Each of these waxy peanut-shaped cells contains a queen bee that within the hour are placed within a small, four frame mini-hive called a nucleus. After another day a virgin queen will emerge and in another 2 weeks she will be fully mated and laying eggs, the bees collecting nectar and pollen, and the hive well on its way to building up for a long cold winter dormant period.

Last year we began to raise our own queens as we saw the promise and success in the work of other northern beekeepers Kirk Webster, Anicet Desrochers, and Mike Palmer.

Through the work of these dedicated beekeepers we have come to an invaluable understanding the value and potential inherent in each apiary. One of our goals at Honey Gardens Apiaries is to gravitate towards raising the kind of bees that can tolerate the mites without chemical treatments. This is by no means a search for the silver bullet but a whole system approach that Kirk Webster and others’ work has inspired here. First, by interrupting the brood cycle of the hive the mite cycle is also interrupted, reducing mite populations and giving the bees a slight advantage. The new queen imparts a vigor and enthusiasm to the hive which seems to have a negative effect on the mites. Secondly, the colonies that survive the winter build up with tremendous energy in the spring and can be used to replace the honey producing colonies that succumbed to the mites. Thirdly, by continuing to remove and split failing colonies we will improve the overall productivity, survivability and sustainability of the apiary. Lastly, by splitting a failing hive in the summer, we are renewing the valuable resource of the bees and the brood and increasing the potential of the apiary as a whole. Our bottom line here is not honey production, though we do want to cover our expenses, our heart is to raise bees to survive, to thrive here in our bioregion, to learn what these bees need in our increasingly stressful world.

We can no longer afford to harvest without thanksgiving. It is time to return the love, admiration, and understanding to the world beyond ourselves. These little queen cells are a possible bridge to the great grandchildren that we will never know that they may also hear the hum of a hive, to see the magic of a burning candle, to marvel at bees sipping at flowers, to be in awe of a swarm in flight, to be close to the oneness of the hive.

“we are not human beings having a spiritual experience rather we are spiritual beings having a human experience” ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

gathering plant medicine from the land

Last week I traveled up north to the Champlain Islands with Charlotte and Macky to gather purple loosestrife. This herb offers its healing gifts in the Propolis Spray. It is styptic (helps stop bleeding), antibiotic, and astringent (contracts tissues, draws out infection). This spray is used to help heal wounds and sore throats, as well as to heal and strengthen the gums. Purple loosestrife can also be used internally to control diarrhea and heavy periods. This is generally done with a decoction of the dried flowers.

Purple loosestrife (Lythrum salicaria) has a complicated past, as it was brought over from Eurasia in the 1800’s, both inadvertently and as a landscape plant. It has since spread though waterways and marshlands, and is now considered an invasive and noxious weed. It tends to crowd out native plants such as cattails, sedges and bulrushes, decreasing forage and habitat for wildlife. On the other hand, honey bees and other pollinating insects gather tons of nectar each summer from the flowers. They have come to rely upon on it in dry years as it blooms well in the marshlands even then. Since 1995 Vermont state agencies have been releasing several European insects to control the spread of this plant.

As far as we know, we have the only permit in the state of Vermont to harvest purple loosestrife. We choose to appreciate the gifts it has to offer, rather than to fight against it. And although we certainly do not encourage the spread of this plant, we do feel a bit of loss as it disappears from our area, and we must travel further to find it for use as medicine.

There are a number of species that have been introduced to this area, not to mention honey bees (brought from Europe in the early 1600’s), which have been beneficial in many ways. A wise local community herbalist recently spoke about how the native people of Vermont, the Abenaki, took on dandelion and burdock as their staple foods. These are two highly nutritious, yet non-native species that could be used to our healthful benefit, not just seen as a nuisance in the lawn or pasture.

Another wise woman shared with me that the flower essence of the purple loosestrife is used to help us fulfill our greatest potential. We hope that the plants and their stewards may all achieve this goal.

The first fruits of the new crop of honey are now in the honey house. For over 2,000 years the first fruits have always carried a spirit of thankfulness and gratitude. The beginning of the new crop is a very special light honey we savor these gifts that spring from the land and appreciate your support of our bees and their work.

There are defining moments in life that you always remember, a passage in a relationship that is a poignant reminder of a special time.

This month our daughter Meriwether became comfortable with the bees and is now a beekeeper.

In what could be the hardest week of the year, we needed help in the field. The strong colonies have to be split to make new hives. If they are not, they will swarm and not make any honey. The increase makes up for the winter losses and brings new mite-resistant queens into the operation that are essential to organic beekeeping. Small hives, called nucs, are made to receive the queens, all with the orchestration that requires the precision of placement within hours of arriving. With the ongoing weeks of a rainy season, we had to bring carts of equipment through many a long field, where the trucks could not go. The bears never let us forget that they are around. We clean up around them as electric fences are rebuilt for the new season. It was exhausting. She was a trooper, never a single complaint.

Last year I realized Meriwether was on her way when she took off honey with Sam for the day and remarked later that the stings she had received were good for her. Eighteen years of hearing the mantra around Dad had been successful. I was happy that most stings were on a place where a sledding accident/ice hockey had been stressful to her knees. The bees go to where they are needed. The healing in bee venom therapy continues after thousands of years.

Honey bees are gentle. They get a bad rap because of their aggressive cousins, wasps and hornets. Learning to become comfortable with them at this time is more important than the details of management. By the end of the week, Meriwether was taking colonies with 40,000 bees apart, looking for queens and queen cells, moving colonies around to new positions in the bee yards, and identifying the strength and condition of each bee hive.

Free will is so important. This is a time when she wanted to help. There will always be honey around for family. Now she was ready to learn how to take care of her own bees, make her own honey, share the skills and pass them on to her own family, pollinate the neighborhood.Meriwether has become a gentle warrior for the Earth, now sent to China for two weeks to meet with other 19 year olds from around the world to prepare to be a leader for the near future, talking about the environment, peace, agriculture, poverty. Our hope is with this generation. May they do better than we have.

If it takes a village to raise a child, thank you all very much.

Historically, sodas and other thirst quenching drinks were prepared at home and had nutritional value. The ingredients were wild crafted and the results produced a beverage that was refreshing and also gave a boost to the system. Root beer, Jamaican style ginger ale, switchel, beet kvass, and kombucha tea have tonic effects on the body system. These drinks were a way of bringing health into the home. Not magical elixirs, these beverages were more supplemental in their medicinal value. Today, chances are any soda or refreshing beverage on the market has been completely stripped of any of the health tonic qualities that originally inspired the flavors of the drink. We can help take our health back into our hands by preparing home made beverages from fresh ingredients.

When we make sodas and other beverages we are directly connected to the actual ingredients and the particular flavors they impart. We see that in order to access the medicinal properties of yellow dock root or dandelion root in our root beer, we must mask the astringent bitterness with sassafras root bark and honey. To offset the bite of freshly grated ginger for ginger ale it is necessary to add some citrus juice and honey. The flavors are powerful and there is nothing artificial about them. Nature provides the nutrition and through sodas we can access it.

When making sodas, the flavor intensity of the ingredients and honey sweetness can be tailored to the individual. Thirst-quenching beverages need not be overly sweet. Tart, sour or bitter flavors can be just as satisfying. In our country, few flavor choices exist for people outside of overly sweet or salty. Most of these foods are dead. Bring life to your family and friends! Put burdock root back into your root beer, use beets from your garden in your beet kvass and let yeast and bacteria work together to give kombucha tea that satisfying sour taste with a subtle sweetness.
Making healthy beverages in the form of soda pop and other drinks is easy and fun. It is possible to create fresh beverages full of health promoting microorganisms with tastes that hint of sweetness, but also of other tones like sour or tart or bitter tastes that are wonderful and that most people aren’t as familiar with.