I think we've probably all heard about disappearing honey bees and what it could mean for the environment. There are so many ways the honey bee
impacts nature, it's hard to list them all.
A few years ago I decided I wanted to become an amateur bee-keeper. I live in the country of East Tennessee (Go Vols!) and hoped it may help the local
area in some way. I can't say what it's done for anyone else, but my small garden has been impressive since the bees' arrival. Aside from all the
stings, they've been a great hobby and the honey they've produced has been incredible. They've also produced a lot more honey than I ever thought such
little creatures could.
Learning about the honey has been interesting. I had no idea that honey comes in many different colors and flavors! The first season of honey produced
by my bees was a very dark color with an incredibly intense flavor. This honey was most likely the result of the bees pollinating primarily
wild-flowers.
The 2nd season of honey produced a much clearer honey. It's flavor was much smoother, but still very rich. I believe this is Clover Honey.
Now it's the third season and I'm curious to see what the amazing workers come up with. I know it's not quite spring where I live, but the weather has
been unseasonably warm and the bees have begun to swarm. I made a short video of the bees swarming and, if you look closely, you can see their tiny
legs covered in so much pollen you may wonder how they can fly at all.
I hope you enjoy the video and if you know anything interesting about honey or have a favorite recipe with honey, instead of sugar, I hope you will
share it with me.
edit on 8-2-2017 by esteay812 because: (no reason given)
There are no "disappearing honey bees." A few years back the bee rental industry (yeah, there is one) was having trouble keeping up with demand by
rich hippies for artisan honey and was splitting hives up with immature queens. This was the cause for the general malaise in the industry, even when
wild bee populations were doing just fine.
However, that was a few years ago, and now the industry has adjusted to the demand and the bees are doing just fine.
So no Bee Doomsday just yet, and people can stop misquoting Albert Einstein.
The thing I've learned is that it is not nearly as hard as I first thought it may be. . . that is, if you have the time to keep the hives properly.
There is a ton of information online and beginners can start with just a small amount of money.
I've been thinking about trying to keep bee's myself.
One wonderful thing I've learned? Since I love to can, but have to watch my sugar, I learned I could can Cherries, and cut the sugar in half by using
honey.
Tastes WONDERFUL!!!
I use honey for so many things. I get it from a local fellow right now, by the half gallon. LOL
originally posted by: chiefsmom
I've been thinking about trying to keep bee's myself.
One wonderful thing I've learned? Since I love to can, but have to watch my sugar, I learned I could can Cherries, and cut the sugar in half by using
honey.
Tastes WONDERFUL!!!
I use honey for so many things. I get it from a local fellow right now, by the half gallon. LOL
One of my favorites so far is creamed honey, specifically cinnamon. It's delicious on toast or in coffee. I've also made it with ginger and it's good,
but I've never really been a fan of ginger anyway.
That's a good idea with the canning.
I've found that you can pretty much use honey as a sugar substitute in just about anything, but there are some things that are a lot better with
honey.
But yeah, there are bazillions of them on my property. There's these trees EVERYWHERE (and around the region) that each tree makes a zillion tiny
flowers and the bees coat them all.
My great grandfather had bees. I had no idea other honey wasn't that good. It was very dark honey.
I hope one day to find honey like that again. It was very thick as well. mmmm..
your first season honey doesn't look that far off.
It blew my mind when I found out about all the different types and colors of honey. There is even honey that can get you drunk/stoned!
I don't know which I like the best so far, but probably the clearer honey is a bit easier to eat, because it isn't quite as dominating as the dark. If
I am just going to eat plain or mix it with some butter only, then the dark may be a bit better.
I guess the only way to really have some control over the color would be to try and control the pollination source (big chore). You may be able to
influence the pollination source, a little, by placing a lot of the plants needed for a particular brand of honey nearby. It's just so hard to know
where the bees are going to get the pollen.