“The bee wants always to remain within itself, to stay within the sphere of its own substance. Every external influence is felt as disturbing, as something to be warded off.”
Rudolf Steiner, 1923
Archive for the ‘Bee Present’ Category
Do Not Disturb!
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beekeeping on January 16, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Plan to Build a Solar Wax Melter
Posted in Bee Present, Beekeeping on January 13, 2008| Leave a Comment »
An interesting website – www.beesource.com – with some excellent plans…..one of which is for a Soar Wax Melter…..which I am going to try to build over the next few weeks.
For a PDF file of the plan (and other useful plans for practical beekeeping) see: http://www.beesource.com/plans/melter.htm
The Symbology of Bees both Ancient & Modern
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beetwixt & Beetween on January 12, 2008| Leave a Comment »
The cultivation of honey was a sacred charge often imbued with ritual symbolism and associated with the mother goddess, whose nurturing protection of mankind was symbolized by the the abundance of honey provided to bee society under the reign of the queen bee.
Bee-headed Goddess medallion, from Knossos, Crete, 1500 BCE
As it was widely believed that bees were born spontaneously, they were widely viewed as symbols of chastity and purity. The Bee’s never-flagging labors made them an emblem of hard work, industriousness, teamwork, perseverence, charity, selflessness, and constancy. These virtues are recalled in many heraldic emblems and personal seals, as well as in the emblems of Freemasonry, the Church of Latter-Day Saints, and in countless trademarks.
Masonic Beehive emblem
From: http://altreligion.about.com/library/glossary/symbols/bldefsbee.htm
An Easy Job!
Posted in Bee Present, Beekeeping, Bylaugh on January 7, 2008| Leave a Comment »
Then she started chanting in a very soft and gentle voice. It made me feel very calm and I lowered my voice in sympathy. My head filled with questions that I wanted to ask, but her calmness somehow slowed down my racing brain and I remained silent so that she could concentrate on what seemed like a very dangerous job to me. Having studied the swarm and the fence post she said “This will be an easy job. They have been kind to me today! They are often on the sides of people’s houses or up trees and I have to smoke them at the top of a ladder”. I did not think of her as a smoking-type somehow!
A Radiant, Veiled Angel
Posted in Bee Present, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween, Bylaugh on January 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »
I was still intrigued about the whole affair when the beekeeper arrived. She parked her car well down the road and walked up the small drive in a white bee-keeping suit. She had a hat on that made her look like the cross between a nun and Joan of Arc. A veil hung down from the brim of the hat giving the image of a soon-to-be-wed bride. It was difficult to put an age on her because you could not see her face properly. She appeared completely beautiful and the white suit made her angelically radiant, oozing calm and serenity. In her left hand she had a metal container that looked like the cross between a watering can and an old metal milk jug. It was battered and had smoke burns on it. In her right hand she had a box which was about the size of a cardboard wine crate you get from a wine shop. She put both objects down on the ground a few yards away from the swarm and then she very gently walked up to look at the bees. They were much quieter now, although the bees on the outside of the ball were still moving about. (I later found out that a swarm of bees is like a colony of penguins. The ones on the outside keep the ones on the inside warm and then move into the inside to make themselves warm.)
Winter Inspection
Posted in Bee Present, Bee-ology, Beekeeping on January 6, 2008| Leave a Comment »
I visited my only hive today – Faith. The orchard where I keep it has Barnaby Sheep in it. They have eaten too much of the bark from many of the apple trees – so those trees will probably die in the Spring. But the bees were fine. I hefted the hive and it was heavy still with bees and honey. I took off the top-cover. What joy. I really miss working the bees in the winter months. I saw a few bees flying (doing their winter cleansing flights). Bees are very clean and go out of the hive to get rid of their droppings. I saw some damage to the entrance to the hive – looked like woodpecker – but it did not warrant stirring the bees up to change the entrance block. Oh – and I found one of my old entrance blocks lying on the ground from when I took taway he empty hives of Hope and Charity……. I am going to try to buy two new colonies in the Spring – if anyone reading this has a good source of nucs, please post me a comment!
‘Healthly’ Honey On Sale – For £42
Posted in Bee Present, Beetwixt & Beetween on December 27, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Honey, thought to be the most expensive in the world, has gone on sale at Harrods.
The luxurious Life Mel honey
Life Mel honey costs a whopping £42 for a pot containing just 120g.
Celebrities including Sienna Miller and Kylie Minogue are huge fans, according to the London department store.
But the jars will not be found on the shelves of the food hall.
Harrods is selling the product in its pharmacy instead, because of its reputed health benefits.
From: http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30400-1298224,00.htm (Updated on Sunday December 23, 2007)
Apitherapy and Bee Venom Therapy
Posted in Bee Law, Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween on December 23, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Apitherapy is the broad practice of using bee pollen, propolis, royal jelly, beeswax, honey or bee venom for therapeutic use. Like most “alternative” therapies, there is nothing new about it. The only thing “new” is Western medicine finally “discovering” it! Chinese physicians of 4000 years ago used apitherapy. Hippocrates wrote of its uses. The Roman physician Galen (130 AD) prescribed Bee Venom Therapy. Charlemagne was known to use bee stings to alleviate arthritic symptoms. And the Athenian lawmaker Solon, (530 BC), found apiaries so vital to Greek society that laws were written to protect them.
Using the sting of the bee to encourage health is the most dramatic area of apitherapy. And the most dramatic evidence supporting BVT is being gathered in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS).
A conservative estimate of MS patients in the US using BVT is 5000. Most go to lay practitioners or self-administer the stings.
MS is a very complex affliction apparently focusing on the nervous system and the ability of the body to transmit nerve information. It also displays links with connective tissue disorders and immune system imbalances. MS patients suffer extreme fatigue, lack of balance and muscle control (ataxia), and chronically progress to immobility, usually becoming wheel-chair bound.
MS is described by Western medicine as “incurable.” The 1993 drug interferon beta was looked at hopefully, being the first new drug developed by the biotechnology industry in 30 years. It is now not so hopeful, extremely expensive (at $1000/mo), and patients show only incremental gains if any.
Bee Venom Therapy, on the other hand, is
inexpensive, has relatively no side-effects, and is showing so much promise in treatment of MS, that the National Multiple Sclerosis Society is funding studies.
The NMSS makes it very clear that it does not recommend bee stings because of the “absence of clinical studies,” and therefore has awarded funding to Fred Lublin, M.D., Director of Neuroimmunology at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia to conduct a study of its efficacy.
The Multiple Sclerosis Association of America (MSAA) is also funding research. Their grant has gone to John Santilli, M.D., of Bridgeport (Conn.) Hospital for clinical trials.
Both of these tests are taking the “Western” approach of breaking down the components of the bee venom to find the “active” ingredients. A more holistic approach would be to use the natural sting effect.
BVT has been shown to be effective in addressing several other afflictions besides MS. It is most promising in the treatment of arthritic conditions. Other maladies responding include wound treatments, vascular disease, respiratory disease, especially asthma, viral and immune system deficiencies.
From: http://www.heartlandhealing.com/pages/archive/bee_venom_therapy/index.html
The Merovingian Bee
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beetwixt & Beetween on December 23, 2007| 5 Comments »
My friend, Frank, suggested I research into the Merovingian kings – and their fascination for bees. More recently this part of beelore has been popularised by Dan Brown’s best seller “The Da Vinci Code”. Much of this book was based on previous research, some of which is shown below:
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From “Bloodline of the Holy Grail” by Laurence Gardner:
The Merovingian kings were noted sorcerors in the manner of the Samaritan Magi, and they firmly believed in the hidden powers of the honeycomb. Because a honeycomb is naturally made up of hexagonal prisms, it was considered by philosophers to be the manifestation of divine harmony in nature. Its construction was associated with insight and wisdom – as detailed in Proverbs 24:13-14: “My son, eat thou honey, because it is good… So shall the knowledge of wisdom be unto thy soul…”
To the Merovingians, the bee was a most hallowed creature. A sacred emblem of Egytian royalty, it became a symbol of Wisdom. Some 300 small golden bees were founded stitched to the cloak of Childeric I (son of Meroveus) when his grave was unearthed in 1653. Napoleon had these attached to his own coronation robe in 1804. He claimed this right by virtue of his descent from James de Rohan-Stuardo, the natural son (legitimized in 1667) of Charles II Stuart of Britain by Marguerite, Duchesse de Rohan. The Stuarts in turn were entitled to this distinction because they, and their related Counts of Brittany, were descended from Clodion’s brother Fredemundus – thus (akin to the Merovingians) they were equally in descent from the Fisher Kings through Faramund. The Merovingian bee was adopted by the exiled Stuarts in Europe, and engraved bees are still to be seen on some Jacobite glassware.”
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…….strange, but the other day I found some French (La Rochère) glassware in our local town – and it had bees on it – so we had to get some – and it has been fantastic!
It is good to see that this French glassmaker is continuing the tradition of celebrating the Merovingian or Napoleonic bee!
Recipe for Bee Candy
Posted in Bee Present, Beekeeping on December 23, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Found at www.beekeeping.com from Bill Morong – Email: morharn@KYND.NET – a very useful article on making Bee Candy which I am going to try:
Having printed and studied all the bee candy references in the archives, we decided to attempt to take a fudgy or fondant-like candy. We did not wish to use corn syrup as we have some question about all corn syrup processes being good for bees. We did not wish to include cream of tartar for similar reasons. We began with the “12345” formula, using a small amount of vinegar (volatilized in process) to break down the sugar. We found the 1:5 water to sugar ratio too quick for the response of our thermometer in small batches, and backed off to 1:4, which doesn’t change the end result, but slows the process. Our first pour, on a greased metal sheet, yielded a suitably friable cake but one too brittle for easy handling. Cooling the sheet with snow worsened the brittleness. Pouring onto wax paper on a towel gave a nice cake, but too thin. Cooling to 200F prior to pouring increased cake thickness.
In conclusion, to obtain satisfactory cakes we:
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Use 1 part water to 4 parts granulated sugar.
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Add 1/4 tsp. per vinegar per pound of sugar.
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Bring to boil, stirring constantly until boiling commences.
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Boil without stirring for 3 minutes, covered.
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Insert thermometer, and boil uncovered until 234F is reached.
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Remove from heat, and allow to cool to 200F.
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Whip with whisk until whiteness occurs.
- Pour (QUICKLY!) onto waxed paper having a towel beneath.
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Allow to cool undisturbed.
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Remove waxed paper, and store each cake in a plastic bag.
The cakes thus made can be handled as plates, but are fudgy. They are totally white with whiter areas inside. Tiny crystals shine from a broken edge of a cake. The waxed paper is readily removed before storage. If the towel is fluffy the wax paper depresses limiting the width of the cake. We did try to make the candy without stirring which yielded a transparent gel that was extremely sticky. We did try to recycle our earlier failures, but they were crumbly until we added vinegar again, after which they behaved as new sugar. The bees seem to like these cakes.
Bee Lore 