The Princess keeps bees at Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate, where each batch of honey has its own distinct flavour

By Patrick Sawer,

The Princess of Wales is photographed wearing a bee suit.

An invitation to one of the garden parties at Buckingham Palace has always been regarded as quite the hot ticket.

But the invite will now be all the sweeter, following revelations that the honey being served to guests as part of the refreshments may well have been produced by royal hands.

To mark World Bee Day on Saturday May 20 and promote the importance of bees to the biodiversity of the planet, the palace released a photograph of the Princess of Wales busy tending to her hives in Norfolk.

The Princess of Wales keeps bees at Anmer Hall, on the Sandringham estate, where each batch of honey has its own distinct flavour depending on where the beehives are situated at time of collection, including lime from the trees which line the roads, or heather and lavender.

She brought a jar of the honey from the hives for schoolchildren to try on a visit to the Natural History Museum’s new biodiversity hub in June 2021.

The firm’s founders Brian and Pat Sherriff had previously designed military uniforms, but turned to making beekeeping equipment after setting up South Cornwall Honey Farm in the mid-1960s, which now has 400 colonies.

World Bee Day aims to raise awareness of the importance of bees, the threats they face and their contribution to sustainable development.

Apiary enthusiasm runs in the family

The Princess of Wales is not the only royal happy to don a beekeeper’s jacket and protective hood to gather the sweet harvest.

The Queen is also a keen apiarist, and keeps bees at Raymill, her six-bedroom retreat in Lacock, Wiltshire, 17 miles from the King’s Highgrove home.

During a visit to Launceston, Cornwall, last summer Queen Camilla met honey-producers selling jars in the town square, and told them she was a hands-on beekeeper and had only lost one colony during the previous winter.

King Charles in Argentina wearing a beekeeper suit for a visit to see bee keeping at Buenas Ondas organic vegetable garden CREDIT: Tim Graham

Honey produced by the Queen’s bees is sold at Fortnum & Mason to raise funds for charity. This year’s recipient is Nigeria’s first sexual assault referral centre, which the Queen supports as patron.

She is also president of Bees for Development, a charity training beekeepers and protecting bee habitats in more than 50 countries.

Buckingham Palace itself is home to four beehives on an island in a lake in the garden, and there are two hives in Clarence House’s garden.

These hives produced more than 300 jars of honey last year for the palace kitchens, which is frequently served to guests in honey madeleines, as a filling for chocolate truffles or in honey and cream sponge.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Princess of Wales tends her beehives in keeper’s suit (telegraph.co.uk)

To find Jim Hodder, owner of Eden Valley Honey, drive east on Haystack Butte Road about a mile and a half, then turn right at the big cottonwood stump.

Beyond the stump, about a dozen white-faced ewes — lambs in tow — are loose among a maze of corrals and outbuildings.

Hodder, 78, sits down on a diamond plate toolbox to take a load off and explain how he built a premium honey business in Sweetwater County over the past 50 years.

A bum lamb nibbles on a piece of orange bailing twine at his feet, reluctant to leave his side. In the background, a tiger-striped barn cat dives into a pile of straw and comes out with a fat mouse.

Hodder is a friendly fellow, but he’s lukewarm at best about being featured by Cowboy State Daily. That’s because every drop that comes out of his honey processing plant (aka, the honey house) is already spoken for.

Publicity is the last thing he needs.

Fine Honey Is Like Fine Wine

“Honey is a little bit like wine,” he said. “Not everyone’s palate is the same, but most people like the lighter-colored, sweeter honey. Some honey tastes sweet, but it will have an aftertaste. We don’t get that here and that’s one reason why our honey is so popular.”

Hodder started propagating bees in the early 1970s because he wanted to be more self-sufficient. Most of what he eats and feeds his family comes from his farm. He also raises laying hens, raises and butchers his own beef and lamb, and grows vegetables in a greenhouse.

Another important factor that sets Eden Valley Honey apart is the roughly 2.4 million bees working overtime to haul in the nectar from alfalfa and sweet clover in this part of north Sweetwater County.

For 50 years, Jim Hodder has been producing his Eden Valley Honey. (Cowboy State Daily Staff)

Better Bees

In more temperate climates, bees have months to do their work. But at this elevation (6,580 feet) the season is short, and plants only produce nectar for about six weeks. When nighttime temperatures drop below 50 degrees, plants don’t produce much nectar, Hodder said.

The bees must be in good shape when they arrive because they don’t have much time to complete their important work.

In his first year, Hodder said he had three hives that yielded about 200 pounds of honey. Over the years his production has increased to about 20,000 pounds a year.

Honey production correlates with bee reproduction, and when hives reproduce too fast it causes the bees to swarm. When they swarm, that means they have outgrown their hives and they go looking for a new place to live.

The best queen bees will produce up to 3,500 eggs per day. For optimal honey production, the hives ride a fine line that means the bees need to be in good shape, but not too good, he said.

“If your bees aren’t in shape when they get here you don’t get a good honey crop,” Hodder said. “You need your bees at full strength, but not too strong or they will swarm. To make them strong you manipulate. If you have a weak hive, you even them up by moving some bees in.”

Hodder further explained that some queens are better than others, and as a beekeeper it’s important to select queens that can acclimate to their environment. That makes buying queen bees similar to buying bulls for a cattle operation.

Hit The Road

The “getting here” part is another fascinating aspect of bee propagation. The hives that produce the golden Eden Valley Honey spend most of the year in other states. They only live in Wyoming from the end of June to the middle of October.

Hodder said in mid-October the hives are loaded on trucks and hauled to a storage facility in Blackfoot, Idaho. At this point they will check the weight of the hives and provide syrup as a supplemental feed if needed.

TJ Honey in Blackfoot is a business that boards about 20,000 colonies for honey business owners from throughout the Intermountain region every winter. It’s a huge, air-conditioned warehouse that holds the hives at about 42 degrees.

The warehouse is air-conditioned because the hives produce a lot of heat, Hodder said.

“If kept at 42 degrees they are almost in suspended animation and they don’t have to move too much,” he said. “If it gets too cold, they eat a lot of honey and fan to keep the nest warm, which creates a lot of heat.”

On To California, Then Oregon

In mid-January the bees are hauled to California’s San Joaquin and Sacramento valleys, where they go to work pollinating almond orchards. Hodder said almond growers pay beekeepers for this service, but  almond trees produce a limited amount of nectar that keeps the bee colonies alive but doesn’t yield much, if any, honey.

When the bees go into the pollination cycle in California there are 6,000 to 10,000 bees per hive. By the time the hives reach full strength the following summer their numbers will have increased to 60,000 bees per hive, he said.

In April, the hives are loaded up again and trucked north to Oregon, where they’ll pollinate prune orchards. While they’re in Oregon they’ll make some honey on blackberry and vetch nectar, but Hodder said the hives are reproducing fast at this point and consume most of the honey they produce.

Back To Wyoming

Then in late June the trucks are loaded again and the two-day, 1,100-mile trip back to Eden Valley begins.

Hauling bees on semitrucks is a time-sensitive endeavor, Hodder said. They make stops along the way and wet the hives down with water to cool them and give the bees a drink. They also cover the loads with mesh tarps to help prevent losses.

Parasitic mites are one of the biggest challenges with bee propagation. Hodder said bee numbers peak in July and begin to drop after that. They treat the hives with an antibiotic, but as bee numbers drop as part of their natural life cycle, the mite problem multiplies.

Colony collapse disorder is another concern for the bee industry. Hodder said scientists have been studying the problem and looking for solutions for the past 20 years, but they’re still uncertain of the cause.

Finally, The Honey

After harvest, the honey is put through an extractor to remove wax, then it’s heated to about 125 degrees and bottled. Too much heat turns the honey dark. Raw honey is heated to 90 degrees before bottling and it contains some pollen.

Hodder added that he only eats raw honey because its better for you from a health perspective. His theory is the pollen in raw honey works like a vaccine against allergies and he has customers that seek it out for that reason.

Hodder said it’s difficult to hire people to work with bees because stings are frequent and working with bees swarming around your head can be unnerving.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/05/07/50-years-of-sweet-success-for-wyomings-eden-valley-honey/

Alicia Devine

Bees were buzzing as they were getting acquainted with their new bee boxes in the apiary built by Leon County Jail inmates.

Dustin Nixson, an inmate, was eager to learn how to care for the thousands of bees in the four bee boxes as part of the Leon County Sheriff’s Office Ecology and Reentry Training Hub (EARTH) Haven.

He suited up in a beekeeper suit before gently blowing smoke into a bee box under the guidance of Sgt. Daniel Whaley, who cares for his own apiary outside of his day job.

The program has been up and running for about a week and Nixson is excited for what the future holds.

He’s looking forward to teaching his wife and children everything he learns through the EARTH program and turning beekeeping into a business to support his family when he goes home.

“We get a hive to take with us, the suits and basically everything we need to start,” said Nixson. “It’s going to be cool.”

Inmates who participate in the six-month program can earn a beekeeper apprentice certificate from the University of Florida.

If they don’t complete the program before they are released, they can choose to finish it and receive the certificate on their own.

Following the apprentice certification, inmates could choose to further their education and become master beekeeper, which would allow them to travel, inspect other beekeeper’s hives and help them better their apiaries.

“I’m definitely trying to take this all the way,” Nixson said with a smile. “It’s a very positive program. I see this one succeeding big time because everybody’s into it.”

There are currently three inmates working with the bees. Whaley hopes to grow the program to include 15-30 at a time over the next few years.

“It’s unlimited what you can do with honey, beeswax and the comb itself. It’s pretty amazing,” Nixson said. “You can make soaps, lip balms, and all kinds of candles.”

Nixson plans to focus on honey production as he gets his apiary off the ground and then getting his wife in on the business with the soap and candles.

EARTH Haven will offer other skills and trainings as well as possible certifications in pesticide application, arboriculture, landscaping, and horticulture.

This program is 100% funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund, in which monies are self-generated, non-taxpayer funds used to improve the transition of inmates back into the community.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Leon County jail reentry program trains inmates in beekeeping, business (tallahassee.com)

Maintaining natural wildlife is one of the pillars of saving our planet. Many insects, such as bees, are overlooked for their contribution to the natural landscape of the world.

Cross-pollination is when the pollen from one plant get transferred over to the pistils of another.  This action allows flowers to mix their genetic information, evolve, and survive in the wild. Without cross-pollination, new plants can’t grow and feed the wildlife surrounding them.

When bees land on a flower, they pick up some of its pollen and then fly to another. Cross-pollination occurs naturally from the bees transferring particles from one plant to another.

With an increase in pesticides used by farmers to ‘preserve’ their crops, every year there is a 40% decrease in surrounding bee populations. Without the insects, humans have to manually cross-pollinate, which is less efficient.

A Hollywood Legend Steps In

(YT)

One household name, Morgan Freeman, heard about this wildlife crisis and wanted to help. When he’s not in front of the camera, Morgan spends a lot of time on his ranch in Mississippi. He owns a sizeable piece of land, roughly 124-acres large and wanted to dedicate some of it to saving the bees.

Morgan imported 26 bee hives from Arkansas to his ranch. He works daily to feed the bees a mixture of sugar and water. This is necessary because when the hive moves, the bees lose track of where their food source is. He and his team have even planted bee-friendly plants such as magnolia trees, lavender and clover.

When speaking to Jimmy Fallon on The Tonight Show, Morgan said he has a special relationship with the bees. “What I’ve discovered is that I don’t have to put on a bee suit or anything to feed them.” He said, “They have the outfits for people who can’t resonate.”

At the core of Morgan’s new hobby is a mutual respect between himself and the insects he cares for. The bees are socially aware enough to understand that he brings the food source and poses no threat. “I’m never gonna get stung,” he said.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: https://www.goalcast.com/morgan-freeman-sanctuary-bees/

Lakshmi Varanasi

Marina Marchese is one of two certified honey sommeliers in the United States. Marina Marchese

I’ve never really understood why no one talks about honey the way they talk about wine or cheese or olive oil.

There are thousands of different grapes, growing in different places, and each one produces a unique kind of wine.

The same is true of honey. There are thousands of botanical sources that make so many types of honey that it’s hard to even quantify.

In Bulgaria, for example, honey is made out of the coriander flower. In Greece, honey is made from thyme. Just in Italy alone, there are more than 25 types of honey.

Yet most people in the US are only familiar with “mass market” honey — a generic, blended version with a singular flavor profile.

My origin story

I came into the world of honey tasting by way of beekeeping.

I visited a honey bee hive for the first time in 1999. Like most people, I was terrified, even though I was wearing full protective gear, a veil, and a hat. Yet I was surprised to see how docile the bees were.

Marchese tending to her honey bee hive. Marina Marchese

A year later, I started my own hive. At first, it was just a hobby, but soon it turned into a full-fledged career. I began selling my own honey under the brand Red Bee at local farmers’ markets. Then I started collecting honey from various botanical sources. I also started making connections with beekeepers across the country by attending conferences.

The deeper I delved into this realm, the more I wondered why there wasn’t a central database that catalogued every variety of honey. I read everything by the US Department of Agriculture. I read everything by Eva Crane, the mathematician who devoted her life to researching bees and bee-keeping. I started going to as many honey shows as I could.

Eventually, I stumbled upon a program in Italy called The Italian National Register of Experts in the Sensory Analysis of Honey. The goal was to teach the sensory analysis of honey — similar to what exists for the smelling or tasting of wine.

The program has been operating for 40 years and has three levels. For your final certification, you need to pass a formal exam. There’s an oral portion, a written portion, and a blind tasting, where you must identify the botanical source of 18 honeys by smell and taste alone.

I was the first US citizen to pass through all three rounds of the program. Since then there has been a second, which only underscores the point that there are very few honey sommeliers in the country.

To read the whole article go to; I’m a Honey Sommelier, Here’s How I Landed the Job (businessinsider.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: I’m a Honey Sommelier, Here’s How I Landed the Job (businessinsider.com)

by Christian Senger

College of Charleston sophomore William Helfgott has turned a beehive he won through his 4H program when he was just 8 years old into a thriving business called River Bluff Honey.

In the summer of 2017, at the age of 15 , Helfgott set out with a backpack full of honey jars and a dream of selling out. Just thirty minutes later, his backpack was empty and he was hooked on the beekeeping business.

The following spring, Helfgott was selected to receive a scholarship to become a certified beekeeper in the state of South Carolina. In June of 2018, he was approached by a retailer and they agreed to sell his product. And with that, River Bluff Honey (named after the street Helfgott lives on) was born.

Unsurprisingly, many media outlets became interested in Helfgott’s story and business. After several appearances in magazines, newspapers, TV shows, and more, River Bluff Honey is now available in 30-35 stores in South Carolina and Georgia. Plus, Helfgott donates a portion of all profits to the Lonon Foundation, a Charleston nonprofit that provides resources to children affected by their parent or caregiver’s cancer.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: College of Charleston sophomore heads up successful local honey business | WCIV (abcnews4.com)

Catherine O’Neill Grace

In spring 2020, Heather Mattila, professor of biological sciences at Wellesley, was awaiting a shipment of honey bees for the hives on campus when it became clear that normal academic practice was in jeopardy.

“We didn’t know what to do or where to go or what life would be like,” she says. “So I just brought the bees home instead of bringing them to campus.”

Mattila lives in Boston, adjacent to the Arnold Arboretum. “I’d never had them at home before as a practice. But ever since the pandemic, I’ve had bees in the yard every year because they are so relaxing. It’s like watching a waterfall.”

Mattila grew up in Thunder Bay, Ontario. “At the time—you know, everything’s shifting now—but at the time, it was the northern limit of where people kept bees,” she says. “I remember seeing the hives at one particular house, but honey bees weren’t a thing for me until I was in university, the age of the students that we have at Wellesley.”

Mattila studied zoology at the University of Guelph, which for decades had one of the largest bee departments in the world. She ended up taking a bee biology course—and found her topic. “I’ve just always loved animals, and I love social animals. I love watching humans interact. I love watching the dogs we’ve had over my lifetime interact. And honey bees are really an extension of that,” she says.

Heather Mattila checks on a hive. Photo provided by Lisa Abitbol

At the beginning of the semester, Mattila takes students in her introductory biology class out to meet the bees. “It’s never easy to meet bees,” she says. “Even for me, it wasn’t. I wanted to shove my hands in my pockets for the first week that I worked in a bee lab. But there’s something about bees that just clicks with people.” Students new to bees are often surprised that the hives smell wonderful, and the bees’ buzzing—the humming of the hive—is soothing and peaceful. “You know how the students enjoy puppy therapy during exams? Bees can have that effect,” Mattila says.

Honey bees are an ideal research subject for undergraduates, Mattila says. “When you study animals, you want to see them actually operating in their natural environment—and bees can be kept and observed right on campus.”

Now that the Wellesley hives are back on campus, students are swarming to Mattila’s lab to learn about these creatures, which, as pollinators, are central to global food production. The world needs bee researchers, because bees, both domesticated and wild, are in danger. Threats include climate change, habitat loss and fragmentation, pathogens, pesticides, and agricultural practices that affect bee diversity. Understanding bees has never been more important. We spoke to scientists who have gone out from Wellesley to conduct research in the lab and in the field.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Plan Bee: As Problems Assail the World’s Bee Population, Wellesley Scientists Step In | Spotlight | Wellesley College

When he’s not on TV, ‘American Ninja Warrior’ Eric Middleton works in IPM for the University of California Cooperative Extension. Saoimanu Sope

What do University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources and the sports entertainment reality television show, “American Ninja Warrior,” (ANW) have in common?

That would be Eric Middleton, also known as the “Bug Ninja” to fans of the show, which follows competitors as they try to navigate a grueling obstacle course.

Middleton describes himself as a “full-time entomologist and part-time ninja warrior.” When he is not training for ANW, Middleton works as an integrated pest management (IPM) advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension in San Diego County.

“Broadly, I like to think of IPM as increasing your knowledge and diversifying your tools so that you rely on pesticides a lot less for conventional agricultural practices,” he explained.

Middleton’s own background is anything but conventional. His popularity on the hit TV show can largely be attributed to his unique culinary tastes in insects. During season 10 of ANW, Middleton struck a deal with the show announcers, Matt Iseman and Akbar Gbaja-Biamila, claiming that if he completed the obstacle course, the pair would have to eat an insect of his choosing.

Spoiler alert: Iseman and Gbaja-Biamila did have to eat tempura-fried tarantula and scorpion thanks to Middleton, who says that he has also tried the two delicacies.

A part of his backstory on ANW includes b-roll of Middleton prepping and eating his favorite – a tempura-fried tarantula. During his on-camera interview, he explained that insects offer nutritional value and can be a viable source of protein when countering climate change’s effect on food sources.

Inspired by mom

Studying bugs and becoming an entomologist was not a career path Middleton always had in mind. Rather, it was a realization that became more apparent the more time he spent with his mother.

“I grew up in Utah. My mom is a geologist, and I spent a lot of time with her out in the field,” he said. “She was always looking at rocks. Rocks aren’t the most interesting to me so I would find things more interesting to look at, like bugs.”

It was not until he began college that Middleton decided he would become an entomologist. “I really wanted to learn more about the natural world, and insects are a good way to do that because they’re so involved in natural processes and ecosystems,” he explained.

Middleton earned a B.S. in biology from the University of Utah and a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

One of Middleton’s fondest memories while attending the University of Minnesota is when he designed and taught an undergraduate course on insect warriors. Middleton wanted a course that would “engage undergrads in a way that would get them interested in entomology.”

Leveraging his stardom from ANW, Middleton based the course on how insects were used in warfare. Students who took the course were intrigued and genuinely wanted to learn why insects make such formidable warriors or athletes.

Managing the mealybug

While working as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Florida’s Citrus Research and Education Center in Lake Alfred, Middleton focused on developing management options for the Lebbeck mealybug in Florida citrus.

Now that he has relocated to San Diego, Middleton expressed excitement for the diversity that comes with living in southern California, which includes working with citrus, floriculture, avocado growers, small farms, or all the above.

“What’s really interesting about working with UC ANR is the fact that you could work with almost anything you want,” he explained. “It also provides a great opportunity to do research that’s applicable and impactful to a diverse group of people.”

One of the challenges that Middleton is already mindful of is prioritizing needs. Floriculture and nurseries, for example, face many challenges. Given that they are two of the biggest industries in the area, focusing on them alone can lead to other aspects becoming more neglected.

When asked how he plans to address the challenges ahead, Middleton said that it all comes down to intentionality and, ideally, conducting research that becomes standard practice. One of Middleton’s goals is to essentially identify pest management practices that are beneficial for the environment.

“It’s broad, but I’d really like to make regenerative agriculture, ways of producing food or other commodities, more sustainable,” he said.

Momentum from ANW

Meanwhile, he continues to build momentum for his work from his participation in ANW – using the platform to challenge people’s perspectives about the natural world and applying his ninja skills to overcome obstacles that California growers face.

If you cannot find Middleton in the office or field, try tuning into the latest season of ANW. His results are still under wraps, but the nation will find out just how determined the “Bug Ninja” is soon enough.

Middleton is based out of the UCCE office in San Diego and can be reached at egmiddleton@ucanr.edu.

Source: University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: ‘Bug ninja’ helps growers conquer insects (farmprogress.com)

Lauren Clark

dailymail.co.uk

Victoria Beckham has revealed husband David’s surprising passion for beekeeping in a funny video.

The fashion designer, 48, shared a clip to Instagram showing the unaware former footballer, 47, filming the bees he keeps at what appears to be their Cotswolds country home.

In the post, he can be seen – wearing a farmers’ flat cap – holding a phone at the entrance to one of several beehives in their back garden.

Commentating on the video, the Spice Girl can be heard saying: “So David is doing a photoshoot of his bees.

“He’s trying to get them at the right angle. Make sure it’s flattering.”

Calling out to her other half, while continuing with her own covert filming, the mother-of-four says: “How do they look?”

The ex-sportsman – who has previously posted about his bee-keeping on Instagram – replied: “Amazing.”

Speaking secretly to the camera again, she added: “He’s so cute. Literally walking around loving and caring for his little bee friends.

“Taking a selfie with his bees. Squatting for his bees. He’s going to get stung in a minute.”

Captioning the clip, Beckham jokingly wrote: “Hot stuff looking for his sticky stuff!”

The post, which has been viewed more than 771,000 times, has received hundreds of comments.

Their son Romeo, 19, left a series of crying laughing face emojis, while another social media user likened her to David Attenborough.

One fan also wrote: “Not sure what’s cuter, him and his bee fascination or your adorable commentary!!”

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Victoria Beckham reveals husband David’s surprising passion for bee-keeping in funny video (yahoo.com)

Carlton Fletcher, The Albany Herald, Ga.

CLARKESVILLE, Georgia — “This is beyond just a feel-good program — we’ve had students learn to read just so they could participate,” Jennifer Berry, a doctoral student and research professional in UGA’s Department of Entomology, said. “It clicks in their minds that they can learn — through beekeeping they can learn.

“I was one of those teenagers — I wanted to be an actress. I went to college for theater but dropped out and got on drugs.”

This is certified beekeeper Joy Ishi (Cornett) Smith’s story. Or it was for a while.

After dropping out of college, Smith’s life continued a downward spiral, one she tried to stop by having kids.

“I thought becoming a parent would make me better; that didn’t work for me,” she said. “It’s not that they weren’t important, but addiction had a stronger hold on my mind than I thought it did. No matter how much I broke away, I couldn’t stay away, and it landed me in prison.”

While incarcerated at Arrendale State Prison in Habersham County, Georgia, Smith was involved in a Strategic Intervention Program, or SIP, which she describes as a boot camp for repeat offenders. It was while she was out marching that she first noticed the beehives.

The hives, separated from the outside world by 14 locked doors, are a part of the Georgia Prison Beekeeping Program.

According to a history produced by the University of Georgia Honey Bee Program, the Georgia Prison Beekeeping Program started at Smith State Prison in Tattnall County in 2012 when a prison resident, Roy Nichols, started talking with other residents about the bees he used to keep before he was incarcerated. The reminiscing turned into planning, and despite running into countless roadblocks, the initial class in Georgia launched with a single hive. It was enough for some of the early program participants to see the opportunity — both to learn and expand.

The first residents involved with the class received a prison certificate of participation but no official designation for their time and effort. A series of phone calls and meetings ensued, involving the then-warden of Smith State, an agent from UGA Cooperative Extension, a retired superintendent of public schools in Georgia, and Bear Kelley, then-vice president of the Ogeechee Beekeepers Association.

Kelley agreed with the need for a more formal certification, and his first call was to Jennifer Berry, apiculture research professional and lab manager for the UGA Honey Bee Program in the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences.

Berry and Kelley quickly got to work on the details of a certification program at Smith State. Once the first class was certified, there was an immediate waitlist for the program.

Since the program’s inception, more than 150 beekeepers have been certified, including several at the master beekeeper level.

“This is beyond just a feel-good program — we’ve had students learn to read just so they could participate,” Berry said. “It clicks in their minds that they can learn — through beekeeping they can learn.”

In the yard at Arrendale, Smith would find herself picking and eating dandelion greens to prevent illness. Although her small access to the outdoors was surrounded by razor wire, being in nature was intrinsic to her quality of life, something that was not lost on the director of programs at the prison.

Smith was introduced to master beekeeper Julia Mahood, a volunteer beekeeping instructor at Arrendale and prison committee chair for the Georgia Beekeepers Association. With the help of Mahood and master beekeeper and program volunteer Virginia Webb, Smith realized her true passion for nature, the outdoors and the honey bee.

“The first time I went out to the hives and put on a bee suit, they were everywhere. Pinging off my suit. I fell in love with bees in that moment. I cried,” Smith said. “These little things affect everything out there. They make things thrive by pollinating them. There is so much they can do. I realized in that moment how small I was in the universe. All those things that I did previously were completely irrelevant to what I could do moving forward. I got very serious about beekeeping. I had plans.”

To read the whole article go to;

Prison beekeeping provides hope for those incarcerated (yahoo.com)

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Prison beekeeping provides hope for those incarcerated (yahoo.com)

by Sabine Poux,

The bees were bound for Anchorage, where they were to be shipped to beekeepers across the state. (Photo by Matthew Pearson/WABE)

Hundreds of pounds of honeybees were set to ship from the Lower 48 to beekeepers across Alaska last weekend, but died in transit when the crates carrying them were left for hours on a hot tarmac in Atlanta.

Soldotna beekeeper Sarah McElrea said the loss is devastating. She runs Sarah’s Alaska Honey and also teaches classes and coordinates shipments of bees to beekeepers around Alaska.

On Sunday, she was waiting at the Anchorage airport for a shipment of 800 pounds of bees from a distributor in Sacramento, California. It was the first of two shipments that she had ordered on behalf of more than 300 Alaskan beekeepers.

“We had a load that was going to Fairbanks, and then we had somebody else that was going to distribute from Wasilla to Talkeetna,” she said. “And then we were going to do Anchorage and the Valley. And then our second one would’ve come in the following day, and we would’ve taken that one back down to the Peninsula to fulfill the rest of our orders.”

But the plan hit a snag when the bees were pushed from the original Delta flight. Instead, the airline rerouted them to Atlanta, where they were supposed to catch a direct flight to Anchorage.

When they didn’t make that flight, McElrea really started to worry. Honeybees don’t do well in extreme heat. McElrea asked that the bees be put in a cooler.

But the next day, the airline told her some bees had escaped from their crates and so Delta put them outside.

“I really panicked when they found they had moved them outside because the pheromones that those honeybees emit are attractive to other honeybees that are native to the area,” she said.

Sure enough, outside bees gathered around the crate, so it looked like more bees were escaping.

McElrea said Delta refused to put the shipment on the plane. So she turned to the internet for help.

“I got on Facebook and made a quick post to a page that is based in Georgia,” she said.

That’s how she connected with Atlanta beekeeper Edward Morgan. He went to the airport to take a look and found most of the bees in the shipment were already dead from the heat. McElrea said it was 80 degrees in Atlanta that day.

To read the whole article go to; Millions of Alaska-bound honeybees die at Atlanta airport (ktoo.org)

Note: This event happened in April. Catch the Buzz will sometimes post articles after the fact.

We are here to share current happenings in the bee industry. Bee Culture gathers and shares articles published by outside sources. For more information about this specific article, please visit the original publish source: Millions of Alaska-bound honeybees die at Atlanta airport (ktoo.org)

• Submitted by Cherokee Nation

Cherokee Nation Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr., right, and First Daughter Jasmine Hoskin install new pollinator homes at the Bonnie Kirk Cherokee speakers village in Tahlequah.

TAHLEQUAH — Cherokee Nation celebrated the installation of more than a dozen new native bee and butterfly houses during visits to the Cherokee Immersion School and the Bonnie Kirk Cherokee speakers village in Tahlequah on Tuesday evening.

Principal Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and First Daughter Jasmine Hoskin visited with immersion school students and Cherokee speakers while hanging the new pollinator homes. The homes for native bees and butterflies play an important role in creating sustainable habitats for pollinators, which affect one-third of food supplies across the United States.

“This is our third year celebrating Earth Day by providing new habitats for our native pollinators like bees and butterflies. I am extremely proud of the commitment by First Lady Hoskin and our daughter, Jazzy. Both of them instinctively look for ways to protect our environment, and because pollinators are crucial to the survival of our planet’s ecosystems, they have chosen to continue this important work by inviting immersion school students and Cherokee speakers to play a role,” Hoskin said. “We can all do our part to curb the threat of habitat loss for our pollinators, and building and installing these houses is a great way to make an impact.”

In previous years, the tribe has installed pollinator habitats at the Cherokee Nation heirloom garden in Tahlequah, which is home to over 200 different traditional plants and 26 crops used by Cherokees hundreds of years ago for food, ceremonies and medicinal purposes. The heirloom crops and native plants grown each year in the garden also help replenish the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank, which provides seeds to tribal citizens who are interested in growing their own traditional Cherokee crops.

“I want to help because pollinators, especially our native bees, are endangered. Without them our ecosystems could collapse. I think it is important that we all do our part to protect pollinators because we need to protect the earth as best we can,” Jasmine Hoskin said.

The pollinator homes installed at the immersion school, speakers village and the tribe’s heirloom garden are similar in size and shape to bird houses but feature nesting areas for pollinators.

Cherokee Nation installs new pollinator homes at Cherokee Immersion School, Cherokee speakers’ village | News | muskogeephoenix.com

David Moin

ShopCore Properties is creating a lot of buzz.

The real estate company is installing beehives in 30 of its 50-plus shopping centers around the country, in recognition of Earth Day and furthering its sustainability initiatives. Beekeepers are being hired.

Last year, the privately held ShopCore piloted an urban beekeeping program installed at two properties in 2021.

“Sustainability is central to our mission, our mandate and our purpose,” Corinne Rico, director of sustainability for ShopCore Properties, said in a statement Monday. “From our properties to our communities, prioritizing the environment is part of how we do business. Installing beehives is one more layer to our sustainability and environmental goals. Bees play an exceedingly important role in a thriving ecosystem and the honey they produce is rich in antioxidants. So bees are advantageous for not only the environment but also your health.”

ShopCore will install the beehives during 2022 and will harvest the honey in the fall. The honey will then be packaged and offered to communities as gifts. Each beehive will have about 50,000 bees and will be cared for by local beekeepers, the company indicated. ShopCore has partnered with Alvéole, an urban beekeeping company.

A majority of the beehives will be located on the top of the building’s roofs, with a few on green spaces on the property, including in the back of parking lots.

Rico said each ShopCore property will have its own set of solutions to advance sustainability and that overall, the company looks to partner with tenants to achieve sustainability goals.

ShopCore said its sustainability solutions include benchmarking and tracking energy consumption; green leasing practices; reducing energy, water, and waste; installing renewable energy systems; incorporating sustainability into all business decisions, and installing electric vehicle charging stations across its parking areas.

ShopCore, an affiliate of The Blackstone Group, manages 50-plus community, power and grocery-anchored centers, almost all in open-air formats, covering about 20 million square feet across 19 states. Retail tenants include Walmart, Target, Whole Foods, Ross Stores and Home Goods, among others. Key properties include One Colorado in Pasadena, Calif.; Downtown Palm Beach Gardens in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., and The Shops At SkyView Center, an enclosed center in Flushing, N.Y.

An Alternative Use for Shopping Centers: Beehives (yahoo.com)

By Charles and Karen Nielsen Lorence

If you have been around long enough in the beekeeping industry, the name Gene Killion not only rings a bell but it also inspires awe.  Gene passed away on June 19, 2022 at the age of 98.  With his perennial humor, Gene claimed he was (two years younger than) a centenarian and had been keeping bees since he was five years old.  Gene’s family was a member of the American Beekeeping Federation since its inception.  His father, Carl Killion began the stellar bee hive inspection program in the State of Illinois and, in 1971, Gene took over from his father.  He remained on the staff until 1990 when he retired.  Fifty plus years had passed since the inspection program had begun!  At the height of the program, he oversaw about ten inspectors.  All the pioneers in the industry were Carl and Gene’s friends.

Gene was in the US Air Force during World War II.  When he left, he sold his honey to his father for 5c a pound and his father forewarned him, “Someday you will be selling your honey for $1.00 a pound.”  Again the Killions were on the cutting edge when they began selling pollen traps, were the first to sell pollen supplements, and packaged their honey in plastic.  They were the first to have a stainless steel extractor from A.I. Root.

The specialty of the Killion family was section box comb honey.  They had a very unique method of production and produced thousands of sections which were sold around the nation.  The highlight came in 1951 when they broke the all-time record by averaging fourteen comb honey supers each from 100 hives.  One hive actually produced seventeen supers.  The small town of Paris, Illinois was not even aware of it as the honey would be shipped out of town within the confines of a semi.

Each year in October, HONEY WEEK is celebrated in Paris, Illinois.  This commemorates the anniversary of the issuing of a bee stamp in 1980.  Gene’s father Carl worked tirelessly with the U.S. post office as did Gene as his father aged.  The Killion family has always been a well respected family in Paris, IL and continued to impact the beekeeping industry in the United States.

In the late 1940s, Gene studied under Dr. Bert Martin of Michigan State University to enable him to be a judge of honey.   Over the years, Gene was the chief judge of many national honey shows, writing several articles on how to judge honey exhibits.

With this fine history behind him, it was in 2016 that Gene was attending the American Beekeeping Federation convention in Ponte Vedra, Florida.        There he was giving a presentation and met the chef.  They became fast friends and  Gene helped to make Sawgrass Marriott more natural- food oriented.

A cute story that was remembered by Gene is when his father, Carl, built a camper truck to drive to the bee convention down in New Orleans at the Roosevelt Hotel.  It just so happened that the major league baseball convention was being held at the same time.  Needless to say, Gene and his brother were mesmerized by meeting many of the ball players and getting their autographs rather than going to the bee meetings with their mom and dad.

Gene is survived by his son Mark in Paris, Illinois.  Condolences can be sent to P.O. Box 96, Paris, IL  61944

BY SHIRA LI BARTOV

Honey bees could become the latest crime fighters to help locate the bodies of missing people.

At George Mason University (GMU) in Virginia, the Honey Bee Initiative and the Forensic Science Research and Training Laboratory are teaming up to find out if the honey produced by bees can help investigators crack cold cases.

More than 600,000 people go missing in the United States every year, according to the National Missing and Unidentified Persons System (NamUs). While many of those individuals are found alive, tens of thousands remain missing and an estimated 4,400 unidentified bodies are recovered each year.

Bee honey contains proteins with biochemical information about what the bees have eaten. Alessandra Luchini, a biologist at GMU, developed a process to extract proteins from honey and determine if the bees had ingested pesticides. She brought this research to Anthony Falsetti, a professor in the Forensic Science Program who is leading the forensics honey bee experiment.

Falsetti explained to Newsweek, “We thought, well, if bees are feeding on flowering plants that are near decomposing bodies, would the chemical compounds of human decomposition be part of the proteins that the bees ingest? And if they ingest it, will they deposit it in their honey?”

Honey bees could become the latest crime fighters to help locate the bodies of missing people. Here, a bee gathers pollen in Washington, D.C. in 2016.SMITH COLLECTION/GADO / CONTRIBUTOR/ARCHIVE PHOTOS

Professor Mary Ellen O’Toole is the director of GMU’s Forensic Science Program and a former FBI agent who worked on hundreds of serial murder cases during her 28 years with the bureau. She told Newsweek that outdoor crime scenes were always challenging to investigate.

“A lot of times the victims are left outside,” O’Toole said. “They’re left in the environment. And the environment can do some crazy things to human remains. It could be the result of the weather, it could be the result of predators, bugs…all of those things can impact decomposition.”

Researchers identified a heavily wooded, one-acre section of the outdoor forensic lab at GMU to perform their experiment. A total of 160 unique plants with highly scented flowers are being planted in the area. By the end of April, researchers will bury donated human remains in 18- to 24-inch-deep graves. Falsetti said they are working with local law enforcement to mimic the graves that killers use in real cases, which tend to be relatively shallow. The Virginia State Anatomical Program is providing corpses.

O’Toole said that honey bees could provide a brand new “crime fighting tool” to forensics investigators. “Once you get those human remains, then you can begin your analysis of what happened,” she said. “The important thing is to make that determination of what happened. The sooner that we can do that, the more likely we will be able to identify the offender.”

.

Update 03/30/22 11:44 a.m. ET: This article was updated with comment from Professor Mary Ellen O’Toole and Professor Anthony Falsetti.

How Honey Bees Could Help Find Bodies of Missing People (newsweek.com)