September is National Honey Month!
National Honey Month is a celebratory and promotional event held annually during the month of September. Its purpose is to promote US beekeeping, the beekeeping industry and honey as a natural and beneficial sweetener.
The awareness month was initiated by The National Honey Board (a US government established, USDA-overseen, organization) in 1989. September is significant for honey producers as it is the month that marks the end of the honey collection season for many beekeepers in the United States. *
By Cal Orey
v Eating honey can help lower the risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes—even help reduce body fat and unwanted weight!—and increase longevity.
v Pure, raw, unprocessed honey is a healthier sweetener than table sugar and high-fructose corn syrup. It’s chock-full of antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins—and only has 21 calories per teaspoon.
v Super “bee foods” (including nutrient-rich bee pollen, propolis, and royal jelly) are used and touted for their healing powers by beekeepers and medical experts in the present-day.
v Honey can relieve a variety of ailments, including coughs, colds, fatigue, pain, and seasonal affective disorder, as well as boost libido.
v You’ll also enjoy Cleopatra’s milk-and-honey beauty treatments and eco-friendly beeswax household uses—all made with the amazing honey bee’s gifts!
* * *
The Vanishing Honey Bees
“If the bee disappears off the surface of the globe then man would only have
four years of life left.”
–Albert Einstein
On September 26, the UK’s Daily Mail reported the chilling story
that up to 12 million bees dropped dead from hundreds of apiaries in the
Brevard County, Florida. Local beekeepers and authorities pinpointed pesticides
(perhaps from spraying one night by a helicopter for mosquito control) as the
culprit. These bees within a one-and-half-mile distance died at the same time
and were found on the premises.
So,
while this chilling story is about the demise of honey bees and their
beekeepers, is the honeymoon over and how will the absence of this insect
affect our planet? Here are some questions and answers, straight from experts I
interviewed for my book The Healing
Powers of Honey: A Complete Guide to Nature’s Remarkable Nectar! And the
problem has humans in the U.S.
and around the globe buzzing.
5
Questions:
Where
Have All the Honey Bees Gone?
Q. Colony Collapse Disorder was excluded as a cause of the dead bees in
the Florida
incident. So, what exactly is this term?
A. Back in 2006, an apiary owner in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania,
made the problem known. Penn
State researchers took
note of the bee colony decline, due to a condition now known as Colony Collapse
Disorder (CCD). This condition causes honey bee colonies to simply vanish
without a trace—go AWOL leaving their hives in the dust—lending to eerie images
of The Happening and I Am Legend sci-fi films of human and
animal extinction.
Q. What are some of the theories behind CCD?
A. Theories include climate change, diet, mites,
pesticides, and viruses. Also, the stress of traveling for pollination of crops
and the usage of cell phones (perhaps due to the radiation) are in the mixed
bag of possibilities for why the bees are vanishing and leaving their
beekeepers out of work and shocked by losing half or more of their prized colonies
to an unknown cause.
Q. How will the die-off of the honey bee affect our food chain?
A. Millions of acres of U.S. fruit, vegetable, oilseed, and
legume crops depend on insect pollination—and that includes the sacred honey
bees. This little insect gives human gifts from the hive but also helps
pollinate our crops, home gardens, and wildlife habitat. And don’t forget most
beef and dairy products enjoyed in the United States count on
insect-pollinated legumes, such as alfalfa and clover. Worse, if the bee
disappears our food chain would decline in diversity and quantity, and images
of the futuristic doomsday films without fresh food like Soylent Green and The Road
could become a grave reality.
Q. What are scientists
doing about CCD?
A. The U.S.
Department of Agriculture is trying to help get a handle on Colony Collapse
Disorder. In 2010 it dished out $6 million in emergency assistance to
beekeepers who had lost their bees. And scientists are busy at work trying to
discover what exactly is causing the vanishing of honey bees.
California bee expert
Dr. Eric Mussen of UC Davis says, “None of us know why the bees are not as
vital as they used to be. In many cases this may be due to limited access to a
good varied supply of pollens.” He hopes in our lifetime scientists will
discover what is killing the honey bees. “But,” he adds, “even if we find the
cause, will we be able to overcome it?”
Q. What can you do to help keep the honey bee
alive and well?
A. Devote a portion of
your property to growing annual and perennial plants the bloom consecutively
over the whole season that honey bees are collecting nectar and pollens for
food. Reduce the pesticides of all kinds to a minimum. In areas with extended dry periods, supply
fresh water in a way so that visiting bees don’t become a nuisance.
SWEET POTATO PIE
* * *
7 cups cooked and mashed
sweet potatoes 1 cup Savannah Bee
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg Company Orange
1 teaspoon ground
cinnamon Blossom
Honey
2 tablespoons vanilla
extract 4
jumbo eggs
2 teaspoons lemon juice 2
deep-dish pie shells
2 ¼ cups sugar
Preheat
oven to 350 F. Place
sweet potatoes, nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla, lemon, juice, sugar, Savannah Bee
Company Orange Blossom Honey, and eggs in large bowl. Blend ingredients
together until they are thoroughly mixed. Equally distribute the sweet potato
mix into the pie shells. Place some aluminum foil on and around the edges of
the pie shells so the crust will not burn when the pies are baked. Place pies
in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool
completely before serving. Serve with whipped cream. Makes 2 pies/16 to 20
servings.
(Source: Courtesy Savannah Bee Company.)
10
HONEY BUZZ-WORTHY BITS
Since
the honey bee and mankind are connected because of our food chain, it makes
sense to dish out a spoonful of honey trivia to show you just the honey bee is
a un-bee-lievable man’s best friend (click for amazing trailer). Take a look at these ten factoids that’ll
get you thinking about the amazing small creature and what it can do.
It takes about two million flowers for honey bees to tap to make one
pound of honey.
1. The average honey work bee makes a mere 1/12 teaspoon of honey in
her lifetime.
2. Utah
is known as the beehive state.
3. Honey bees communicate by dancing. The waggle dance alerts other
bees where the nectar and pollen are.
4. A honey bee must tap about 2 million flowers to make one pound of
honey.
5. On average, each person in the United States consumes about 1.31
pounds of honey each year.
6. The USDA estimates that there are approximately 3 million honey
producing colonies in the United
States.
7. It would take about two tablespoon to fuel a bee’s flight around the
world.
8. A worker bee visits about 50-100 flowers during each trip
9. A honey bee flies about 15
miles per hour.
10. A hive of bees flies more than 55,000 miles to bring you one pound
of honey.
(Source: National Honey Board)
As you
can see, the remarkable honey bee flies the extra mile so it can produce
honey—a superfood (a food that has super health benefits) for people, like you
and me—that can be enjoyed solo or in a cup of tea or both. Here is a perfect
recipe to whip up and savor with a cup of tea and honey as you fly away with me
on a journey into Honeyland.
HONEY TEA BREAD
* * *
8 ounces
raisins 3
ounces set honey
½ pint freshly
made strong tea 2
eggs, size 3, lightly beaten
10 ounces
whole wheat flour ½
teaspoon ground mixed spice
1 tablespoon
baking powder
Place
the raisins in a bowl. Stir the honey into the tea and pour this over raisins.
Leave to soak for 2 hours. Stir the eggs into the raisin mixture. Preheat oven
to 350 degrees. Mix the flour with spice and baking powder then mix these dry
ingredients into the raisin mixture. Transfer to a greased two pound loaf tin
and bake for about 1 hour 10 minutes. Cook on a wire rack and serve sliced and
buttered. Makes one two pound loaf.
(Courtesy: The
Honey Association)
UN-BEE-LIEVALBE HEALING HINTS TO CATCH
Research, especially in the past decade, shows that
quality, dark honeys, which are derived from a variety of flowers, plants, and
trees produce the nectar for the honey around the globe—may help you to:
ü Lower your risk of heart disease.
ü Enhance your immune system.
ü Stave off diabetes.
ü Treat respiratory diseases.
ü Heal wounds.
ü Slow the aging process.
ü Add years to your life.
* Wikipedia facts
On October 6th I will turn um, uh 60-something, and I'm not freaking out about it. But I must tell you when I say the number it does make me squirm a little--okay a lot. Wow! Six decades and then some. How did I get here? The same way my dog did. We are aging...
5. I eat to live not live to eat--and follow the Mediterranean Diet and lifestyle--the underlying theme in my Healing Powers collection. Not to forget I've been a Tealand person to help keep me centered year-round. No tea for Simon but he has been known to snag a chocolate truffle and a grape.
