the angels of agriculture

healing with bees

Mary Lokers at the honey house

“Ouch, that one really, really hurt!”

“That one was the kidney point representing fear.” That was what my acupuncturist/bee venom therapist said to me after stinging me with a bee. Acupuncture is based on releasing stuck energy through meridian points in the body. With bee venom therapy, the process is greatly enhanced.

I was first introduced to bee venom therapy in October 2005 when I apprenticed at Honey Gardens Apiaries. During my week there extracting and bottling honey, wrapping hives, I was stung several times. My co-workers informed me that bees are divinely inspired to sting at points where your body needs attention. I was fascinated and I wanted to learn more. Todd shared how he stings people on purpose, the healing art of bee venom therapy (BVT).

I told him of my physical struggles and he consulted his acupuncturist/BVT teacher regarding a plan for stings. We began the process right away. I was stung on purpose in several meridian points. I was told I reacted well I was swollen, red and itchy for several days. But the pain from the arthritis in my knees subsided.

I learned that to be really effective, the stinging needs to be done regularly for an amount of time determined necessary. A few months later, I spent three weeks with Todd’s acupuncturist friend and experienced freedom in many ways. I never before realized how emotions such as fear and sorrow affect health.

I will continue to seek healing from the bees by ordering my own bees and stinging myself as needed.

I am thankful for the education I received while working at Honey Gardens. I am amazed at the many healing facets of the bee. Bee venom therapy is just one facet. It is now my privilege to share this wealth of information all over the country doing demos of Honey Garden’s products and marketing for this small Vermont bee farm.

for more information on bee venom therapy, see www.Apitherapy.org or contact Honey Gardens

saving the honey bee in Texas

It was my grandfather, who I called Ga, that first introduced me to the world of honey bees and beekeeping. Growing up in Texas, I would spend my summers with him and my grandmother at their home in Scotland. In the tight community where they lived, everyone knew Ga as “the beekeeper”.

Graham Dodds, honey bee savior

Graham Dodds, honey bee savior

During those summers in Scotland, the neighbors would call for our help when swarms of bees would gather in their trees. Swarming is a natural process honey bees use for family improvement and survival. Half of the bees in a hive will leave to allow for a new, younger queen to be raised. Also, when they get too crowded in the hive, some swarm and leave for a new home where they will have more room. Ga and I would set out on a wild goose chase and follow behind the bees. He was too old to climb the trees, and so once the bees were settled, it was me who would be given the clippers and set up the tree to fetch them. My Ga never wore much protection as the stings were good for his rheumatoid arthritis, and as a result I never wore much protection either. Up a tree I would go, with just shorts, a T-shirt, and a veil to do my best to bring the bees gently down. I would then place them in a box on the ground and return after sundown to retrieve them and bring them home. There would be thousands of bees ! I would stand in awe and watch the bees calmly crawl into their new home.

In Junior High, I got my first beehive from a local pest control company that did not want to exterminate honey bees. I was soon getting dozens of calls a week. Recently I went out with Amy to save the biggest most grandiose colony I have ever seen in the wild. Using a very precarious ladder, we managed to saw the branch off that the bees were clinging to. As they fell into the hive below, the ladder fell over and bees exploded into the air, their colony in pieces on the ground. We were sad, feeling that the most beautiful colony I had ever seen had been destroyed. Knowing that they would have perished with pesticides if we had not finished the job, I gently placed the comb back into the box and left all there for the day. When I returned the next morning, all of the bees were inside of their new hive, calm and fixing up the comb that had broken. I can not save all of the bees in Texas, but it is important to do what we are able.

I feel it is critical in today’s age to save these wonderful insects and to educate people about how truly beneficial they are. I hope that everyone can learn to value their healing gifts for our health.

Honey used topically is being used in healing, including diabetic foot ulcers
http://www.diabetesincontrol.com/modules.php?name=News& file=article& sid=2880