Bees

When I was a little girl, my Dad used to take me on what I called "Nature Walks" where he would point out different flora and fauna and teach me their names. If we saw a plant or a bird we didn't know the name of, we would go home and look it up in one of the three awesome photo reference books he had. I also remember his fantastic garden, his bird feeder, and his bees.

I don't know how many years he had the bees after I was born, but I still remember him in his beekeeping suit, with the wide netted hat. I remember the buzzing white boxes in the back yard, and somehow I don't ever remember being stung. I remember our clay honey pot, it had one of those twirly yellow honey sticks in it. I would twirl the amber liquid and then let it drip, drip, drip, slowly back into the pot, over and over. It was so sweet and aromatic. 

Eventually, he had some complaints from neighbours about the bees and had to get rid of his hives, which is a real shame. We needed bees then and we need them now. I recently asked my Dad for some firsthand beekeeper information for an article I was writing. What he gave me was so interesting and showed such passion for our little winged friends, that I thought I would share it.

"There are about seven species of honey bees, but the most important species is apis mellifera, they are the main domesticated honey bee. It is thought to have originated in southeast Asia about 34 million years ago. It was domesticated and spread all over Asia, Europe and Africa in ancient times. The first recorded history of human domestication is in Egypt some 4-5 thousand years ago.

Today honey bees are an essential part of the food production industry and valued for bee products including wax, propolis, pollen and of course delicious honey. Bees in domesticated hives pollinate 35% of the food that we eat. Two thirds of hives are used primarily for pollination, about  two million in North America. In the wild they are a critical part of ecological well being. It is estimated that if honey bees perished, we would suffer a world wide famine.
Currently, honey bees are being threatened, dying in unprecedented numbers due to causes that are not fully understood. Importantly insecticides are likely a factor.   
All of bee products have a gorgeous colouring and a wonderful nectar enhanced aroma. Commercial honey has traditionally been pasteurized robbing it of it's aroma and destroying some of it's flavour and nutrition. Fortunately, there is some honey that is not pasteurized these days.   
Beeswax has a very pleasing aroma that is stronger in a burning beeswax candle. Beeswax candles are thought to have a cleansing effect in the air by producing negative ions. Beeswax is a renewable resource unlike parafin used for candles, which comes from fossil fuels. Beeswax burns more cleanly and burns completely leaving no residue.
Bees produce wax from honey. Specially assigned worker bees ingest honey and hang for many hours to metabolize the wax and secret it out of glands in their abdomens. Beekeepers cut the wax on the top of the honeycomb to extract the honey. They collect this wax to sell for candles and many other beeswax product such as for polishes and cosmetics.
As a part-time beekeeper for about ten years, I have an unadulterated adoration and respect for honey bees.Working with them gave me many, many hours of pleasure and harmony. One of my joys was sitting beside a hive on a warm sunny day watching the "busy" bees come and go from the hive entrance in a steady stream. They make an intriguing and graceful pattern. Not so graceful at landing as they plop down unceremoniously, often bouncing.The aroma beside a hive is intoxicatingly sweet and fragrant with the scent  of flora nectar. It is very much like the aroma from our cottonwood poplar trees here in the spring and sometimes on hot summer days." -Charles Myers


I hope that we can all garner a little of the adoration for bees that my Father has so that more resources are put towards ensuring that these integral black and yellow pollinators are not lost to us forever.