10 Things You Can Do To Help Save The Bees

The famous Einstein quote: "If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live." is in fact an urban myth. He never said it. Nevertheless it is a powerful and possibly true comment. We do rely on the bee to pollinate many of the crops upon which we depend.

Bees are in real trouble and The Barefooted Beekeeper has suggested 10 things you can do to help save the bees.

http://biobees.blogspot.com/2009/06/10-things-you-can-do-to-help-save-bees.html

Antonio - Fourth Generation Organic Honey Producer

We've been getting a lot of requests recently for more information about the beekeepers we get our honey from.

This is Antonio, who is a fourth generation beekeeper. (You can buy his honey here.)

He is one of the founding members of the Committee of Ecological Agriculture in Spain. Antonio is one of the few organic beekeepers in Spain.

Here he's pictured with some brood hives.

Antonio really is devoted to his bees. He looks after them very well and always makes sure he leaves them enough honey - a lot of beekeepers here tend to feed their bees with a sugar solution.

When Antonio's bees are sick he treats them with herbal remedies. One of the remedies, which he uses against the varoa mite, is made from thyme. Thyme is actually a very powerful antiseptic, thymol a derivative of thyme is one of the main ingredients in listerine.

We have noticed that his harvest of honey is available later than other beekeepers and we discovered that Antonio lets his honey mature in the comb, for at least a month and sometimes for up to three months, before extracting it. Most beekeepers exact the honey immediately but his process seems to improve the flavour and possibly the health benefits.

Antonio doesn't pastuerise his honey and most of his hives are in mountain ranges.

An analysis of his honey showed it to be very pure and very high quality. This table shows the test for pesticides in the oak honey, there were none detectable.

In the detailed analysis document we received the scientist making the analysis commented on the high quality of the honey.

Antonio lives with his wife Gloria.

I'll add some more information about him tomorrow and also about Ramon, the other beekeeper who we get raw honey from.

You can buy Antonio's honeys here. Although as a high grade honey (like a fine olive oil or wine) the price is higher than normal we do offer discounts of up to 25% - with three jars being available at 15% off.

Honeycomb In A Jar

You can buy the honeycomb in a jar here.

We'll also be selling our new honeycomb (wikipedia def) in a jar at Patchfest, just got a delivery in.

This is a fairly unique kind of honeycomb as far as I can tell. The beekeeper Antonio, whose hives are in the mountains north of Madrid, puts the jars in the hive with a little honey in the bottom. The bees then make the honeycomb in the jars. Then when the comb is sealed Antonio the beekeeper removes the jars from the hive.

Most comb honey is not good. The comb is cut and then pasteurised honey (usually from a different source) is poured over it. The reason for this is that raw honey naturally sets, and when it sets the honeycomb is hidden from view. Apparently this isn't appealing to consumers who would prefer runny honey in the comb.

We have a few jars of this honey for sale. I'm afraid it is really expensive. Antonio doesn't produce much of this honeycomb in a jar. However, the quality is exceptional. If you buy one then you should eat the whole thing, wax included. The honeycomb will contain some propolis and all the live enzymes that you get in raw honey.

This honeycomb (also known as comb honey) is certified organic. You can buy it here. When you come to enter delivery costs on the order page select the option for £4 delivery, even if you order two jars.

If you want to find out more about us then go to www.pyreneeshoney.com/organic. You can also see references from satisfied customers there.

Honey bees and the health problems they face

The Barefoot Beekeeper: Towards More Natural Beekeeping

I thought I'd include a link to this article about bees and the problems they face because of our exploitation of them and the degraded environment we've forced them to live in.

This bee is infected with the varoa mite, a mite that lives on the bees. Whilst the varoa mite has been around for practically as long as bees, they're not able to withstand them in the way they used to - and it seems lots of hives are being lost to this mite. Of course it's not the main cause of the problems bees face - the attached article highlights some of the problems.