The Honey Harvest Continues

 

Typical honeybee colonies with honey supers on top.	This colony has comb honey supers on it.

September is the month that we first begin to take our honey crop off. Most of what is harvested now goes directly to our sales stand or to road side markets.

 

In October and November the rest of the crop is harvested and stored in barrels. The picture shows frames of honey going into our extractor. Click here for more extracting pictures.

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEES IN WAR TIME

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEES IN WAR TIME
by Roger Sutherland - SouthEastern Michigan Beekeepers Association

(Part 1 of a two part series)

With the war on terrorism and in Iraq fresh in our minds it may be interesting to review how honeybees have been utilized over the years in war situations. Even now scientists are looking for ways to train bees to find mines and explosives.

September, 2002, Missoula, Montana(AP)
Trained honey bees have shown a remarkable ability to sniff out land mines, suggesting a possible new way to find the estimated 110 million unexploded land mines around the world, according to researchers at the University of Montana. Jerry Bromenshenk has studied bees as pollution sensors and environmental sensors for the past 30 years. He said honeybees have proven themselves to be easier to train, harder working and more accurate than bomb sniffing dogs.

BEES OF WAR

This news article brings to mind an article “The Bees of War” by Nick Howes, published in the 2001 Farmers’ Almanac. The following is the first installment of the article.

In Rudyard Kipling’s The Second Jungle Book, Mowgli (the main character) enlists the unwitting aid of the Little People of the Rocks to halt and invasion of the jungle by a ferocious pack of red dogs called dholes. A super colony of bees, the Little People of the Rocks, live along the river Waingunga, stinging to death any intruders. Mowgli leads the ferocious dogs through their domain, alarming the Little People who swarm and destroy half of the pack.

The concept of using bees to protect and defend was not unique to Kipling. Thousands of years of beekeeping have led people all around the world to search for a role for bees in wars, as primitive biological weapons. Recognition of their potential existed in Biblical times, as indicated by several passages from Exodus 23:28: “And I will send hornets before thee, which will drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite before thee.”

One of the earliest historical accounts (first century B.C.) that mentioned bees being used against enemies involves the Heptakometes of Asia Minor (present-day Turkey) and Pompey the Great. With the aid of their bees, the Heptakametes temporarily halted an advance by Pompey’s soldiers. The Heptakometes knew that when bees gather pollen from such plants as rhododendron or azalea the honey crop produced is loaded with alkaloids which are harmless to bees but toxic to humans. They were able to obtain and leave a cache of poisoned honey in the path of 1,000 advancing Roman soldiers.

During that time, the gains from raiding and looting were part of a soldier’s pay, so the Romans naturally seized the honey and consumed it. They were soon deathly ill, and in no shape to resist the attack that followed.

The Roman legions were less subtle in their use of bees. Their attacks were often preceded by the catapulting of portable beehives at enemy positions; when the hives smashed explosively among the enemies, a sudden assault by angry bees occurred.

At one point during the many clashes between the Dacians (of modern-day Romania) and the Romans (between 112 B.C. and A.D. 106, when the Romans gained complete control), the Dacians used bee hives with effect to, again only temporarily, halt Roman advances into their homeland. In naval battles of the time, bees, housed in earthern hives designed specifically for shipboard use, were catapulted at enemy ships.

BEES IN THE WALLS
In medieval times, would-be conquerors laid siege to the cities and castles they coveted. However, castles were designed and built by builders who included as many possible defensive features as they could think of. Often, they incorporated bee hives within the walls, an unwelcome surprise for any attackers who might breach a wall at the wrong spot. Straw hives were kept out of the way atop city walls, where they were also at hand during sieges.

There were advantages to using bees that go beyond the mere unreasoning fear may have of them. Imagine a mounted knight I heavy armor, fully dependent on his horse for any real mobility, sharing this helmet with several maddened bees.

BEES AT SEA  (Part 2 of a two part series)  NEXT MONTH

 

 

Study shows why boy bees have no dads
Thursday, 28 August 2003

Birds do it, bees do it - well, perhaps bees don't do it quite like birds and people do and scientists have found one piece of the puzzle.

The international team of researchers has discovered the gene that allows male bees to have no father.

"We found the section of honeybee genome responsible for the differentiation between female and male," Mr Kim Fondrk of the University of California Davis said, who worked on the study.

The discovery helps explain a lot of things that are strange about bees and may help experts preserve endangered bee populations so they can keep the busy insects pollinating crops and wild flora.

Writing in the latest issue of the journal Cell, Mr Fondrk and colleagues in Germany and Norway said the responsible gene is called complementary sex determiner, or csd.

Csd has in 19 alternative versions, called alleles.

Female bees have two copies of csd which are always different alleles - males have only one copy.

About one-fifth of animal species including all ants, bees and wasps use a similar system of sex determination, but the actual genes and mechanisms involved are not well understood.

Mr Fondrk said it helps explain their complex social systems.

"There are three castes - the queen, who is the egg layer and mother of all the bees in the hive," he said.

In the wild she mates only once with a male to get the two sets of genes that go to all of her female offspring.

"Then the workers are females and they do all the work.

"They are the ones that sting, they are the ones that bring the honey in too."

Then there are the males - the drones.

"Drones just have a sexual function," Mr Fondrk said.

They also do not inherit a second set of genes from a father bee.

They are half-clones of the queen.

Understanding why this happens genetically can help bee breeders, Mr Fondrk said.

When bees are inbred to select desired traits, eggs can accidentally be fertilized with two copies of the same version of csd.

These eggs develop into sterile males.

Worker bees find and kill these sterile male larvae and inbred honeybee colonies can die out.

"This problem has haunted bee breeding since the 1940s," Mr Fondrk's colleague at UC Davis, Robert Page, said in a statement.

"As we understand more, there will be ways to get around this problem."

-- Reuters

October Honey recipe's

Honey Apricot Cinnamon Braid
& Honey Strawberry Tea Cooler

Honey Apricot Cinnamon Braid - Makes 1 loaf -	Honey Strawberry Tea Cooler - Makes 4 servings

Honey Apricot Cinnamon Braid - Makes 1 loaf

Ingredients:

3 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 package fast rising yeast
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup water
3 Tablespoons butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup finely chopped dried apricots
Honey for glaze

Directions:

In large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, undissolved yeast, cinnamon and salt. Heat milk, 1/4 cup honey, water and butter until very warm (120° to 130°F); stir into dry ingredients. Stir in egg and enough remaining flour to make soft dough. Knead on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. Knead in apricots.

Divide dough into 3 equal pieces; roll to 12-inch ropes. Braid ropes; pinch ends to seal. Place on large greased baking sheet. Cover; let rise in warm, draft-free place until doubled in size, about 40 to 60 minutes.

Bake at 350°F for 25 to 30 minutes or until done. Remove from oven; brush top of loaf with honey. Remove from sheet; cool on wire rack.


Bread Machine Variation (all-size machines)

Measure 3 cups all-purpose flour and other ingredients into bread machine pan as suggested by manufacturer. Process on dough/manual cycle. When complete, remove dough to floured surface; knead in additional flour if necessary to make dough easy to handle. Shape dough and proceed as directed.

From Honey.com

****************************

Honey Strawberry Tea Cooler - Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 pint fresh strawberries, stemmed and cleaned
1/4 cup honey (We suggest a fragrant honey such as blueberry or orange blossom. For help locating varietals visit www.honeylocator.com)
1 can (6 oz.) frozen orange juice concentrate
2 cups brewed green tea, cooled


Directions:

In a blender or food processor container, combine strawberries and honey; process until smooth. Add orange juice concentrate; process until well blended. Stir into cooled tea. Serve over ice.

From our readers

This is a section for comments/questions/recipes from our readers. Please read the comments & feel free to put your 2 cents worth in.

Please send me your comments ......

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"MEHU-LIISA" pot  ••    Raw honey,  ••   How can i stop the fermentation process with niagara grape juice?   ••    Ice Wine   ••   Science fair project on candles   ••    Making beeswax tapers   ••    Did I lose my free grapes offer?   ••   Damage of last winter on your vines?  ••    Blocks of beeswax?   ••    PDF catalog   ••    Winemaking questions   ••    What is the best way to store honey   ••   We had a good time visiting your farm today!   ••    Weekly drawing   ••    Never received candles?

The "From our Readers" Page

Candle W*nner & Laugh of the Month

 

Congratulations! October candle w*nner is: kathrynsfournier@yahoo.com


Will this months w*nner,
kathrynsfournier@yahoo.com
please contact us and send your address so that I can ship your candles.

Our list of previous candle w*nners.

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Click below for something to end this newsletter with.

Laugh of the month: Vampire Slayer

See You Next Month!

Honeyflow Farm
4939 Mill Rd.    PO Box 275
Dryden, Michigan 48428
(810) 796-2344 (Phone & Fax)

Comments or questions concerning Honeyflow Farm should be addressed to wcs@honeyflowfarmREMOVETHISBIT.com