee brood, with no new brood available, the mites die out. The best time to make a divide is in the early spring about a month before the first major nectar flow. Follow these steps in the order they are given: Check your existing colony (colonies) to determine whether you have one that’s strong enough to divide. Look for lots of bees, and lots of capped brood (six or more frames of capped brood and/or larvae are ideal). The situation should look crowded. Order a new hive setup from your bee supplier. You’ll want hive bodies, frames, foundation — the works. You need the elements to build a new home for your new family. Order a new queen from your bee supplier. Alternatively, you can allow the new colony to raise its own queen. Your new queen doesn’t have to be marked, but having a marked queen is a plus, particularly when you’re looking for her because the mark makes her easier to identify. As a new beekeeper you should let your bee vendor mark your queen. A novice can end up killing a queen by mishandling her. Put your new hive equipment where you plan to locate your new family of bees. You’ll need only to put out one deep hive body at this point — just like when you started your first colony. Remove four of the ten foundation frames and set them aside. You’ll need them later. When your new marked queen arrives, it’s time to divide! Smoke and open your existing colony as usual. Find the frame with the queen and set it aside in a safe place. An extra empty hive body and cover will do just fine. Better yet, use a small “nuc” hive (available from your supplier). These mini‐hives contain only five frames. Now remove three frames of capped brood (frames with cells of ­developing pupae) plus all the bees that are on each of them. Place these three brood frames and bees in the center of the new hive. That still leaves one slot open because you removed four frames of foundation. The extra slot, however, provides the space that you need to hang the new queen cage (see Step 8). Using two frame nails, fashion a hanging bracket for the new queen cage (candy side up) and hang the cage between brood frames in the middle of the new hive. Alternatively, if the weather is nice and warm, you can use the bottom‐board installation technique. Make sure you have removed the cork stopper or metal disc, revealing the candy plug. This is the same queen introduction technique that you used when you installed your first package of bees. Put a hive‐top feeder on your new colony, and fill it with sugar syrup. Turn your attention back to the original hive. Carefully put the frame containing the queen back into the colony. Add three of the new foundation frames (to replace the three brood frames that you removed earlier). Place these frames closest to the outer walls of the hive. Add a hive‐top feeder to your original hive and fill it with sugar syrup. Congratulations, you’re the proud parent of a new colony!

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Hands down, the Langstroth hive is the most popular and widely used hive today. Certainly this is the case in the United States and in most developed countries around the world. Invented in 1852 by Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth, the basic design has remained mostly unchanged, which is a­testament to its practicality. Credit: Courtesy of Howland Blackiston The big advantage of this hive is that the bees build honeycomb into frames, which can be removed, inspected, and moved about with ease. All the interior parts of this hive are spaced exactly 3/8-inches apart, thus providing the correct bee space (in other words, the bees won’t glue parts together with propolis or fill the space with burr comb). Given its wide popularity, many commercially available parts and accessories sold for beehives are standardized to accommodate this design, meaning the beekeeper using a Langstroth hive has all kinds of options when it comes to purchasing extras (such as replacement parts and accessories). Consider standardizing on using a medium honey super (the super is where the bees store the surplus honey you will harvest). Many beekeepers use shallow supers, which are not quite as tall as the medium design. The medium honey supers hold more honey than shallow, and yet they are still relatively small and light enough to lift off the hive. Many suppliers are offering an 8-frame version of the Langstroth hive. Fewer frames result in a setup that’s lighter in weight, and that can be a big advantage to the beekeeper when lifting hive bodies. Your back will appreciate the 8-frame version! This is an option that’s gaining great popularity among ­backyard beekeepers. The Langstroth is the hive type recommended to new beekeepers. Credit: Courtesy of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm Some of the advantages to consider regarding the Langstroth hive include Capacity: Because this design consists of modular, interchangeable hive parts, you can add extra medium or shallow honey supers as the colony grows and honey production increases. Capacity for bees and honey is virtually unlimited. Frames: There are both 8- or 10-frame versions of the Langstroth hive available (the 8-frame version being a slightly smaller and lighter hive in weight than its 10-frame cousin). Both versions use a Langstroth-style of self-centering frame with beeswax foundation inserts. Universality: Because the Langstroth hive is so widely used around the world, you can easily find replacement parts, gadgets, and add-ons for this popular hive. They are widely available from many beekeeping supply stores (search the web and you will find many such suppliers).

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

It’s best not to move beehives around unless it’s necessary because it’s disruptive to the bees and a lot of work for you. But sometimes move you must. Here are some helpful guidelines: Plan to make your move in the evening when the bees are not flying. Before making the move, tape up any extra entrance or ventilation holes you have drilled in the hive (duct tape works great). Secure the hive together by using heavy-duty strapping tapes (available at hardware stores). These strapping tapes use a ratchet-type buckle to tighten the straps. Strap the entire hive together as a single unit: bottom board, hive bodies, and cover. Staple a strip of window screening across the front entrance of the hive. Doing so will keep the bees from flying out of the hive (and stinging you) while providing them with adequate ventilation. Use a hand truck to move the hive (an entire hive can weigh a couple hundred pounds). Get some friends to help. Wear a veil and gloves in case any bees get loose. They won’t be happy about this move. Once the hive is in its new location, wait until early the next morning to remove the straps and the entrance screen. This gives the bees time to calm down.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own creams, salves, and balms with beeswax from your hives. Honestly, the best thing about making your own body products is that you know what is in them. No need to worry about parabens or endocrine disrupting chemicals or ingredients that you can’t even pronounce. The beauty products that you can make on your own are far better and fresher than any product out there and are more emollient and hydrating than anything you can buy. The recipes here utilize extra virgin olive oil, sweet almond oil, and coconut oil — all of which are edible. There are so many other wonderful oils, each with their own unique quality such as shea nut butter, jojoba oil, apricot kernel oil, rapeseed oil, safflower oil, and wheat germ oil, that you can try. You can substitute any oil here for another; however, don't use a mineral or baby oil because they produce a heavy product and are by-products of petroleum production. Because these are fresh and natural cosmetic recipes, they don’t contain any preservatives. Mark them with the date of manufacture and use them within a six‐month period. Use your cappings In making beauty products use cappings wax. This is the wax that the bees produce to cover the honey in the hive and is saved during extraction. Because it is brand new, the wax is light in color, aromatic, and clean. And because you already know that no chemicals should be used while the honey supers are on the hive, you’re guaranteed that your wax is also chemical‐free. Equipment Use a good quality kitchen scale that measures in ounces for the dry weight of beeswax. To break up the beeswax, use a screwdriver and a hammer on a cutting board — never use a knife! Cleaning any container that has been used to melt beeswax can be a lot of work, so use something like empty coffee cans (well washed and dried, naturally) with chopsticks or the wooden paint stirrers from a hardware store as mixers. This way, you can see when the wax has melted, and you are ready to begin. This works very well in a double boiler — you simply place the can in a pot of warm water to melt the wax and oil; bend the lip of the can with a pair of pliers to make a pouring spout. Clean up by wiping the can with paper towels until the next use, or recycle the can. Working with melted beeswax is like working with hot cooking oil — use common sense! Never melt beeswax directly over a heat source; always use a water bath when melting beeswax. Wax melts at between 143 degrees F to 148 degrees F. It’s fairly stable below 200 degrees F, but at higher temps beeswax can vaporize (flash point) and can ignite. Keep a fire extinguisher handy when melting beeswax. You might also want to cover your countertop with newspaper to absorb any spilled beeswax. This is especially helpful when filling lip balm tubes. As wax overheats, it begins to smoke and give off an acrid smell. If this happens, remove it immediately from heat. Ultra‐rich skin cream Gather the following ingredients: 2.5 ounces (weight) beeswax 4 ounces (liquid) lanolin 2⁄3 cup sweet almond oil 3/4 cup distilled water 1 teaspoon borax (sodium borate, chemically pure) A few drops essential oil (your choice) In a double boiler, melt the oil, lanolin, and beeswax to 160 degrees F. Heat the borax and water in a separate container to 160 degrees F. Be sure that the borax is dissolved. Add the water mixture to the oil mixture while stirring briskly. When white cream forms, stir slowly until the mixture cools to 100 degrees F. Pour into containers, label, and date recipe (use product within six months). Be certain that you use chemically pure borax when making cosmetics (it can be ordered from beekeeping equipment suppliers). Never use laundry‐grade borax for cosmetics. Borax is a complex borate mineral salt, which occurs naturally and is mined in the Mojave Desert in Boron, California. In these recipes, it acts as an emulsifier and has some minor preservative properties. Rich body balm Gather the following ingredients: 5 ounces beeswax (weight) 1-1/3 cups distilled water 2 teaspoons borax 2 cups (16 ounces) olive oil A few drops of essential oil (your choice — Geranium is nice!) In a double boiler, melt the oil and beeswax. Heat water and borax in a separate container to 160 degrees F. Add the water to the oil mixture VERY SLOWLY, stirring constantly. When mixture is emulsified, pour into containers, label, and date the recipe. Use product within six months. Here’s a recipe to make lip balm that’ll keep your lips soft and healthy, even in the harshest weather. Beeswax lip balm Gather the following ingredients: 1 ounce (weight) beeswax 4 ounces (volume) sweet almond oil A few drops essential oil (I recommend peppermint or wintergreen) In a double boiler, combine and melt beeswax and oil; stir until wax is melted. Remove from heat, add few drops of essential oil, and pour into lip balm containers. Let lip balm cool and solidify before placing caps on containers. This recipe is a favorite for making specialty salves. By changing the essential oil, you can come up with many different products. Add eucalyptus oil, and you have a cold chest remedy. Add comfrey and you have a cut and wound healer. Add propolis and you have a first‐aid antibiotic ointment. Add chamomile for a soothing foot rub salve. Or add citronella or lemongrass for an effective insect repellant. Beeswax and olive oil salve Gather the following ingredients: 1 part beeswax 6 parts olive oil Fresh or dried herbs (optional) or essential oil of your choice If using herbs, clean and dry thoroughly, place in glass jar, cover with olive oil, and allow everything to steep for one week. Strain herbs from olive oil and proceed. In the top of a double boiler set over medium heat, warm olive oil and add beeswax; stir until beeswax is dissolved. While warm, pour into small jars; when cool, cover with lids. These bars are great to keep handy when you need to refresh your skin. Try silicone baking molds, which are available in cookware departments and come in a variety of shapes. Soap‐making forms also work nicely. Beeswax lotion bar Gather the following ingredients: 2 ounces (weight) beeswax 2 ounces (weight) sweet almond oil 2-1/2 ounces coconut oil or cocoa butter or combination 1/4 teaspoon vitamin E oil A few drops of essential oil (your choice — lavender is lovely!) Melt all ingredients (except essential oil) in double boiler. Remove from heat and add the essential oil. Pour into molds, let cool, and place in cellophane wrapper or ­reusable container. Natural homemade sunscreen This one is unlike the other finished recipes in that the final product looks more stirred or whipped, rather than flat and finished. The zinc oxide is heavier than the other ingredients. To ensure the emulsion is suspended, you need continue stirring until cool. Use as you would regular sunscreen. Best if the product is used within six months. Gather the following ingredients: 1/2 cup almond or olive oil (you can infuse with herbs first if desired) 1/4 cup coconut oil (natural SPF 4) 2 ounces beeswax 2 tablespoons zinc oxide (available in the pharmacy section of your grocery or a drug store) Optional: 1 teaspoon vitamin E oil Optional: 2 tablespoons shea butter (natural SPF 4–5) Optional: essential oil of your choice Melt all ingredients (except zinc oxide and essential oil if using) in double boiler until melted. Remove from heat and add zinc oxide and essential oil. Pour into container, stir a few times as it cools to make sure zinc oxide is incorporated. Packaging and labeling There are many online sites for packaging and labeling products. Think up a clever name for the item that you have prepared. Make sure that you list all of the ingredients on the label (in descending order of quantity) along with the net weight of the product and some sort of contact information. All of the products from the hive are amazing and health‐giving; just remember that you should not make any guarantees about the benefits of what your creams, salves, and balms will provide. Just include anecdotal testimonials. Make sure that the containers are food‐grade quality; metal tins are very cute, but some essential oils can react with them and corrode the metal.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Honey is the sweet result of the bees magically transforming the nectar they gather from flowers. Honey is about 80 percent fructose and glucose, and between 17 to 18 percent water. Maintaining a balance between sugar to water is critical to the quality of honey. Excess water, for example from poor storage, can trigger the spontaneous yeast to ferment, and honey will spoil. The bees nail this balance instinctually, but it is the improper harvesting and storing of honey that can upset the delicate ratio. Over 20 other sugars have been found in honey. There are also proteins in the form of enzymes, amino acids, minerals, trace elements, and waxes. The most important enzyme is sucroase — which is an enzyme added by the bees. This is responsible for converting the sugar sucrose (found in nectar) into the main sugars found in honey; fructose and glucose. It is also instrumental in the ripening of the nectar into honey. With an average pH of 3.9, honey is relatively acidic, but its sweetness hides the acidity. The antibacterial qualities associated with honey come from hydrogen peroxide, which is a by-product of another enzyme (glucose oxidase) introduced by the bees. The plants themselves and soil they grow in contribute the minerals and trace elements found in honey. See the figure for a typical breakdown of honey content. Credit: Courtesy of Howland Blackston Honey owes its delicate aromas and flavors to the various volatile substances (similar to essential oils) that originate from the flower. As heat decomposes the fructose, hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) naturally found in all honeys increases, thus lowering the quality. Each of these components that make up honey are extremely fragile, and overheating honey or improper storage can compromise not only the healthful benefits but also its flavors.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

There are beekeepers out there who harvest honey from a single floral source called varietals or uni-floral honeys. Granted, there needs to be several acres of that single floral source, and the bees must be prepared to work the bloom at the very moment it is producing nectar. But what you get from this focused approach are honeys that have distinctive flavor profiles that resemble the flower and region from which the honey is harvested. Simply put, varietal honeys are poetry in nature. Credit: Courtesy of Marina Marchese Here is a short list of some of the most popular varietal honeys harvested by beekeepers around the world. Acacia honey is commonly found in the EU. This variety is easy to identify because of its transparent pale yellow color. The flavor is sweet and delicate, with notes of apricots and pineapples. Alfalfa grown for hay to feed livestock secretly does not want honeybees to steal its nectar. So the plant has evolved to “spank” the bee when she tries to enter the nectary. This disciplinary action deters the bees and prompts them to chew holes into the side of the flowers petals to get to the nectar. Alfalfa honey is light amber in color with flavors of dry hay reminiscent of a barnyard and delicate spices. Avocado honey is produced in warm climates like Mexico, California, Texas, Florida, and Hawaii. These trees live for hundreds of years and bear a popular, edible fruit. The resulting honey is dark amber in color and somewhat bitter with smoky and nutty flavor notes. Locust trees bloom in early spring, showing off its highly aromatic clusters of white flowers. This honey is difficult to obtain because of its early bloom time. Conditions must be perfect for the bees to make this exquisite light-colored honey that has a green hue. Black locust honey is full of butterscotch and dried fruit flavors, enveloped in hints of warm vanilla. Blueberry Blossom honey hails primarily from Maine, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Blueberries are an all-American summertime favorite for pies and tarts, and the honey from the nectar in their blossoms closely resembles the berries’ favor, and sometimes even the color, depending upon where the honey was harvested. Look for full notes of jasmine flowers, berries, and hints of citrus. Buckwheat is one of the darkest colored and strongest tasting honeys you’ll come across. It has a powerful aroma that might give you second thoughts about tasting it. However, the chocolate, coffee, and a dark malty beer flavors will pleasantly surprise you. Delicious tasting, and great for baking. Chestnut is a true Mediterranean delicacy found in Italy, Spain, France, and around the EU. Blooms appear in June until July, yet the nut matures later in the season. Festivals are common to celebrate the dark earthy and sometimes bitter chestnut honey harvest. Clover honey can be found in just about every grocer and kitchen, because it’s the premier floral source for honeybees in the United States. The color of clover honey gets lighter the farther west it is harvested because the fields are vast with white and yellow sweet clover. Generally in the east, bees work only white clover. Clover honey is light, buttery, and delicate with notes of bee’s wax, green grass, and hints of vanilla. Fireweed is known as a colonizer plant because it’s the first plant to grow after a wildfire. Without other plants nearby, it is easy to harvest pure fireweed honey. Fireweed blooms in June and lasts until September and prefers the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. This honey is transparent and crystallizes slowly. Look for delicate flavors of pears, warm caramel, and brown sugar. Ling Heather hails from the moors of Ireland and Scotland. Ling honey is so thick that it must be hand-pressed from the honeycomb. When inside the jar, Ling honey becomes thick as jam until stirred to become liquid again. This thick-to-thin property is called thixotrophy. Only a few rare honeys exhibit this quality. It’s a dark honey with a red tint. The taste is bitter with deep earthy and smoky flavors. Lavender honey from Provence is a coveted treasure. The vast fields blanket the south of France, where everything is inspired by the scent of lavender. Light, delicate, and floral in flavor, you will be surprised not to find the same heady notes of camphor that are evident in the flowers and leaves of the plant. Manuka honey is world renown for its healing properties (especially regarding ulcers and intestinal problems). Manuka is the name for the tea tree, which grows in New Zealand and southeast Australia. Mostly taken as a medicine here in the United States, manuka honey will remind you of an alpine forest with its earthy, damp, and evergreen flavors. This honey granulates quickly; it’s also quite thixotropic and has a very high viscosity. Note: Because of the very high premium paid for manuka, much of the commercially available product labeled as manuka is not what it claims to be. New Zealand produces 1,700 tons of manuka honey annually (nearly all of the world’s production comes from New Zealand). But 10,000 tons or more of honey labeled as “Manuka” is being sold annually. That doesn’t quite add up! Linden or Basswood is a spring blooming tree found in the United States and also in the UK and EU (where it is referred to as Lime honey). Many city streets are lined with Linden trees offering city beekeepers a delicious harvest. Basswood trees are good nectar producers, producing a bold-flavored honey with notes of green fruit, menthol, and herbs. Mesquite is found growing in Texas, Louisiana, Arizona, New Mexico, and along the border of Mexico. The mesquite plant is cherished for its wood, which is used to add a smoky flavor to foods on the barbeque. This honey is medium amber with a warm brown sugar and a somewhat smoky flavor. Orange Blossom honey can be found in most tropical regions, predominately in Southern California and Florida in the United States. Florida’s orange honey is bright in flavor with an amazing burnt orange color, whereas the flavor of orange honey harvested in the west has a warmer flavor reminiscent of the sandy dessert. Sage shrubs are native to the United States and can be found along the dry, rocky coastline and hills of California. A medium-amber-colored honey, sage offers a distinct taste of the warm western desert with notes of brown sugar and a distinctly herbal finish. Sidr honey is considered the finest and most expensive honey in the world (expect to pay around $300/pound). With the highest amount of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, the best Sidr honey comes from Hadramaut in the southwestern Arabian peninsula. Beekeepers laboriously carry their hives up the mountains twice each year to harvest this dark, rich honey with flavors of dates, molasses, and green fruit. It’s the Rolls Royce of honey! Star Thistle is an attractive plant for honey bees and is found across the entire United States. The honey is yellow amber with a green tint. Star thistle has a spicy tang to its flavor with hints of cinnamon and molasses. Sourwood is sometimes called “mountain honey” because the tree is located throughout the Blue Ridge mountain region. A highly sought-after honey, sourwood is water white in color. It is slow to crystallize and has the delightful warm and spicy flavors of nutmeg and cloves with an ending sour note. Thyme is highly praised in Greece. It is also known as Hymettus honey, named after the mountain range near Athens. Thyme is a low-growing culinary herb with a pungent aroma. This honey is lightly colored with gentle notes of fruit, resin, and camphorous herbs. Tupelo honey has been immortalized in Van Morrison’s music and the film Ulee’s Gold, starring Peter Fonda. Often referred to as the champagne of honey, you’ll pay champagne prices for this rare variety that only grows in the swamps of southern Georgia and northern Florida. Tupelo honey is a delightful mix of earth, warm spice, and flowers. It rarely crystallizes.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Harvesting honey out of top‐bar hives (such as a Kenyan or Warre hives) involves a different approach. You don’t use an uncapping knife and an extractor, because you don’t have durable four‐sided wooden frames that will stand up to the centrifugal force of an extractor. Instead, you can cut the capped honey comb (wax and all) from the top bars and find a way of packaging these sections of comb. It’s a sticky, messy job. More likely, you want to extract the liquid honey from the comb using a honey press. The comb is cut off the top bars and put into the press. Any debris is strained out (as with the traditional extraction techniques), and the honey is then bottled. When using a honey press, the honey combs from the top bars are packed in a filter cloth and squeezed under high pressure by means of a screw ­mechanism. Credit: Courtesy of Swienty Beekeeping If you are familiar with an apple cider press, this uses similar equipment and a similar process. Honey presses are not that easy to find, and they can be expensive. You are more likely to find honey presses from suppliers in Europe, where they are more commonly used. But if you are clever at building things, the Internet will turn up an array of plans for making your own. When using the pressing method, you destroy the comb. The bees will have to take the time to build new wax comb on the top bars before they can store more honey. This crushing or pressing method sets honey production back a bit for the next season. That’s one of the disadvantages of top‐bar honey harvesting.

Article / Updated 03-26-2016

Propolis (sometimes called “bee glue”) is the super‐sticky, gooey material gathered by the bees from trees and plants. The bees use this brown goop to fill drafty cracks in the hive, strengthen comb, and to sterilize their home. Propolis has remarkable antimicrobial qualities that guard against bacteria and fungi. Its use by bees makes the hive one of the most hygienic domiciles found in nature. This remarkable property has not gone unnoticed over the centuries. The Chinese have used it in medicine for thousands of years. Even Hippocrates touted the value of propolis for healing wounds. In addition, propolis has been used for centuries as the basis for fine wood varnishes. When cold, propolis is hard and brittle. But in warm weather propolis is gummier than words can express. When you inspect your hives at the end of the summer and early autumn (the height of propolis production), you’ll discover that the bees have coated just about everything with propolis. The frames, inner cover, and outer cover will be firmly glued together, and they’ll require considerable coaxing to pry loose. You’ll get propolis all over your hands and clothes, where it will remain for a long, long time. It’s a nuisance for most beekeepers. But be sure to take the time to scrape it off, or you’ll never get things apart next season. Be sure to save the propolis you scrape off with your hive tool! It’s precious stuff. Keep a spray bottle of rubbing alcohol in your supply box. Alcohol works pretty well at removing sticky propolis from your hands. But, for goodness sakes, keep propolis off your clothes — because it’s nearly impossible to remove. Many beekeepers encourage the bees to make lots of propolis. Special ­propolis traps are designed just for this purpose. The traps usually consist of a perforated screen that is laid across the top bars — similar to a queen excluder, but the spaces are too narrow for bees to pass through. Credit: Courtesy of Howland Blackiston Instinctively, bees fill all these little holes with propolis. Eventually, the entire trap becomes thickly coated with the sticky, gummy stuff. Remove the trap from the hive (gloves help keep you clean) and place it in the freezer overnight so that the propolis becomes hard and brittle. Like chilled Turkish Taffy, a good whack shatters the cold propolis, crumbling it free from the trap. It then can be used to make a variety of nifty products. Propolis tincture Here’s a homemade and all‐natural alternative to iodine. Like iodine, it stains. Use it on minor cuts, rashes, and abrasions. Some folks even use a few drops in a glass of drinking water to relieve sore throats. Measure the crumbled propolis and add an equal measure of 100-proof vodka or grain alcohol (for example, one cup propolis and one cup alcohol). Place in an ovenproof bottle with a lid. Heat the closed bottle in a 200-degree (Fahrenheit) oven. Shake the bottle every 30 minutes. Continue until the propolis has completely dissolved in the alcohol. Strain the mixture through a paper coffee filter or a nylon stocking. Bottle the tincture into dropper bottles, which you can get from your pharmacist. Propolis ointment This ointment can be applied to minor cuts, bruises, and abrasions. Melt the ingredients in a microwave or in a double boiler. 1 teaspoon of beeswax 4 teaspoons of liquid paraffin 1 teaspoon of finely chopped propolis granules 1 teaspoon of honey Remove from heat and stir continuously until it cools and thickens. Pour into suitable jars. Propolis varnish If you happen to have a multi‐million‐dollar violin made by Stradivarius, you already know that the finest string instruments ever made had a varnish made from propolis. But this superior lacquer need not be reserved for such exclusive uses. Propolis varnish provides a warm, durable finish for any wood project. Here’s a recipe from a friend of mine who refinishes museum‐quality violins. Combine all ingredients in the following list in a glass jar at room temperature. Cover the jar with a lid. Allow mixture to stand for a week or more while shaking at regular intervals. 4 parts blond shellac 1 part manila copal (a soft resin) 1 part propolis Filter solution through a few layers of cheesecloth or a nylon stocking before using. The manila copal resin is available from specialty varnish suppliers, such as Joseph Hammerl GmbH & Co. KG, Hauptstrasse 18, 8523 Baiersdorf, Germany.