It is not fresh news that the standard American diet (acronym is s.a.d.!) is not health supportive. For all least four decades, we have been listening to the medical community’s advice about the quality and quantity of fat and fiber in our diets, and the increased incidence of heart disease, diabetes (particularly Type II, adult onset), cancer, and obesity among our population. As a result, many people have shifted their dietary intakes toward a plant-based diet which is rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants, just to name a few nutrients. We have improved our diets “in layers,” meaning that the initial shift for some people is toward a plant-based diet. Subsequent layers or shifts include incorporating more organic produce and free-range poultry and meats, and what we call “superfoods.” Superfoods are called such because they are foods that are naturally rich in vitamins, minerals, and trace minerals. Blue-green algaes (e.g., chlorella and spirulina), seaweeds (e.g., kelp and dulse), bee pollen, and raw honey are examples of superfoods because of their extraordinarily generous contents of beneficial nutrients.

The most recent layer of awareness that has resulted in a shift in dietary improvement is the knowledge that certain foods contain highly beneficial, therapeutic enzymes. Many of us are returning to a way of eating that incorporates The ways of traditional or native peoples. Not only are our choices minimally processed (considered “whole foods”) and grown or raised organically, but equally importantly, many are vital, rich in, and alive with enzymes. In short, they are “live foods.” Even though a traditional society/culture might not know what an enzyme is and how it works, these people benefit from eating foods that are rich in enzymes. Their low incidence of modern food diseases and their longevity are the result of eating health-supportive diets. Lower stress levels as compared to those of people living in the modern world are a factor we can’t ignore as well.

Before we go further, we need to talk about what enzymes are. Enzymes are necessary for our bodies to function optimally. They are substances (protein specifically) that are able to simplify complex elements into simple elements. There are three classes of enzymes: digestive, metabolic, and food enzymes (which are present in raw foods). Enzymes are catalysts for biochemical processes and reactions in the body. When we are talking about digestion, this means that enzymes are necessary for the digestion of or breakdown of foods (like fats, carbohydrates, and proteins) into their simplest form. Enzymes make it possible for proteins to be broken down into amino acids and for complex carbohydrates to be broken down into simple sugars, for example. In addition to supporting digestion and making it possible, enzymes are also metabolic. They are involved in hundreds of metabolic reactions within our bodies which enable our complex biochemistries to work in the miraculous ways that they do, converting foods that we eat into renewing building products and energy.

All humans have what is called “enzyme potential,” meaning that we are born with an enzyme-making potential to satisfy the metabolic and digestive needs of the body. Nutrients that we ingest in the form of mostly raw and uncooked foods are also used to manufacture enzymes because our bodies’ enzyme reserves can’t always meet the demands for enzymes. Our bodies have evolved the natural ability to conserve enzymes by manufacturing them only on demand. We can also arrange for digestive enzymes to come into the body by taking digestive enzymes in capsule form. The virtues of enzymes and their significance in today’s diets are exclaimed/appreciated by noted doctors such as the late Dr. Edward Howell. A number of books, most notably Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats (1999), by Sally Fallon with Mary Enig, Ph.D. and Patient Heal Thyself (2003), by Jordan Rubin, N.M.D, C.N.C., are also emphasizing the importance of enzymes in the diet.

What are some sources of these beneficial enzymes? Raw honey is a food noted for its exceptionally high enzyme content. Other enzyme-rich raw foods include bee (flower) pollen, vegetables and fruits (especially avocado, banana, papaya, and pineapple), extra virgin olive oil, raw dairy foods, lacto-fermented dairy products like yogurt and kefir and cultured or fermented foods such as miso and sauerkraut. (Grains, nuts, legumes, and seeds are rich in enzymes as well as other nutrients, but they also contain enzyme inhibitors like phytic acid. This is why traditional cultures soak and sprout these foods in order to deactivate the enzyme inhibitors.) It needs to be emphasized here that these foods must not be heated so that the enzymes are viable and available. Here at Honey Gardens Apiaries, our honey is strictly raw and unheated, thus retaining the maximum enzyme content.

As mentioned above, because our honey is raw and unheated, the maximum enzyme content and health benefits are present for the consumer. Honey contains more than 75 different compounds (Buhner, Herbal Antibiotics, pp. 47 – 48), among them: enzymes, minerals and trace minerals, vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, organic acids, and hydrogen peroxide. The enzymes in raw honey help to initiate the process of digestion and reduce the body’s need to produce digestive enzymes. Because of its high enzyme content, raw honey spares the enzyme reserves of the pancreas and other digestive organs. They won’t be constantly stimulated to produce and secrete various digestive enzymes. Wonderful long-term benefits of this enzyme-sparing activity are good health, increased longevity and energy, fewer illnesses, and a healthy immune system. In this way, one can see the importance of including raw, unheated honey in the diet.

The bees are starting to fly again. They are being checked to be sure they have enough food, and boxes of honey are being transferred from colonies that passed on and do not need this, to ones that survived the winter, and are light on their supply of honey and need more food. Signs of Spring are everywhere. The bears have come out of hibernation and are visiting the bee hives, too.

We appreciate your interest in and support of the bees and their work.

A feature from the series “ My Life in Food” that includes Honey Gardens will be on national TV on Saturday April 11 @ 6:30 pm on the Food Network.

“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.”

Thank you, Ann Kennedy for sharing your recipes with raw honey. Her daughter understands that truly raw honey is “pure gold”.

Gorgonzola Raw Honey Appetizers

–perfect with a strong cup of coffee, or good wine
Split open large, pitted fresh dates. Spread with raw honey, top with a small piece of gorgonzola (or other sharp flavored cheese) and a raw almond.

Carrot Honey Spread

Finely grate 4 – 5 peeled carrots and stir in about 1/4 cup (or more to taste) raw honey. Stir in 1/4 cup natural chunky style peanut butter, and 1/8 teaspoon curry powder. Season with salt as needed.

Honey Breakfast Bruschetta Spread with French Toast

Coarsely chop 1 cup pecans and 1/2 cup almonds. Combine. Melt 2 T butter and stir into nuts. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon and nutmeg. Stir in raw honey until there is a good spreading consistency. Set aside. Slice a baguette on the diagonal, dip each piece in a beaten egg (about 2 pieces per egg), and cook in butter as you would French toast. Top with honey spread and drizzle with a tiny bit of cream if desired.

I have always known honeybees to be gentle creatures. Working at Honey Gardens during high school I was around them often and never had a bad experience. Even when a bee stung me, I knew that she was sacrificing her life to give me her healing medicine. Last semester, Fall 2008, I studied in Ecuador for three months with Round River Conservation Studies. I had the opportunity to learn a little about how beekeeping is done in Ecuador during my time there.

Part of the time, our group stayed in a house just outside the city of Cuenca. Our neighbor, Anna Lucia, had a hive of honeybees in the backyard. We were fortunate enough to be able to eat the honey from her bees, straight from the hive! It tasted distinctly different from raw honey here. I can’t explain how it tasted, but I would attribute the difference to the fact that the bees simply are feeding on different plants in Ecuador from the ones our bees here feed on. When I needed time alone or wanted an excuse to take a breather outside I would go sit near the hive and watch the bees, breathing their vibrant energy in and out. I wanted to ask Anna Lucia more about her small-scale operation, but she hardly spoke any English and my Spanish skills are less than perfect. Without words, we connected on the simple acknowledgement of our mutual love for bees.

After I finished the Round River program, I spent a week volunteering on a small organic farm called Sacred Sueños. One night over a dinner of veggie stew and fresh fruit salad, Yves Zehnder, the founder of the farm (and native English speaker), mentioned that he kept bees. I immediately began telling him about my history with bees and how much I loved them. We talked about our experiences and I asked question after question about beekeeping in the rural Ecuadorian Andes. He told me that the bees he was keeping were African bees, rather than the European species we have here in the US. He explained how African bees are much more aggressive than European bees and people have to be much more cautious around them.

I learned that African bees will take over other beehives by learning the “secret dance” of the other hive and sending one of their own into the new hive with a queen-to-be larva and killing the resident queen. The worker from the African beehive puts the larva in with the other larva of the new hive and before long the population has an African queen and becomes infiltrated with African bees and is ultimately taken over. African bees produce less honey than European bees and are generally more difficult to keep because of their aggressive nature. While at Sacred Sueños, Yves and I put on the bee suits and checked one of the hives. I was the designated smoker. One bee got into Yves’ mask and stung him on the lip, but none got through my suit! Yves has bees for two main reasons: to produce wax for candles and honey for human consumption on the farm and to help pollinate the many fruits and veggies he grows.

If not for my love for bees that begun at Honey Gardens, I would not have had these experiences that deepened my overall experience studying in Ecuador. Spending time with bees was a fun and educational aspect of my experience that I’ll never forget.

Beth Kershner http://www.sacredsuenos.com/who.html

The benefits of Nature for children with ADD / ADHD

File this one under the “let’s spend grant money to research the obvious” category: it seems that walking for about 20 minutes in a park, surrounded by trees and Nature, is as effective as Ritalin for managing some of the symptoms commonly classified under the “attention deficit” umbrella.

Researchers recruited 15 boys and 2 girls and walked them for 20 minutes in one of three settings, on different days: an urban park, a residential neighborhood, and a downtown area. Those who walked in the park showed significant, powerful improvements in their ability to concentrate and perform after their walk. The others did not. While these results may seem obvious to us, we can at least gain some measure of comfort in knowing that the mainstream medical community feels like “doses of nature might serve as a safe, inexpensive, widely accessible new tool in the tool kit for managing ADHD symptoms” as Dr. Andrea Taylor, head researcher for the study, wisely commented.
Now, I might feel that a walk in the Vermont woods, as they turn from green to fiery red, might give an even better experience to nurture biophilia, provide renewal and inspiration, and calm a scattered mind. But even a manicured park can do the trick! So finding time to spend outside, away from television, houses, and buildings, is a good idea for our kids. And “nature deficit disorder” might soon be recognized as a legitimate concern. Imagine that…

from the blog of Guido Masé RH(AHG), clinical herbalist, herbal educator, and garden steward specializing in holistic Western herbalism From his organic farm in Montpelier, Vermont, herbal extracts, massage oils and healing salves are offered www.grianherbs.com

Thank you for your support of the bees, plant medicine, and those that work in agriculture.

Propolis’ antimicrobial activity: what’s new? “Propolis is a hive product that bees manufacture from balsamic resins actively secreted by plants on leaf buds and barks. It is widely acknowledged to exert antimicrobial activity against a wide range of microorganisms (bacteria, fungi and viruses), but also exerts anti-inflammatory, anaesthetic, healing, vasoprotective, antioxidant, antitumoral, antiulcer, and hepatoprotective activities. This paper (in Italian) reviews the antimicrobial properties of propolis, focusing on respiratory pathogens. These characteristics make propolis a valid option for therapy of upper respiratory tract infections.” by De Vecchi E, Drago L, Laboratorio Microbiologia, Universita di Milano, Italy

The TV special on raw honey with Meriwether Hardie, Honey Gardens has been re-scheduled to Saturday April 11 @ 6:30 PM, on the Food Network cable & satellite. Please check your local listing to confirm exact time and date.

beverage makin’ joy ~ recipes for honey based natural sodas & honey wine/mead

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