Ellwire bee yard, St. Lawrence County, northern New York State – May 11, 2001

The snakes are everywhere today.

Big fat snakes with little ones by their sides. Pairs of smaller snakes under most of the bee hives. I am finally getting used to them.

Ellwire is consistently one of our best bee yards, and I love to come to this sacred place. Many of the colonies have already made 30 pounds of honey. This is a classic upstate bee yard where the plants have grown through successive generations and molded around the hives for over 50 years. The bees overwinter well here. The snakes come with the land.

On many of the days that I work here, I see over 40 snakes. We are used to each other now. They lie in the sun, and I work around them. They stick their tongues out at me and bob their heads. When I picked up the wood they are lying on and nudge them along, they hiss at me and slither away.

I used to jump and scream every time I saw a snake here; I was scared of them. Then four years ago, we made an agreement. I would not hurt them, and they do not bite me. It is a universal contract that extends beyond this land. This understanding also covers times when I am with other people and someone wants to kill a snake. I protect my friends.

Mice destroy a lot of bee equipment each year; they make their homes in boxes that are in storage in the bee yards, eating the comb and the wood. I used to get mad at the mice, they were the last creatures I ever harmed. Now I leave them alone, moving them along into grass when I find them. Snakes will take care of all of this as they eat the mice. Without the snakes, the damage would be unimaginable.

The bees are letting me know that it is time to stop working with them. They are barometers of the weather, coming home before it rains and indicating that they do not want their homes taken apart any more. They stick their abdomens in the air and fan alarm pheromones my way. At 6:12 PM the first rain drops start to fall, and with the soft rain continuing for the next day, the drought is over. We will now get a honey crop at Ellwire.

The snakes at Ellwire are protected from the rain, coiled under most every bee hive. We have come to a peace on this land. It is truly more than a truce.

Hawthorn for a failing heart

Hawthorn (various Crategus species) received an endorsement in another Ernst-and-friends metareview. The review included 14 trials, and focused on hawthorn’s ability to improve the maximum workload of the heart, and improve various cardiovascular markers during exercise-induced strain. The bottom line: hawthorn leaf and flower extract helps. A lot. Even if added to existing medication regimens.

Just to be clear, no new clinical research is coming out of this review. Rather, it attempts to collate existing studies and compare them using a common denominator. Further details on the data are below, but for now my opinion continues to be that hawthorn, either as a berry, a tasty jam, or as a leaf-and-flower extract (or tea), should always be considered as part of the protocol for cardiovascular weakness or imbalance. In fact, I might go further to say that most colorful berries would accomplish similar effects and that, in fact, a nice cocktail of all sorts of berry fruits is probably the best way to go for managing blood pressure, improving capillary integrity, and increasing the efficiency of the heart muscle. Eat well!

from the Blog of Guido Masé Clinical herbalist, herbal educator, garden steward, Montpelier, Vermont

Guido co-founded the Vermont Center for Intensive Herbalism, Montpelier, Vermont, which sponsors a Clinical Herbalist training program and the Family Herbalist training year.

Thank you for all of your support of the bees, plant medicine, and those that work in agriculture.
“In August, the bees are working on the clover family plants and goldenrod. We are starting to see the first of the aster flowers. The vegetables on the farm that need to be pollinated have already been visited by the bees. At this time, it is important to think about whether the bees will have enough food to get through the winter. It has been a cool, wet summer, and I suspect that the bees have not made as much food here as in previous seasons.”

Honey Gardens & raw honey on a national TV special – We are very excited to announce that the Food Network channel on cable and satellite is doing a documentary series entitled “My Life In Food”. One segment of the series is called Milk & Honey, and will be featuring Meriwether Hardie and Honey Gardens. The show is scheduled to be aired, Saturday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m. Please check your local listings for exact time and date.

Bee Learning Behavior Affected by Eating Toxin from GE Corn from the Organic Consumers Association
Jan. 7, 2009.

“One of the speculated contributors to this decline is transgenic crops and specifically those containing Bt proteins since these are insect-active toxins to which bees are exposed through various routes. In particular, bee larvae are exposed since they consume large quantities of pollen which they sometimes source from maize plants (Sabugosa-Madeira et al. 2007).” Pub. by the Foundation for Biotechnology Awareness and Education, Dec. 2008.

Honey Laundering: A sticky trail of intrigue and crime, from the Seattle (WA) Post-Intelligence
Dec. 30, 2008.

This story exposes how adulterated honey comes into the US, often from China, Vietnam, and other countries. Because of all of the antibiotics in Chinese honey, the importation of it has been restricted into the US. This article details how foreign honey from a restricted country will be brought to another country that is approved for importing to the US, have the paperwork altered, and then brought to the US.

You are joyfully invited to attend the 9th International Herb Symposium, Celebrating the Healing Power of Plants, June 19 -21, 2009 @ beautiful Wheaton College, Norton, Mass., with an extraordinary selection of Speakers from twelve countries, over 90 Workshops for all levels of interest and experience, and Herbal Intensives for in depth study, panel discussions & case studies. I will be sharing Jan Cannon’s film “Health & the Hive” and facilitating a workshop on marketing of plant medicine. We thank Rosemary Gladstar for organizing this special gathering. www.internationalherbsymposium.com

The humble honey bee. This singing whir of golden hue embodies unselfishness and unconditional love. Small and unassuming, this insect offers us numerous opportunities to learn from the collective intelligence of its society. By examining the honey bee’s example, we find clues to how we might approach the work of bringing forth a new and sustainable society, and thus a new world.

Let’s look at the hive’s economy. Like humans, honey bees utilize natural resources to help fuel the economic engine of their society. Nectar, pollen, propolis, and water are “harvested” and “mined” from the earth to provide the raw materials for food production, housing construction, health care and maintaining a hospitable atmosphere within the honey bee city-state so all its citizens can live comfortably. In acquiring these resources, the bees do little harm to the natural world. Unless they are threatened and are forced to defend themselves, they do not hurt so much as a leaf during their foraging trips. In fact, due to their role as pollinators, the honey bees actually leave the environment in better shape than they find it, as they take what they need to survive. The bees’ example proves that it is possible to take what one needs from the world in a manner that helps the environment, or at least reduces damage.

Another profound lesson of honey bee economics comes in the form of the power of their community. All activity within the hive is directed at furthering the interests of the entire colony. With no thought of the “self”, the bee’s constant focus of effort is on the local scene and the good of the whole community. Workers step in and do whatever needs to be done within the hive, working constantly without complaint. They feed each other, build places to live for one another, cool each other when hot, and snuggle to provide warmth when cold. When one job is done, they move along to another, always contributing to the betterment of their collective sisterhood. They work cooperatively as a team, like a single organism, following their inner guidance, and doing what is right without the use of force or threats from a leader.

The bees’ cooperative community stands in stark contrast to western society. We are all encouraged to “go it alone” and provide our own source of income in order to procure a home, transportation, food, clothing, etc. And yet, the idea of the American nation being built on rugged individualism is a myth. Most of the truly momentous advances in the United States came about only when folks rallied together for a common cause, from the signing of the Declaration of Independence to the election of an African American president. One way we can overcome our current difficulties will be to rediscover the power of working together in community, and, like the bees, learn to rely upon each other once again. We can get through these tough times if we will only help each other out. By showing our love and providing for or sharing with each other, we provide for ourselves. When our community is doing well, we tend to do well, and when our community suffers, we don’t do as well.

While conventional wisdom says we should work at a single career our entire working life in order to reach a level of skill and professionalism that will allow us to maximize our earnings, each one of us has many talents. Like the bees, we could build a society that supports us in taking on different roles and jobs as our life path evolves, or the needs of our communities change. These are the kinds of alternatives that we can learn from the humble honey bee – alternatives that have true freedom, health, prosperity, and peace as their core.

There is much we can learn about the enduring power of harmonious community that is manifested in the forty-million-year-old society known as the honey bee hive. Since they survived the last era in which large scale extinctions of species were the norm on earth, and since they are still around today, honey bees can provide us with useful clues to improve our society.

The hardest of times are not necessarily the worst of times if you will keep to love, empathy, and imaginative living. The challenges ahead have little to do with Wall Street, and everything to do with changing the way we live, and the way we relate to each other, the earth, and ultimately, ourselves. For those willing to listen, the wisdom of the honey bee can help to guide our way through these dark times.

As the the Elders of the Oraibi Arizona Hopi Nation remind us, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for”.

After many sunny Saturdays (and a few very chilly ones) in Burlington City Hall Park, the 2008 summer Farmers’ Market has come to an end. The Halloween costumes came out for the last one; there were little lions and tigers and bears galore. We were even fortunate enough to meet a family of bee keepers out trick-or-treating. The dogs we had enjoyed so much every week came back to see us one last time and some owners stocked up on jars of two pound honey for their dogs for the winter.

I had never thought to try to feed dogs honey until one couple approached my sister and me to ask to take a honey sample for their large brown Komondor, a pup that greatly resembles a mop. They told us that one day each week they fast their dog, feeding him only our raw honey to cleanse his body. It was wonderful to share a gift, a food and a medicine, that a pup and his owner could benefit from and enjoy together.

Families who came to the market together could not pass our stand without stopping for their children to sample the honey, rarely parting without a jar of honey and bottle of elderberry or wild cherry bark syrup. The families took pleasure in sharing stories of when Honey Gardens’ products helped their family, all the way from their teething children to their sickly college students. Many concerned parents bought our cold and flu remedies to ship to their college students who had traveled out of Vermont to achieve higher education.

When a longtime customer would pass our stand and hear my sister or I explaining Honey Gardens’ products to new potential customers, they would stop and explain with us, and most would tell how they swear by our products and keep a jar of Apitherapy raw honey in their home at all times, and our cold and flu products in their medicine cabinet. As these magnificent souls gathered to share their thoughts on our products, folks would see a crowd forming around our stand and swarm in to learn of the wonders of elderberry, propolis and raw honey.

There were new college students who had never heard of Honey Gardens’ at the beginning of the Summer Market, and by the end they were regulars, coming every Saturday to purchase more honey or syrup and to share our gift with their friends. The college seniors especially seemed to enjoy our Mead, and loved presenting us with their identification cards to prove that they were finally 21 and able to sample legally.

Most customers knew about raw honey already, and a good portion knew of the wonders that are our syrups and healing salve, however, our Mead was something new to share with people. Not many knew what Mead was and all were excited to hear the story of it and wondered if it was sweet like honey. Once people learned about Mead, they were eager to try it and, more often than not, buy it. Whether they were purchasing it for themselves, as a gift for a loved one, or in its traditional use as a wedding gift, one and all were happy with it.

Sharing our products with the people of Burlington has been wonderful. We have just returned from the first Winter Market in Memorial Auditorium (the next ones will be Dec. 20th, Jan. 17th, Feb. 21st, March 21st,, and April 18th). Natural cold and flu season remedies, all made using raw honey, is the best gift one could give or receive; remember that this holiday season!