April 11, 2023 • 58 mins
Get ready to embark on an incredible journey into the world of honey with our special guest, Steve Demkowski, also known as the Bee Guy! Ever wondered how bees create that sweet, golden nectar we all love? Steve's expertise will guide us through the fascinating process of honey production, from the types of flowers bees visit to the distance they travel from the hive – all factors that affect the final product. And if that's not enough, prepare to have your mind blown by the amazing abilities of bees, such as sensing the charge of a flower and knowing when and where to collect nectar.
Not only will we delve into the world of honey production, but we'll also uncover the secrets of beekeeping and how it's crucial to provide bees with enough room to store their honey. We'll dive into the role of the queen bee and how honey serves as a fuel source for bees to survive the winter. Plus, don't miss out on learning about the medicinal properties of raw, unprocessed honey – a true gift from nature.
With Steve's help, we'll also explore the labor involved in harvesting and extracting honey, and why it's so important to support your local beekeeper and buy local honey. Discover the unique flavor profiles of honey, depending on the type of flowers the bees collect nectar from. And to top it off, learn about a project at Happy Hollow Zoo that's selling local honey to benefit gorilla conservation. Join us for this sweet episode filled with fascinating insights into the world of honey and bees!
Willow Glen Honey
Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation
National Wildlife Federation - Backyard Habitat Program
Pollinator Partnership
Pollinator Friendly Plant lists
Things that make you say "Wow"!
For more episodes and additional information visit the Two Chicks and a Hoe website and our Facebook page.
Big thanks to our Producer, Casey Kennedy.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
Can I ask you a question?
What is the first thing youthink of when I ask you?
What do you think honey is,bees treasure is basically the
savings account They like go outand collect it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I think they fly like a thousand miles for every
tablespoon.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I always think of like a little pet name, like on
some of honey, because I callpeople honey.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
A lot of work.
Honey is super yummy, supergood for us, But boy even get a
little bit grueling.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I appreciate the beekeepers for sure.
I'm thinking about breakfasttea with honey.
I'm thinking about bees and allthe kind of products used with
honey, and I think also aboutsome cocktails.
Honey, oh, sugar, sugar, butyou know we love that song, but
(01:25):
honey isn't sugar.
And when I asked four otherpeople, i got four different
answers about what, when I saidthe word honey, anywhere from a
term of endearment to all thefood that they put it in and on
and how much they enjoyed it, tothe work that the bees put into
(01:46):
it and how important it is tothe bees.
So, hi everybody, it's Vanessafrom Two Chicks in a Hole, and
as we continue our series onbees, once again we were Steve
Dymkowski, lovingly known as thebee guy, and we're going to
talk about honey because I knowit's more than just what I
described there in terms of youknow the fact that how much we
(02:09):
use it on our foods and enjoy it, but I know there's so much
more about honey.
So, hi Steve, hi Vanessa.
So, as we continue, we'vetalked about the plight of
pollinators and bees sex, andnow I am quite fascinated myself
with everything we've talkedabout.
But honey, i love it as well,and you and I over the years
(02:32):
have talked about its importance, not beyond the taste of it.
But let's talk about honeyespecially.
How is it made?
I can't quite get that down.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
A lot of people think that honey it comes from the
flowers.
But what comes from the flowersis sucrose, just like the
refined sugar that you have onyour table.
It's the same like corn syrup.
Those are all sucrose.
So what happened?
and I'm not a scientist, i justknow that by reading through
(03:05):
the years.
So what happens is the bee goesand she's either collecting well
, she can collect both She'scollecting pollen, which is
their protein, and she puts iton her little baskets on her
back of her leg and her hindlegs, and then she'll take the
nectar and they have twostomachs, and one's for them and
(03:29):
the one is like a crop, like achicken crop, and where they
hold that extra nectar thatgives them fuel.
It's actually just thinkingabout like little gas station
stops.
It keeps them going, so thatnectar is for them, that nectar
is feeding them while they'regoing from one flower to flower
and they're collecting extra totake back to the hive.
(03:49):
And so that's why there's alimit to how far a bee can fly
from their hive, because afterso many miles they think it's
around five miles.
So if it goes beyond five milesit's not really able to bring
any nectar back to the hiveBecause it's used enough,
because it's used it all up,coming back on that five miles.
(04:10):
So they it has to be closer.
So the closer the nectar source,the more honey you're going to
get in the hives.
And that's what beekeepers do.
They put them close to thenectar source And so they're
getting back to how the honey ismade.
The bee collects the nectar,which is the sucrose, and it
adds an enzyme to it And it'sgot an.
(04:32):
It's an amphitase enzyme Andthe enzyme breaks that sucrose
into two simple sugars, which isglucose you know the stuff they
put it intervenously Andfructose.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So wait a minute So they breaks it down.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It breaks the sucrose into fructose and glucose and
some other minor dextrose andsome others.
So other simple sugars.
But just a little minute.
But they've brought that backto the hive, the nectar is
breaking it down as they'reflying back, oh, oh, and they
actually don't, they actuallydon't take it and put it in.
(05:13):
They don't themselves, theforagers, don't take it up and
put it in the cell, normally,you know.
I'm not saying they never dothat, because they probably do
that when you know it's fine.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
When we're not looking.
When we're not looking.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So we you know, but they actually pass it to another
bee And now are those beesspecifically.
Yes, they have a job, they'rethere, they're there waiting,
and they'll take it.
And then they add even more ofthose enzymes into the, into
that nectar from their, fromtheir, bodies, their bodies Yeah
(05:49):
.
And that's what makes it, that'swhat truly makes it the honey.
And they, they know, you haveto realize that this is a real
liquidy.
It's not thick, it's veryliquid.
You know different flowers has,you know different, different
levels of the, of the, of thesucrose, so they have their
(06:09):
favorites, you know, and ofcourse they, you know these they
want to go to the ones thathave the most sugar in them And
they do want to go to the ones.
Yes, okay, so they, you knowthey, they'll go to those first.
So all these plants arecompetition with each other.
So they're, you know so,through millions of years.
You know they, they, theseplants have come up with a
(06:29):
flower that you know, thatinvites the bee.
It has little landing pads onit that the bee can see through
ultraviolet, and it sees thesewhen it lands on the flowers it
has.
It tells the bee exactly whereto go.
And not only that.
It so when you see a bee, whenthe bee collects that, that
(06:51):
nectar from that flower, itchanges its polarity from the
ground to the bee.
The bee flies, would say I'mnot sure which one is negative,
positive, but I believe the beeis positive and the flower is
negative.
And then so is it like a magnet?
It's.
It has a bee, has hair all overits body in.
(07:13):
It really feels the.
It's like a, like a magnet.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So energy is in it.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yes, it feels that, that it has nectar.
It feels it before he lands onthe flower.
Whoa, it does not.
This helps the bee, so it fliesclose to the flower and it
knows that it has nectar.
It doesn't have nectar when itlands on it, so it does a waste
all its energy.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Because I see bees flying around my yard.
Yeah, And, and I always thinktoo, why that flower and not the
one right next to it?
Because you looked at it butyou went faster.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So that charge has changed on that flower.
So I mean, isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's really amazing .
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The language that we have no clue is even happening.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I mean, there's people that sit for days in
these fields and watch these.
We're talking about scientists,right And then and they have
figured this out, you know andand the charge of the, you know
the.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Did they measure that charge?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
They what?
I don't know how they did it,but they, they, they.
they feel the theory, it's alltheories, you know all the
sciences.
They feel that the the hairmoves to the direction of that
charge.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Wow, On the beat the hair, on the beat the hair on
the beat, the hair on the beat,wow, and they.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The bee knows that that flower has got nectar in it
.
Now, all the flowers are notmeant for the honey bee.
You know, with short they havea short tongue, so there's other
pollinators out there.
Well, like a bumblebee has alonger tongue, hummingbirds, of
course, have the line fordifferent for different flowers.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
There's a kind of flower.
There's a kind of flower Like asolid tubular flower.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now the honey bee can't get that.
But what it does is, like acarpenter bee will make a little
slit at the bottom.
You'll notice the honey beedoesn't go into the, into the
front of the flower, It goes.
It knows that that carpenterbee made a slit down there.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Because it can't get its round body in the tube
either.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
It can't get it in there, so it it still actually
steals the nectar.
That's that is stealing, wow,the nectar from a little slit
down there towards the basewhere the nectar is.
So you can, you can see that onthe tubular flowers.
You know, like the vine on whatdid they?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
call it the selvia is the the penstemons, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Those are really good for the natives and
hummingbirds and stuff like that.
But the bees have figured outhow to steal the honey.
Honey bees are just so.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
So wait a minute.
So the carpenter bee puts alittle slit in there.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Bites a little slit.
Okay, does its thing.
Yeah, it goes to flower toflower and does it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But what is the honey bee?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Honey bee through all these years knows.
So it knows that that carbonarameat and it goes behind it and
it Oh, with its short littletongue, short little tongue.
You can get that.
So you still can get thesesalvia you know the long tubular
flower salvia's into your honeyand it adds a flavor.
That's how we're getting intothe honey the different flavors.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Okay, we'll get into that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
What's really good about them, them collecting all
these different florals.
People go, oh, that's wild,that's wild flower, that is the
best honey that you could beeating, because it has every
(10:35):
flower in your area, everynectar, all blended together,
you know, instead of having amonoculture type honey like 70%
of the honey that you buy in thegrocery store or that's sold
worldwide, 70% is clover honey.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh, I have no idea, Yeah only 30%.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know I'm surprised that I even remember
having this stuff.
I'm going wow.
So you know I might be off afew percent, five percent, but I
know that You understand themajority of it.
Yeah, the majority of it, butit's all made the same, so it's
healthier for our native beesand for the honey bees to have a
(11:21):
variety of nectar.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So okay, so they've gone around now and collected
nectar So they've collectednectar let me make in their, in
one of, in their both, theirguts in their both their gut.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, they'll take what they need, one for their
own source.
Yeah, they'll take what theyneed To go back to the hive.
They'll take a little bit ofhoney with them to take to get
them to the source.
You know, just remember in themorning now you got these scouts
that go out.
They don't want to all just goout and just say, okay, let's go
(11:55):
out there and get some, findsome flowers.
They send scouts out and thescouts find the flowers And they
save their resources.
That honey is their resources,that's their livelihood, is that
honey And that keeps them aliveAnd that's their carbohydrates.
That gives them the energy tofly.
The scouts leave the hive withthe, with the just a minute
(12:17):
amount of honey.
They only take a, a enough tolast them a couple hours, maybe
an hour, and they'll go out andthey'll search, they'll go.
Of course they want to find theclosest source.
Just think of the closestsource.
So we'll give them more honey,cause they'll less travel time,
less burning up theircarbohydrates to get to where
(12:39):
they're going And they'll find aflower and they'll come back.
And we talked about the dance,you know, in the total darkness
They'll tell the other beeswhere the flowers are, and then
these bees will go, fly out Andand what?
what's amazing I don't know ifI talked about this before, but
by the time they find theflowers and they come back, and
(13:00):
there was always this noise.
This is the city, but actuallya city we're talking.
Since we're talking about thecity, it's best place to have
bees, because you get this greatvariety.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Because of all the different flowers available.
Yes, Makes total sense.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Man, it's just, it's just, it's amazing.
Anyway, they'll come back.
they do their little dance Andwhen I was saying, what's a
really amazing is that the theearth is already moved and they
take a fix on the sun.
The scouts do with the three.
I have three eyes on the top oftheir head.
They have actually five eyes.
They have to compromise.
(13:34):
if three eyes on the top oftheir head And they believe that
the bees take a fix, they takea fix on the sun.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Kind of like a photo memory.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, and they'll follow, they.
they use the light, they canactually, it's all, provided
They can actually see the sunthrough clouds too.
So I mean they can, they canforge on cloudy days And they'll
come back to the hive.
Do this, do this dance, and sofor some, some reasons, somehow,
(14:04):
that they calculate that theflowers are going to be in a
different position, the sun'sgoing to be in a different
position, so it's calculatedthat they will still find those
flowers, even though that theearth, earth, has moved.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So everything's moved from their journey, but they
somehow communicate that to thethe ones that are going to go
out to the field, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Can you imagine?
the math?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
No, i can't I.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I, you know, i I mean just that's like the most
complicated word problem ever.
But they, they, it's actuallycalculated that they'll be back.
And we're talking within.
You know six, seven inchesWe're not talking feet.
You know, and they also do.
They also pick land.
(14:53):
You know landmarks.
You know for their hives.
They find their hives whenthey're.
They call us orientationflights.
You know the young bees.
So the young bees just don'tfly out of the hive, they,
they'll fly out, turn around,look at the hive, check the hive
out and just fly a littlefarther away.
a little farther away.
Up up, come back down.
Those are called orientationflights And you can tell those
(15:13):
orientation flights becausethey're flying, looking at the
hive, they're staring at theirhive.
So those are young bees goingon their first forging flights.
So those are the young ones Andit's just.
It's just to get it all inperspective.
We only have two weeks to live.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
So, that is their last job Andthat that is, when you see a bee
(15:36):
flying around, that she's onher last job that she's going to
do.
She's done all her other jobsin her hive, which is eight.
90% of her life is done insidethe hive.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Really.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And the first bee, yes, as an undertaker bee, as a
cleaner, as a, you know, feedingthe queen, you know just all
these different jobs that theyhave in their hive.
They that most of it takesplace inside that hive.
It's a social, it's a perfectsocial entity.
(16:08):
Wow, that I mean.
it's just.
and the foragers do not mixwith the, they don't go anywhere
near the nursery, so nothing isexposed to the nursery.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh, they're not bringing things back to the
babies.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, And that's why it's passed to these other bees.
It was passed to the other bees,so those bees are in the hive
and it's kept clean of virusesand bacteria.
I mean, they've got it, they'vegot it down And so so the
nectar's being broken down.
Now, now you have this nectar,the sugary water, as sucrose,
(16:45):
has already started breakingdown, it's already got some
enzymes added to it And they putit in these cells, which are
they're not upside down, youknow, they're not facing up,
they're facing at a 10 degreeangle, off of the off, out of
level.
So when the bee regurgitatesthe nectar into that cell, it's
(17:07):
really liquid And it'll just Imean, we're talking like almost
like water, right?
Okay, so they have to remove87% of the water that is in that
nectar.
So how do they do that?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wait why?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's Because otherwise it would ferment.
They have to make it the purefood that will not spoil, that
will have enzymes in there.
It'll kill any other bacteriaor virus that enter enter.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So that's part of this That started already in the
first bee that actually got thenectar, that's right started.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
But then the bees will pull it in, even when it's
in the cell, and put it back in.
pull it in, put it back in,really Put it in, put it yep,
and then they will also.
then they'll start fanning.
Is that the humming?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, the humming you hear, The sound you hear.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You hear from the.
You walk by the hive and youhear this hum, yes, and they're
in there fanning the nectar Andyou'll see bees on the front of
the hive and they're actuallyblowing that that heavy, moist,
humid air out and bees on theother side are blowing air in.
(18:16):
Now our bees in California havekind of made because we don't
have rain in the summertime.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, we know, yeah, we know, we don't have rain.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's really good for making honey because the bees,
and especially when the Oh, thelack of moisture, Yeah the humid
is very.
It's not humid here like it isin the Midwest, right east coast
, so so they have it easier.
They have a better, not easier,right, it's a lot of work.
Yeah, so they.
So they actually have bees onone side of the hive that's
blowing air out, and a bees onthe other side blowing air in,
(18:47):
and at the same time They'recooling your hive down too.
So they're taking.
If it's too hot outside,they're dropping the temperature
down inside their hive.
With their moisture They'rebringing in cheese.
So they're actually they'redrying, drying this nectar down.
They'll get it to the pointwhere you could take a frame out
.
You know a honey super.
We put a queen excluder, keepthe queen from going up into the
(19:09):
honey super and that honey Weuse for us and we don't take it.
We don't take it all off.
A good beekeeper doesn't takeit all off.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You have to leave it on because it's theirs too right
.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It's there, but they, they are so busy.
If you give them the space,they'll fill it.
So you could put Six boxes ontop, and if the hive is strong
enough and there's enough nectarout there, they'll fill it all
up.
They don't need it on, theymean they make more, they'll
just keep making it, making it,making it make.
And so beekeepers, through allthese you know, thousands of
(19:42):
years they have actually beenbeekeeping will.
Actually, they've takenadvantage of this and just given
more and more room, more, moreroom, and they'll just keep
filling it up.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So that was one of my questions though too, so I
think you're kind of alreadyanswered it the idea that when
we as humans, beekeepers orwhoever goes in and and takes
their honey Right, are we doingdamage to them, are we?
I mean, i kind of feel it aswe're stealing from them?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, we are, but they there's no way We're not
consuming all this.
You have to leave enough honeyon the in that hive to get them
through the winter Got it.
Their honey is better thansugar water, but but there's
some years that it gets so badThat they don't even have enough
of themselves because there'snot enough flowers out there.
I'm not moving out there.
(20:29):
We're in a drought, forinstance, like right, we are
right now And so the honey willbe.
You know, there won't be thatmuch honey I during this drought
and you don't want to take itall off.
So that's why you pull theexcess honey off.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
So it's not detrimental to them to take the
honey?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, because if you don't take the honey and This is
so you don't you don't Givethem enough room to store their
honey in another area.
They will start filling thatnectar up in where the queen
should be laying eggs.
Oh and what?
oh she doesn't have any placeto lay eggs little overzealous,
(21:08):
aren't they?
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, let's fill it all up, fill it all up.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
They make these cups and they're called queen cups
and they they have the queen layan egg in there and Then they
start the egg hatches in threedays and they start feeling it
rodeo a royal jelly.
That That little baby getsnothing but royal jelly right
and that becomes that makes thequeen Right.
So they that that.
That when you they become honeybound, they call that that
(21:34):
makes the hive swarm oh.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So that's when you know because the honey bound,
meaning they filled everythingup.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
She has no place lay eggs, so that that that is so,
that So well, everybody says, oh, that's a natural thing, yes,
it is a natural thing, but inthe city You don't want that
happening, because 90, over 90%of the swarms that leave hives
do not make it in the cityAnywhere, anywhere, really, yes,
(22:05):
anywhere.
They do not make it.
So what beekeepers do they wantto catch the swarms?
or you want to call a beekeeperto catch the swarm, or they
move into somebody's house,right chimney and it becomes a
problem.
The problem right.
The first, so the first swarmcontrol is to give the bees
enough room for them to storetheir honey.
So that so then, taking thehoney away, it's not a bad thing
(22:28):
.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
No, it's not okay.
That's good, that's important.
I know a lot of people areconcerned about that word
surplus.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, so the bees, the bees honey is below the
queen excluder and our honeyHopefully it'll be our honey is
above the queen excluder.
And so when you take it off,you pick up the hive and you
make sure that the hive is.
You could barely pick it up.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So wait, let me ask you, okay.
So it's heavy, okay.
So let me ask you though.
So back to everybody's in there, taking the humidity out of it,
the water out of this right,there's a tons of different
enzymes that honey is alive.
Okay so, but when is it honey?
It's honey when it well it'sbecause they've been doing all
(23:12):
of this stuff.
Cured honey.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It's cured honey when they, when the bee caps it Wax
that's when it's done.
That's what it's done and thatcapping that they cap it with
that is they consider thatvirgin wax and That the wax
comes from the bee, from thefemale, from the girls, and they
comes from their thorax.
They have these two sets ofglands.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
They produce it or do they go somewhere?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
No, they produce away and they only produce the wax
when there is a nectar flow, sowhen they're, you know so
they're, they're eating their.
Their byproduct is this wax,wow, which which they pull up
from their hind leg, they'reHind the middle legs up to the
fourth leg, up to theirmandibles, and they form these
little hexagon cells.
(23:59):
They build that's, that's it alittle home.
That's their vessel for theirbabies, that's a vessel for the
honey.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
It's the same vessel, same same, so they build that
as well.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
They build that as they're collecting.
You have bees inside the hive.
That's their job, they're.
They're builders, they'rebuilding their wax, got it?
Yeah, bees out there.
I mean, we're talking about aperfect social society.
You have ones out there doingthe work out there in the fields
.
You got the nurses doing theirTheir nursing job, taking care
(24:29):
of their babies.
Got the queen, who is anegg-laying slave?
Actually, she's not, shedoesn't.
That's all she does.
That's all she does.
It's just people think thatshe's the queen, but she's
really not.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Not the queen as we perceive it right, got a lay.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
She lays her own weight in Every day in the
summertime.
Wow, weight in a Wow.
So I mean it's like, it's likeYou know, she's like she'll like
anywhere from a thousand toseventeen or two thousand eggs,
you know.
A day, wow, one.
A minute, wow, yeah.
So that's like a hundred twentyfour, 100.
(25:05):
Well, that's like a one-way isabout a hundred twenty four,
twenty five pounds having 24Five-pound babies every day, oh
my gosh.
So I mean, oh my gosh, justimagine, just imagine, and we
just get it all summer long Inthe heat of it all.
(25:26):
Wow, that's, that's her job.
You just imagine it.
How excruciating it must be.
And she's got.
She's storing this sperm,keeping the sperm alive,
fertilizing eggs as they comedown, you know which we talked
about in the bees sex episode.
Yeah, so this honey is fed Tothe worker larva, you know, not
to the queen larva got it.
(25:47):
Queen larva only gets royaljelly, which comes from a fair
genial, glands of the nurse,bees that are five to ten days
old, because they're there, afair genial, they don't develop
until their fifth or tenth day,i know.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I know, but it is so fascinating.
Pull it all together, it allcomes together.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
This all only happens when flowers are blooming.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So wintertime, this is not happening.
This is not happening in thewintertime She'll lay a few eggs
.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I mean especially when it's cold.
You know we're talking aboutthe cold winners.
They rely on that honey stores.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I got it.
This is where they use theirhoney.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
They disconnect their wings Whoa, from their muscle,
wing muscles and they Vibratethem to build the heat in their
hive, to keep the hive warmInside that hive, and all honey
is their fuel to do this, tosurvive over the winter.
So with this honey, you knowthey found we're talking going
(26:47):
way back in Egyptian times thatthey found things about this
honey that was so important thatthey actually They used it in.
The physicians used it in theirbags to to for wounds right and
a bacterial and a viral in therules, because when it, when the
honey went and we're talkingnow, we're not talking about any
(27:08):
.
We're not talking about astore-bought honey that comes
from, you know, a high-processedcompany that Filters that
everything out, heats it up to160 degrees.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You've killed it then , haven't?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
you It's considered dead honey.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Let's, let's let's Continue, but I want to get back
to that to make sure thateverybody understands that that
honey is alive.
It's alive.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yes, it has live enzymes in it.
So when you put that, you takethat teaspoon of honey, smell it
first, put it in your mouth,hold it in your mouth, hold it
to the roof of your mouth, justhold.
You, let that flavor roll downyour tongue, get in all the
different taste buds all aroundyour tongue, feel it, go down
(27:50):
Your throat and you get thatsmell, adds to that flavor,
right, and so you, you get thatand then you have it.
You have a beginning, just likeyou're tasting wine, just, and
you have that, that firstimpression.
What, what do you taste whenyou first put it in your mouth,
besides the sweetness?
right, sometimes you, you'll,you'll get that, you'll get the
(28:11):
sweetness.
And then, as it comes down now,is it have?
does it have a butterscotchtaste?
does have a caramel taste?
doesn't have, i mean, thedifferent flavors?
I mean, does it?
does it smell like a flower?
does it smell like Mint?
does it smell me?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
there, and you can taste all those things too in
the honey right.
It doesn't have a woody tasteand it's all based upon where
where the bees got their nectar,exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So it all tastes.
And then the blends.
Then you get these differentblends.
They they say there's over,there's 200 or more different
types of honey, but there's morethan that, because the bees
blend Different.
Usually you get all thesedifferent blends so they're not
varietal, you know, right, right, you know varietal.
(28:56):
Like our varietal wines have tohave 50% of that Grape in it to
make that the varietal wine.
You know, you only have to havea little over 50% for it to be
called Cabernet.
So, same thing with.
You know a beekeeper say well,this is this all honey?
Well, they can, if they can,fly five miles out and bring the
honey back.
It could be from any flower,but maybe mostly this because
(29:17):
there was by chance.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
There was a thistle field nearby.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
There's thistle, thistle field or clover field,
or, and there's no other flowersblooming, then it's going to be
predominantly that Flower, ithink clover honey Well, i was
raised on clover honey, justlike most of the people work.
I loved honey, but when I gotthe first taste of beekeepers
Raw honey that was just filterednot filtered, but run through a
(29:42):
screen just to remove the bigparticles right the pollen and
not that, you know, i little waxparticles don't bother me and
Just be able to taste that andtaste all the different flavors
Of the honey, i just, i was inlove, but I didn't start
beekeeping because of honey.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I started beekeeping because of bees, right, but Yeah
, you've told me several times,the honey part of it is your
least favorite, favorite partnot eating it, of course right
right, but harvesting it andextracting it And pulling it is
is so much work.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I mean people really think, oh, it's free, you know
they have bees, bring it back.
It's just as free as milk outof a cow, it's just as free as
as Lettuce out of a field.
I mean it takes It's work toget it out.
And and I and people say, well,you know, the honey is so
expensive.
I think if you're getting honeyfor anything less than a
(30:43):
hundred dollars a pound, you'regetting a deal, because I'm
telling you that I We've we'vetracked the labor and how much
labor it takes to put it inalive and how much.
You know How much effort youwork on these hives all year
long to keep those bees alive,keep them healthy, don't give
them, don't you keep them awayfrom pesticides, all these, and
(31:06):
it's a lot of work.
You have to work on these beesevery week.
You know It takes hours andhours and hours, all the, and
then they get this honey at theend of the year Harvesting, and
you, just you, have to harvestit.
You've been there right havehelped you do that He's 90
degrees in the room, in a roombecause you want the honey to
flow and you're just perspiringand it's just unbelievable How
(31:28):
much work it is and you'reeating stung.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, so, so and fascinating as that is because
that's your end of it Yeah, butI think about when the
conversation first started here.
You told me that the bee haslike two stomachs, is going out.
We all know how little a bee isso I can't imagine how big, how
small their stomach is and thento come back and have to fill
That little bees life, yeah, onetwelve.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And some people tell you it's a teaspoon.
It's not a teaspoon.
One little bees life, yes, onetwelfth of a teaspoon.
So I mean, and that's only ifit lives, doesn't get eaten by a
spider or a bird or so.
They work from a beekeeper, butSo Yeah just think of the of the
honey, the bottle of honey, a16 ounce bottle of honey.
(32:18):
It is anywhere, depending onwhat type of flower they get it
from, how much nectar comes fromthat flower.
They're all different rightanywhere from a million to two
million flowers to make that onepound, and it takes 12 bees to
make one teaspoon of honey.
So all that work, it's just on.
It's unfathomable.
(32:39):
It's just trying to figure outhow you know.
I mean, don't get me wrong, idon't know all the figures but
but that's pretty impressive.
Wow, how much work they put inand they store it and To to
think that they the honey thatthey make.
They don't even get the taste,they don't even get to eat it.
It's, it's for the nextgeneration.
(32:59):
Wow they're doing something foranother generation of bees.
Wow, total, total, social.
I mean, wow, got it down.
Wow, it's just in.
Just so, i got, i have a colorwheel.
On that color wheel, i got aflavor.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It looks like a color wheel, like a traditional color
wheel.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yes, they come from.
It came from UC Davis and Justthat.
Just to let you know all thedifferent flavors, i'll just go
over some of them really quick.
They got berries, citrus, driedfruit.
Some of them taste like a treefruit, some of them taste like
tropical fruit.
You have a floral taste.
A lot of people taste thefloral taste.
Then you have a herbaceouswhich is fresh or dry You can
(33:41):
take.
You can take a taste of grass,a grass, grassy flavor, a clover
favorite mint.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Peppermint.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Wow, eucalyptus, hey, you can have any taste like a
straw.
You have any taste like tea,malt, tobacco.
You have a taste taste like drygraph alfalfa.
I don't know if you don't knowwhat broccolis tastes like, but
you have bees that taste honey.
It tastes like broccolis, pine,oak, cedar.
How can you taste like trees?
(34:08):
because the bees are collectinga, not nectar, but actually do
from other insects, and theybring that back and they make
and they call it honey.
But it's actually it's, it'sactually a do insect, do.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Okay, okay, okay, wait a minute.
So you told me this before.
This is my interpretation ofwhat you just said that there's
little bugs up in that tree thatare actually pooping out.
Are peeing out some kind ofliquid that the bees are
collecting as a form of nectar.
Yeah, because it's.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Sugar.
Wow, yeah, they'll.
They'll collect it off of pinegeneral.
In Italy They have this pinehoney that actually comes from
me from an insect Releases thisdo because it's just Taking so
much of this sap in right, right, right.
Be comes and collects in.
(34:58):
It tastes just like it, tasteslike pine, tastes like oak.
You know people go well, howdid they get the oak flavor?
Well, there's a I.
You know I don't, i'm not a, idon't know the name of the
insect, but it attacks the oakAcorn.
Yes, and this little, thislittle larva that's in there,
this little grub, it secretes anectar and that be collects that
(35:23):
And that goes back and it givesthat little oaky taste.
I love it.
I love that flavor.
It adds a little.
It's like a shard in a Honey.
I love it.
You can get all these differentflavors and people.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Instead of buying the same, oh honey, get a local
beekeeper.
Find the local, local beekeeperin your area and then Taste
their honey.
Yes, you'll find one.
Different areas give differenthoneys and they're there.
They'll be truthful.
You know they, they, thesepeople, beekeepers that are, are
.
They're not in it for that,they're just one trying to pay
(36:00):
for their hobby, to pay for, youknow, the.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Which you can see now is a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It costs like good $600 to get a hive going, you
know for a new beekeeper.
I mean it's wow.
So you have to write to pay.
You know like $16 for $15, $16or $20 for a pound of honey,
that's really, really a gooddeal, wow.
People don't think of it.
I mean a grocery store.
They have to pay their help andeverything inside the store.
(36:28):
So I mean, of course, of course, but you there beekeepers are
not in.
And then a competition with thegrocery store, right?
Speaker 1 (36:35):
right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You shouldn't compare the price of a grocery store to
a beekeepers price.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Let me and clearly you can see that it's all the
effort that's going- into it,it's totally different on both
sides.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Yeah, it's a better for you to have to have your own
.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
So let's.
I'm gonna ask about thatbecause you've always told me,
too, that when people haveallergies, that they should be
taking a Teaspoon of local honey, because it has the pollen and
the nectar's from the localflowers.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
It doesn't have to be in your neighborhood, it could
be They.
you know, i keep in UC Davis,did a study on it Within 50
miles of where you live.
So and even if you buy honeywe're in San Jose, for instance
You can buy honey from SanFrancisco.
It's still good for you.
You can buy it all the way down.
You know Gilroy, morgan Hill,half Moon Bay, you know Santa
(37:26):
Cruz right right.
The all that honey is all gonnataste different, right?
you know, in fact, the honeyfrom right here.
Even though the bees cross inwillow gland I saw the willow
gland honey They'll cross withbees, like, for instance, happy
hollow zoo, and that honeytastes completely different,
which is what I gave you today.
(37:47):
Right, it tastes completelydifferent than the honey which
is only that's only two milesaway from here, and I mean so
it's and it tastes totallydifferent.
So, but it helps with allergies, correct?
Yes?
And now the the reason, and?
And?
they're not sure, and there arepeople gonna say, oh no, it
really doesn't, but It helpsbuild your immune system up.
(38:11):
Number one Got it.
I think it's the pollen that'sin that honey.
There's a lot of pollen in thehoney and that's how they test
for honey to make sure that it'shoney.
If they don't see any pollen init, they feel it's adulterated.
They've something that's addedsyrup or rice syrup or corn
(38:33):
syrup.
You're not buying honey.
The word honey doesn't mean itcomes from bees.
It could be corn syrup, sugarsyrup, it could be any kind of
syrup and they can sell it underthe name honey.
Really, Yeah, there's no lawthat says that has to have
anything from a bee in it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
How do you know if you're getting adulterated honey
?
You don't.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
You don't know, i'm not going to say that the honey
that you buy in the store isadulterated, but I bet you, i
would bet, that a lot of thehoney is, unless you know the
beekeeper not saying that thathoney's bad.
But if you should know thebeekeeper, trust the beekeeper,
(39:18):
know that person and supportthat.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Support that beekeeper.
I think that's the biggestthing right there.
Support that.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Support your local beekeeper.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
He can afford to do this.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
You're scared that he's going to make a couple of
dollars after you know that youcan buy a beer or something with
it After he pays for his bees.
I mean, I've taught a lot ofbeekeepers get started and I
don't make any money from thebees And they do pay for
themselves.
Now, Right, And others are Jackout.
(39:53):
He lives out in Palo Alto areaand a Cupertino in Palo Alto And
it took him six years for himjust to break even.
And now this cost of thebottles are just one.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
They've doubled the prices, Everything, the cost of
everything has gone up.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah they've gone up 6%, 8%, they've doubled.
We used to cost a dollar, weused to figure a dollar for the
bottle and the cap.
Now it's $2.
And even those little teeny twoounce little honey bear things.
They're a dollar and a quarter,wow.
So it's just awful.
But not that all honey tastesgood either.
(40:34):
So we have some that taste likeanimals, some that taste like
What?
Why?
Because of what plant they gotit from, has the flavor, has
this flavor.
We're talking honey that tastessweaty, honey that tastes like
leather Honey that tastes like abarnyard.
It has that smell so it's goingto put that taste in your mouth
(40:57):
.
Honey that tastes like a lockerroom, honey that tastes like
goat or dog.
And then you have primarytastes like sweet, sour, salty,
bitter.
Wow, right Now, the honey thatwe get from Oak Hill Cemetery.
They have these linden trees Andthey bloom in June And their
(41:19):
blossoms hang down And goingback, let's go with.
The trees are more important,actually, and shrubs are a
really more important nectarsource.
Then flowers, then flowers intheir yard.
Those are important, butthey're not as important as
trees.
Street elms, maples, willows,lindens, give them tons.
(41:43):
That's what gets them throughthe year.
That's what gets them throughthe winter is those trees, the
trees.
And so you get these tastesfrom these trees.
Wow, the linden tree, which isa basswood tree, it has a little
bite at the end of the taste ofthe honey.
(42:03):
So when you take the honey inyour mouth and it has that lint,
you feel this bite.
And the pepper trees, theCalifornia pepper trees, they
have that, but the pepper treehas a really solid bite.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Wow, i never would have imagined that, because you
always think sweet, sweet, sweet.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
They're all tasting different sages, all these
different flavors.
You know I'm going on thesedifferent flavors of honey but I
don't want to miss out on.
of course.
we have the orange blossomhoney, which is delicious.
I think that's a great honey,but the oranges actually don't
(42:42):
need the bees.
They actually there's growsdown there that don't want them
in their tangerines, becausewhen they pollinate the plant
they add a seed to the tangerineAnd they don't want seeds in
their tangerines.
They want.
Oh, interesting They wantseedless And the bee.
if you get a seed in yourtangerine is because a bee got
(43:02):
in there and pollinated theplant.
They don't want bees in there,but the beekeepers want them
because that's great honey.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Right, that's great honey.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Wow, so there's this big fight going on down in
Southern California.
It's really funny.
So it's not funny to them, butit's funny to me.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
So let me just ask you real quick, because we've
touched on it a couple times now, that honey is alive.
Yes, it's alive, And you'vetold me over the years and I
think it's important foreverybody to understand this too
is don't microwave your honey.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Oh, absolutely not Do that.
Your beekeeper can warm it upso he can bottle it, Because
sometimes in a winter timethey'll have it in a five gallon
bucket.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
It's kind of hard.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
And it's starting to get hard.
They'll have to warm it up Aslong as they don't take it over
125 degrees, 150.
I don't warm, i try not to warmmine up over 100 to 110.
You've got to realize that thebees have it anywhere from 90 to
.
It'll get up to 100 degrees intheir hive with the honey in
there, but they need to keep itat 90.
(44:06):
And usually the honey is abovethem so that heat is going up
And that keeps the honey fromgranulating.
Ok.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
So let's say, when I get honey It doesn't turn to
sugar.
Ok.
So let's say, when I get honeyand it starts to granulate and I
can't get it out of the bottleanymore, how am I supposed to
get it out?
Well, you either eat it in thatform, which would be better,
right, and out of a jar you putit in between, because people
think when it gets kind of solidor granulated, they think it's
(44:37):
turned to sugar, they think it'sbad, they think it's gone bad.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
No, all it is is granulated sugar.
It's honey crystals.
Because what I just think of inhoney crystals and what causes
this?
some honey granulates fast,some doesn't.
So what causes this is?
remember when I told you aboutwhen the bees are flying back
(45:00):
with the sucrose and they'rebreaking it down into glucose
and fructose.
Well, the higher the glucosecontent in the honey, the higher
the chance of it granulatingfast.
And now there's differentgranulations too.
There's big crystals andthere's tiny crystals.
There's really small crystals,very small, so small that it
(45:24):
feels like in your mouth, feelslike frosting off a cake.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And then some of it feels like rock candy.
Right, right.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
But the one that granulates really small, which
also comes from the zoo and from, not from here, from Willow
Glen.
mine granulates really coarseBut the zoo's granulates just so
fine.
I can't tell you what it'scoming off of that makes it that
small.
(45:54):
But I love the honey.
In Europe they will not buy thehoney unless it's granulated.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Because they feel that it's not natural raw honey.
So the only way that keeps thatliquid in the store is that
they've heated it to 165 degrees.
They've run it through paperfilters that remove every
particle of pollen, everythingthat's in that that the glucose
(46:25):
and fructose molecules willattach to and start making
crystals on.
So that's when it's unfilteredhoney Right.
It will granulate fast.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
But in essence, though, when you talk about the
process that you just saidheating it up to 160 with the
paper filters- you're taking theenzymes.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
But you're taking out everything beneficial correct
Everything that's beneficial,anything that does you any good.
You've taken it out of thathoney.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So don't stick your honey in the microwave or
overheat it You're killing it.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
No, it's absolutely dead.
Now you can bring water.
you could put it in hot waterbecause, just remember, it
doesn't matter how hot the wateris, it matters how hot the
honey is.
Got it So you can put it in hotwater.
You just pull it out, stir itaround, stir it around, pull it
as long as you don't get thathoney over a hundred and fifteen
(47:14):
hundred twenty twenty fivedegrees.
Got it, it's going to be fine.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
We've been talking about how they make honey and I
see these bees I mentioned.
I've been watching these beesin my yard and they're going to
the California poppies and theygot these big sacks of like
pollen on their legs and I'mlike like big sacks and I'm like
wow, that's how they make honey.
But you're telling me that'snot it.
(47:50):
So okay, so now we understandhow they make honey, but what?
Speaker 2 (47:54):
is all that orange pollen on their legs for honey
is their carbohydrates right,and so they need protein and
their babies need protein sothat they make.
They make bread from thatpollen that they collect, and
that's what makes them goodpollinators.
They collect all this pollen.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
They usually stick to the same species of flower
right so they do a good crosspollination on their, on their
uh, from one flower to the next,so that that pollen on their
legs when they go to the nextflower some of it rubs off falls
off and they're pulling.
Well, no, they get it on theirhair, okay, and then?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
they brush, they, they have comb, they have a comb
on their leg, on each one oftheir legs, and they they're
four leg and then they combtheir hair and then they collect
that and then they move it downand they put a little nectar
and they move it down to theiruh little bad, just the two
little hairs that come out oftheir legs.
(48:50):
They call it a honey basket.
It's really not a basket, butthey put it on there and they
gather that and you can seethese they get that's what I see
.
Yes, size of a lentil, yes, bigthey get really big, and so they
take that, they collect that,and they also ask that they have
to process that too.
They cannot, they cannot eatthis raw pollen.
It will not digest us in their,in their gut.
(49:13):
So they have to take that backto their hive and they actually
knock, they actually go to thecomb on this one and they'll
knock, knock the, uh, the pollenoff their legs into the, into
the cell, and then they'll taketheir head and they pack it down
in there and then they add.
They'll add a little nectar,they'll add, but what they do is
(49:37):
they, they have to let thatpollen ferment, or what's the
better word?
bacteria yeast make an actualbee bread.
Ah, okay, they make a bread andthat bread, uh, is, uh, they'll
they're able to digest it,everybody eats that bread yes,
(49:58):
they have to feed that to their.
They cannot have larva, uh, alarvae in the in the hive.
That larvae needs that pollenbesides their royal jelly that
they get the first first.
Got it, got it.
Okay, they start getting honeyand, uh, bee bread.
They say pollen, but it's beebread, got it if you really
(50:19):
wanted to take something reallynutritious for you.
It tastes real sour, like sour.
It tastes like sourdough bread.
You can actually there's somepeople have made starters, a
bread starter really with that.
Yeah, pull that out because ithas a yeast, a natural yeast, in
it so the pollen you see on thebees legs makes the bee bread.
Yes, the stuff that we don't see, but that's in their gut,
(50:40):
that's the nectar that makes thehoney correct okay now i now i
got it and so the to make thatbread, to, to make that bread
last long, to keep it, to keepit natural, they'll cap it with
honey to keep that bread fresh.
Wow, i know, amazing, they'reunbelievable, amazing.
(51:03):
So, and we and we so you know,going back, i know we didn't
talk that much about you knowthe history, but they actually
embalmed the bodies, you know,in egypt, with it.
It uh, they uh, during theroman times, when they had, uh,
the goers to send a, uh, a guyout to hunt down a criminal, uh,
(51:24):
for him, the bounty hunter, uhthey, he would go into.
I mean, he'd be gone for likesix months sometimes you know,
because they had.
They would actually cut the headoff of the uh, of the criminal,
put it in a bucket, fill thebucket up with honey, so they
would prove, when they pull thebucket out, that that head would
still be in perfect conditionso they could see who it was
(51:46):
yeah, when they because thehoney preserved it the honey,
preserved the head.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
I'm like i never heard that and i heard too.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
The great was buried in no, yeah and uh, well, i
believe us.
And then this is some of thisstuff, might you know, uh be
stories be keeper stories but,uh, he was buried in a, i
believe, a lead casket, uh in uh, uh filled with honey to
preserve him.
To preserve him.
Yeah, so they, they and theegyptians.
(52:14):
You actually used that in thethey're preserving uh process i
heard they found dried honey.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Dried honey in the tombs.
Speaker 2 (52:21):
That was an egypt actually still edible, but it
wasn't liquid.
I mean it's got right rightdust, right right.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
But i heard it was edible, but it was honey but it
was honey.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
Yeah, wow amazing it was still in the in the pot, in
the honey pots they get.
Now the egyptians, you know,the egyptians had a, they had a
crush their honey.
They, they actually uh, a lotof the old beekeepers when they
first, they actually killed thehives.
The beekeepers today do notkill the bees to get the honey
(52:52):
out, right, right.
So i mean we are so much morehumane now than they were then.
Everybody was, oh, you know,it's not natural as it used to
be.
You know, these, they used tokill those hives to get those uh
bees.
You know, when you saw thoseskep hives, those bees were
destroyed.
It was all about the honey, itwas all about just the honey.
Speaker 1 (53:10):
Yeah, we're all about bees so quite fascinating and i
can't believe how much we'veactually talked about honey and
i know there's so so much moreyeah there is, but i do want to
(53:32):
touch on one thing.
Okay, one more thing.
Years ago, we started a projectat, and had happy hollow zoo,
which is located here in sanjosec, california, and, uh, you
actually started selling localhoney to benefit guerrilla
conservation in the democraticrepublic of congo right, well,
(53:54):
it is actually to benefit thefallen rangers widows, correct,
correct, because i'm really nota guerrilla guy yes, he is a
girl, but i wasn't at the time,right, i wasn't at the time.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
And and until we went to africa and i met all those
beautiful people, i fell in lovewith the right, right and, uh,
i was just unbelievable,unbelievable happy with
absolutely nothing, right, imean, you know, to have that
happiness.
It was just unbelievable sowonderful.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
So yes, it was, and i totally agree with you that i
know our initial push was toprotect gorillas and it it's
still it does, it does, yes, itdoes but it's to protect the
people that are protecting thegorillas.
Yes, yes, so, um, that honey isactually still being sold, so
you can go to the, you can go tohappy hollow zoo, right, you
(54:54):
can go.
Where can you get this honey?
i want to push this out therebecause it's still available,
and a hundred percent of theproceeds from buying this honey
go directly to the rangers inthe congo that are protecting
the mountain gorillas right.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
We take the money with that, we sell when we sell
bees or we make money anywhereelse doing, you know, propolis
wax.
We use that to buy the bottles,to buy the lids, to buy the
labels, to buy.
We don't use any of the honeymoney for anything so where can
i get?
Speaker 1 (55:23):
so where i know where to get it, but where can
somebody get this honey?
Speaker 2 (55:26):
so you, get this honey at, uh, the three sister
store.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Okay, three sisters is a store in willow glenn,
which is a neighborhood in sanjose, california but right now
we're running low, so i meanwe're.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
In fact i just bottled a hundred bears that i'm
taking to the zoo, so they'llsell it in there at the zoo so
they can, you can buy it happyhollow zoo at the discovery.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
But let's say i don't live in the bay area, right,
well, i know, maybe that's alittle bit more challenging.
You should go to your own.
You should go to your own localbeekeeper.
Yes, you should go to your go.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Go to your local, by the time, yeah you want to keep
the idea of sending i.
I feel that sending honey or uh, you're actually burning up
more carbon your carbonfootprint is much bigger much
bigger agreed.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
So if you're local here in the bay area, you can
get gorilla honey.
Yes, get gorilla, you can getthree sister store.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Also sam's downtown feed sells it, but right now
they are out within two days.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
Well, have more honey .
Speaker 2 (56:25):
We always have honey, then we, yeah, we got we, but
we took 2000 pounds off lastyear.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Wow so 2000 pounds, yeah, that's a ton so you can
see where steve has doneincredible things for the bees
and then expanded that out intoa much larger global reach to,
you know, to to benefitconservation in the central
africa region.
So it's it's been amazing.
(56:52):
It's been amazing, it's been anamazing experience working with
you, steve.
Speaker 2 (56:56):
But thanks, thank you for everything you do for the
bees and for conservation i hadno idea, honey, but uh, that
would actually lead me, the beeswould actually lead me in this
direction.
You have to realize that whenthat swarm came to my backyard
that's starting on bees broughtme.
That was almost 30 years agobrought me from that, from that
(57:19):
point, all the way around to tothe gorillas, to the zoo, to
pollinators.
I mean unbelievable and justtook my whole life in a
different spin.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
I'm so grateful that you got involved in that swarm.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
I just love it just to think i think of.
Every time i think of a swarm.
You have to think of a swarm asa new beginning.
It was a new beginning for me,it was a new beginning.
People have to look at thatswarm and think of a new
beginning.
I mean, it's just an amazingthing, amazing awesome.
Speaker 1 (57:54):
Thank you so much, steve.
Thank you, vanessa, it was fun.
Can I ask you a question?
What is the first thing youthink of when I ask you?
What do you think honey is,bees treasure is basically the
savings account They like go outand collect it.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
I think they fly like a thousand miles for every
tablespoon.
Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
I always think of like a little pet name, like on
some of honey, because I callpeople honey.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
A lot of work.
Honey is super yummy, supergood for us, But boy even get a
little bit grueling.
Speaker 1 (00:45):
I appreciate the beekeepers for sure.
I'm thinking about breakfasttea with honey.
I'm thinking about bees and allthe kind of products used with
honey, and I think also aboutsome cocktails.
Honey, oh, sugar, sugar, butyou know we love that song, but
(01:25):
honey isn't sugar.
And when I asked four otherpeople, i got four different
answers about what, when I saidthe word honey, anywhere from a
term of endearment to all thefood that they put it in and on
and how much they enjoyed it, tothe work that the bees put into
(01:46):
it and how important it is tothe bees.
So, hi everybody, it's Vanessafrom Two Chicks in a Hole, and
as we continue our series onbees, once again we were Steve
Dymkowski, lovingly known as thebee guy, and we're going to
talk about honey because I knowit's more than just what I
described there in terms of youknow the fact that how much we
(02:09):
use it on our foods and enjoy it, but I know there's so much
more about honey.
So, hi Steve, hi Vanessa.
So, as we continue, we'vetalked about the plight of
pollinators and bees sex, andnow I am quite fascinated myself
with everything we've talkedabout.
But honey, i love it as well,and you and I over the years
(02:32):
have talked about its importance, not beyond the taste of it.
But let's talk about honeyespecially.
How is it made?
I can't quite get that down.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
A lot of people think that honey it comes from the
flowers.
But what comes from the flowersis sucrose, just like the
refined sugar that you have onyour table.
It's the same like corn syrup.
Those are all sucrose.
So what happened?
and I'm not a scientist, i justknow that by reading through
(03:05):
the years.
So what happens is the bee goesand she's either collecting well
, she can collect both She'scollecting pollen, which is
their protein, and she puts iton her little baskets on her
back of her leg and her hindlegs, and then she'll take the
nectar and they have twostomachs, and one's for them and
(03:29):
the one is like a crop, like achicken crop, and where they
hold that extra nectar thatgives them fuel.
It's actually just thinkingabout like little gas station
stops.
It keeps them going, so thatnectar is for them, that nectar
is feeding them while they'regoing from one flower to flower
and they're collecting extra totake back to the hive.
(03:49):
And so that's why there's alimit to how far a bee can fly
from their hive, because afterso many miles they think it's
around five miles.
So if it goes beyond five milesit's not really able to bring
any nectar back to the hiveBecause it's used enough,
because it's used it all up,coming back on that five miles.
(04:10):
So they it has to be closer.
So the closer the nectar source,the more honey you're going to
get in the hives.
And that's what beekeepers do.
They put them close to thenectar source And so they're
getting back to how the honey ismade.
The bee collects the nectar,which is the sucrose, and it
adds an enzyme to it And it'sgot an.
(04:32):
It's an amphitase enzyme Andthe enzyme breaks that sucrose
into two simple sugars, which isglucose you know the stuff they
put it intervenously Andfructose.
Speaker 1 (04:47):
So wait a minute So they breaks it down.
Speaker 2 (04:52):
It breaks the sucrose into fructose and glucose and
some other minor dextrose andsome others.
So other simple sugars.
But just a little minute.
But they've brought that backto the hive, the nectar is
breaking it down as they'reflying back, oh, oh, and they
actually don't, they actuallydon't take it and put it in.
(05:13):
They don't themselves, theforagers, don't take it up and
put it in the cell, normally,you know.
I'm not saying they never dothat, because they probably do
that when you know it's fine.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
When we're not looking.
When we're not looking.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So we you know, but they actually pass it to another
bee And now are those beesspecifically.
Yes, they have a job, they'rethere, they're there waiting,
and they'll take it.
And then they add even more ofthose enzymes into the, into
that nectar from their, fromtheir, bodies, their bodies Yeah
(05:49):
.
And that's what makes it, that'swhat truly makes it the honey.
And they, they know, you haveto realize that this is a real
liquidy.
It's not thick, it's veryliquid.
You know different flowers has,you know different, different
levels of the, of the, of thesucrose, so they have their
(06:09):
favorites, you know, and ofcourse they, you know these they
want to go to the ones thathave the most sugar in them And
they do want to go to the ones.
Yes, okay, so they, you knowthey, they'll go to those first.
So all these plants arecompetition with each other.
So they're, you know so,through millions of years.
You know they, they, theseplants have come up with a
(06:29):
flower that you know, thatinvites the bee.
It has little landing pads onit that the bee can see through
ultraviolet, and it sees thesewhen it lands on the flowers it
has.
It tells the bee exactly whereto go.
And not only that.
It so when you see a bee, whenthe bee collects that, that
(06:51):
nectar from that flower, itchanges its polarity from the
ground to the bee.
The bee flies, would say I'mnot sure which one is negative,
positive, but I believe the beeis positive and the flower is
negative.
And then so is it like a magnet?
It's.
It has a bee, has hair all overits body in.
(07:13):
It really feels the.
It's like a, like a magnet.
Speaker 1 (07:17):
So energy is in it.
Speaker 2 (07:18):
Yes, it feels that, that it has nectar.
It feels it before he lands onthe flower.
Whoa, it does not.
This helps the bee, so it fliesclose to the flower and it
knows that it has nectar.
It doesn't have nectar when itlands on it, so it does a waste
all its energy.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Because I see bees flying around my yard.
Yeah, And, and I always thinktoo, why that flower and not the
one right next to it?
Because you looked at it butyou went faster.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
So that charge has changed on that flower.
So I mean, isn't that amazing?
Speaker 1 (07:51):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (07:51):
That's really amazing .
Speaker 1 (07:53):
The language that we have no clue is even happening.
Speaker 2 (07:57):
I mean, there's people that sit for days in
these fields and watch these.
We're talking about scientists,right And then and they have
figured this out, you know andand the charge of the, you know
the.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Did they measure that charge?
Speaker 2 (08:12):
They what?
I don't know how they did it,but they, they, they.
they feel the theory, it's alltheories, you know all the
sciences.
They feel that the the hairmoves to the direction of that
charge.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
Wow, On the beat the hair, on the beat the hair on
the beat, the hair on the beat,wow, and they.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
The bee knows that that flower has got nectar in it
.
Now, all the flowers are notmeant for the honey bee.
You know, with short they havea short tongue, so there's other
pollinators out there.
Well, like a bumblebee has alonger tongue, hummingbirds, of
course, have the line fordifferent for different flowers.
Speaker 1 (08:48):
There's a kind of flower.
There's a kind of flower Like asolid tubular flower.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
Now the honey bee can't get that.
But what it does is, like acarpenter bee will make a little
slit at the bottom.
You'll notice the honey beedoesn't go into the, into the
front of the flower, It goes.
It knows that that carpenterbee made a slit down there.
Speaker 1 (09:06):
Because it can't get its round body in the tube
either.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
It can't get it in there, so it it still actually
steals the nectar.
That's that is stealing, wow,the nectar from a little slit
down there towards the basewhere the nectar is.
So you can, you can see that onthe tubular flowers.
You know, like the vine on whatdid they?
Speaker 1 (09:24):
call it the selvia is the the penstemons, yeah, yeah,
yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Those are really good for the natives and
hummingbirds and stuff like that.
But the bees have figured outhow to steal the honey.
Honey bees are just so.
Speaker 1 (09:36):
So wait a minute.
So the carpenter bee puts alittle slit in there.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Bites a little slit.
Okay, does its thing.
Yeah, it goes to flower toflower and does it.
Speaker 1 (09:43):
But what is the honey bee?
Speaker 2 (09:44):
Honey bee through all these years knows.
So it knows that that carbonarameat and it goes behind it and
it Oh, with its short littletongue, short little tongue.
You can get that.
So you still can get thesesalvia you know the long tubular
flower salvia's into your honeyand it adds a flavor.
That's how we're getting intothe honey the different flavors.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
Okay, we'll get into that.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
What's really good about them, them collecting all
these different florals.
People go, oh, that's wild,that's wild flower, that is the
best honey that you could beeating, because it has every
(10:35):
flower in your area, everynectar, all blended together,
you know, instead of having amonoculture type honey like 70%
of the honey that you buy in thegrocery store or that's sold
worldwide, 70% is clover honey.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
Oh, I have no idea, Yeah only 30%.
Speaker 2 (11:00):
You know I'm surprised that I even remember
having this stuff.
I'm going wow.
So you know I might be off afew percent, five percent, but I
know that You understand themajority of it.
Yeah, the majority of it, butit's all made the same, so it's
healthier for our native beesand for the honey bees to have a
(11:21):
variety of nectar.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
So okay, so they've gone around now and collected
nectar So they've collectednectar let me make in their, in
one of, in their both, theirguts in their both their gut.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Yeah, they'll take what they need, one for their
own source.
Yeah, they'll take what theyneed To go back to the hive.
They'll take a little bit ofhoney with them to take to get
them to the source.
You know, just remember in themorning now you got these scouts
that go out.
They don't want to all just goout and just say, okay, let's go
(11:55):
out there and get some, findsome flowers.
They send scouts out and thescouts find the flowers And they
save their resources.
That honey is their resources,that's their livelihood, is that
honey And that keeps them aliveAnd that's their carbohydrates.
That gives them the energy tofly.
The scouts leave the hive withthe, with the just a minute
(12:17):
amount of honey.
They only take a, a enough tolast them a couple hours, maybe
an hour, and they'll go out andthey'll search, they'll go.
Of course they want to find theclosest source.
Just think of the closestsource.
So we'll give them more honey,cause they'll less travel time,
less burning up theircarbohydrates to get to where
(12:39):
they're going And they'll find aflower and they'll come back.
And we talked about the dance,you know, in the total darkness
They'll tell the other beeswhere the flowers are, and then
these bees will go, fly out Andand what?
what's amazing I don't know ifI talked about this before, but
by the time they find theflowers and they come back, and
(13:00):
there was always this noise.
This is the city, but actuallya city we're talking.
Since we're talking about thecity, it's best place to have
bees, because you get this greatvariety.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Because of all the different flowers available.
Yes, Makes total sense.
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Man, it's just, it's just, it's amazing.
Anyway, they'll come back.
they do their little dance Andwhen I was saying, what's a
really amazing is that the theearth is already moved and they
take a fix on the sun.
The scouts do with the three.
I have three eyes on the top oftheir head.
They have actually five eyes.
They have to compromise.
(13:34):
if three eyes on the top oftheir head And they believe that
the bees take a fix, they takea fix on the sun.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Kind of like a photo memory.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Yeah, and they'll follow, they.
they use the light, they canactually, it's all, provided
They can actually see the sunthrough clouds too.
So I mean they can, they canforge on cloudy days And they'll
come back to the hive.
Do this, do this dance, and sofor some, some reasons, somehow,
(14:04):
that they calculate that theflowers are going to be in a
different position, the sun'sgoing to be in a different
position, so it's calculatedthat they will still find those
flowers, even though that theearth, earth, has moved.
Speaker 1 (14:20):
So everything's moved from their journey, but they
somehow communicate that to thethe ones that are going to go
out to the field, so to speak.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Can you imagine?
the math?
Speaker 1 (14:31):
No, i can't I.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
I, you know, i I mean just that's like the most
complicated word problem ever.
But they, they, it's actuallycalculated that they'll be back.
And we're talking within.
You know six, seven inchesWe're not talking feet.
You know, and they also do.
They also pick land.
(14:53):
You know landmarks.
You know for their hives.
They find their hives whenthey're.
They call us orientationflights.
You know the young bees.
So the young bees just don'tfly out of the hive, they,
they'll fly out, turn around,look at the hive, check the hive
out and just fly a littlefarther away.
a little farther away.
Up up, come back down.
Those are called orientationflights And you can tell those
(15:13):
orientation flights becausethey're flying, looking at the
hive, they're staring at theirhive.
So those are young bees goingon their first forging flights.
So those are the young ones Andit's just.
It's just to get it all inperspective.
We only have two weeks to live.
Oh my gosh, yeah.
So, that is their last job Andthat that is, when you see a bee
(15:36):
flying around, that she's onher last job that she's going to
do.
She's done all her other jobsin her hive, which is eight.
90% of her life is done insidethe hive.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
Really.
Speaker 2 (15:47):
And the first bee, yes, as an undertaker bee, as a
cleaner, as a, you know, feedingthe queen, you know just all
these different jobs that theyhave in their hive.
They that most of it takesplace inside that hive.
It's a social, it's a perfectsocial entity.
(16:08):
Wow, that I mean.
it's just.
and the foragers do not mixwith the, they don't go anywhere
near the nursery, so nothing isexposed to the nursery.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Oh, they're not bringing things back to the
babies.
Speaker 2 (16:21):
Yes, And that's why it's passed to these other bees.
It was passed to the other bees,so those bees are in the hive
and it's kept clean of virusesand bacteria.
I mean, they've got it, they'vegot it down And so so the
nectar's being broken down.
Now, now you have this nectar,the sugary water, as sucrose,
(16:45):
has already started breakingdown, it's already got some
enzymes added to it And they putit in these cells, which are
they're not upside down, youknow, they're not facing up,
they're facing at a 10 degreeangle, off of the off, out of
level.
So when the bee regurgitatesthe nectar into that cell, it's
(17:07):
really liquid And it'll just Imean, we're talking like almost
like water, right?
Okay, so they have to remove87% of the water that is in that
nectar.
So how do they do that?
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Wait why?
Speaker 2 (17:21):
That's Because otherwise it would ferment.
They have to make it the purefood that will not spoil, that
will have enzymes in there.
It'll kill any other bacteriaor virus that enter enter.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
So that's part of this That started already in the
first bee that actually got thenectar, that's right started.
Speaker 2 (17:43):
But then the bees will pull it in, even when it's
in the cell, and put it back in.
pull it in, put it back in,really Put it in, put it yep,
and then they will also.
then they'll start fanning.
Is that the humming?
Speaker 1 (17:53):
Yeah, the humming you hear, The sound you hear.
Speaker 2 (17:55):
You hear from the.
You walk by the hive and youhear this hum, yes, and they're
in there fanning the nectar Andyou'll see bees on the front of
the hive and they're actuallyblowing that that heavy, moist,
humid air out and bees on theother side are blowing air in.
(18:16):
Now our bees in California havekind of made because we don't
have rain in the summertime.
Speaker 1 (18:21):
Yeah, we know, yeah, we know, we don't have rain.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
It's really good for making honey because the bees,
and especially when the Oh, thelack of moisture, Yeah the humid
is very.
It's not humid here like it isin the Midwest, right east coast
, so so they have it easier.
They have a better, not easier,right, it's a lot of work.
Yeah, so they.
So they actually have bees onone side of the hive that's
blowing air out, and a bees onthe other side blowing air in,
(18:47):
and at the same time They'recooling your hive down too.
So they're taking.
If it's too hot outside,they're dropping the temperature
down inside their hive.
With their moisture They'rebringing in cheese.
So they're actually they'redrying, drying this nectar down.
They'll get it to the pointwhere you could take a frame out
.
You know a honey super.
We put a queen excluder, keepthe queen from going up into the
(19:09):
honey super and that honey Weuse for us and we don't take it.
We don't take it all off.
A good beekeeper doesn't takeit all off.
Speaker 1 (19:18):
You have to leave it on because it's theirs too right
.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
It's there, but they, they are so busy.
If you give them the space,they'll fill it.
So you could put Six boxes ontop, and if the hive is strong
enough and there's enough nectarout there, they'll fill it all
up.
They don't need it on, theymean they make more, they'll
just keep making it, making it,making it make.
And so beekeepers, through allthese you know, thousands of
(19:42):
years they have actually beenbeekeeping will.
Actually, they've takenadvantage of this and just given
more and more room, more, moreroom, and they'll just keep
filling it up.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
So that was one of my questions though too, so I
think you're kind of alreadyanswered it the idea that when
we as humans, beekeepers orwhoever goes in and and takes
their honey Right, are we doingdamage to them, are we?
I mean, i kind of feel it aswe're stealing from them?
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Well, we are, but they there's no way We're not
consuming all this.
You have to leave enough honeyon the in that hive to get them
through the winter Got it.
Their honey is better thansugar water, but but there's
some years that it gets so badThat they don't even have enough
of themselves because there'snot enough flowers out there.
I'm not moving out there.
(20:29):
We're in a drought, forinstance, like right, we are
right now And so the honey willbe.
You know, there won't be thatmuch honey I during this drought
and you don't want to take itall off.
So that's why you pull theexcess honey off.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
So it's not detrimental to them to take the
honey?
Speaker 2 (20:48):
No, because if you don't take the honey and This is
so you don't you don't Givethem enough room to store their
honey in another area.
They will start filling thatnectar up in where the queen
should be laying eggs.
Oh and what?
oh she doesn't have any placeto lay eggs little overzealous,
(21:08):
aren't they?
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Yeah, let's fill it all up, fill it all up.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
They make these cups and they're called queen cups
and they they have the queen layan egg in there and Then they
start the egg hatches in threedays and they start feeling it
rodeo a royal jelly.
That That little baby getsnothing but royal jelly right
and that becomes that makes thequeen Right.
So they that that.
That when you they become honeybound, they call that that
(21:34):
makes the hive swarm oh.
Speaker 1 (21:37):
So that's when you know because the honey bound,
meaning they filled everythingup.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
She has no place lay eggs, so that that that is so,
that So well, everybody says, oh, that's a natural thing, yes,
it is a natural thing, but inthe city You don't want that
happening, because 90, over 90%of the swarms that leave hives
do not make it in the cityAnywhere, anywhere, really, yes,
(22:05):
anywhere.
They do not make it.
So what beekeepers do they wantto catch the swarms?
or you want to call a beekeeperto catch the swarm, or they
move into somebody's house,right chimney and it becomes a
problem.
The problem right.
The first, so the first swarmcontrol is to give the bees
enough room for them to storetheir honey.
So that so then, taking thehoney away, it's not a bad thing
(22:28):
.
Speaker 1 (22:28):
No, it's not okay.
That's good, that's important.
I know a lot of people areconcerned about that word
surplus.
Speaker 2 (22:35):
Okay, so the bees, the bees honey is below the
queen excluder and our honeyHopefully it'll be our honey is
above the queen excluder.
And so when you take it off,you pick up the hive and you
make sure that the hive is.
You could barely pick it up.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
So wait, let me ask you, okay.
So it's heavy, okay.
So let me ask you though.
So back to everybody's in there, taking the humidity out of it,
the water out of this right,there's a tons of different
enzymes that honey is alive.
Okay so, but when is it honey?
It's honey when it well it'sbecause they've been doing all
(23:12):
of this stuff.
Cured honey.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
It's cured honey when they, when the bee caps it Wax
that's when it's done.
That's what it's done and thatcapping that they cap it with
that is they consider thatvirgin wax and That the wax
comes from the bee, from thefemale, from the girls, and they
comes from their thorax.
They have these two sets ofglands.
Speaker 1 (23:36):
They produce it or do they go somewhere?
Speaker 2 (23:38):
No, they produce away and they only produce the wax
when there is a nectar flow, sowhen they're, you know so
they're, they're eating their.
Their byproduct is this wax,wow, which which they pull up
from their hind leg, they'reHind the middle legs up to the
fourth leg, up to theirmandibles, and they form these
little hexagon cells.
(23:59):
They build that's, that's it alittle home.
That's their vessel for theirbabies, that's a vessel for the
honey.
Speaker 1 (24:04):
It's the same vessel, same same, so they build that
as well.
Speaker 2 (24:08):
They build that as they're collecting.
You have bees inside the hive.
That's their job, they're.
They're builders, they'rebuilding their wax, got it?
Yeah, bees out there.
I mean, we're talking about aperfect social society.
You have ones out there doingthe work out there in the fields
.
You got the nurses doing theirTheir nursing job, taking care
(24:29):
of their babies.
Got the queen, who is anegg-laying slave?
Actually, she's not, shedoesn't.
That's all she does.
That's all she does.
It's just people think thatshe's the queen, but she's
really not.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Not the queen as we perceive it right, got a lay.
Speaker 2 (24:43):
She lays her own weight in Every day in the
summertime.
Wow, weight in a Wow.
So I mean it's like, it's likeYou know, she's like she'll like
anywhere from a thousand toseventeen or two thousand eggs,
you know.
A day, wow, one.
A minute, wow, yeah.
So that's like a hundred twentyfour, 100.
(25:05):
Well, that's like a one-way isabout a hundred twenty four,
twenty five pounds having 24Five-pound babies every day, oh
my gosh.
So I mean, oh my gosh, justimagine, just imagine, and we
just get it all summer long Inthe heat of it all.
(25:26):
Wow, that's, that's her job.
You just imagine it.
How excruciating it must be.
And she's got.
She's storing this sperm,keeping the sperm alive,
fertilizing eggs as they comedown, you know which we talked
about in the bees sex episode.
Yeah, so this honey is fed Tothe worker larva, you know, not
to the queen larva got it.
(25:47):
Queen larva only gets royaljelly, which comes from a fair
genial, glands of the nurse,bees that are five to ten days
old, because they're there, afair genial, they don't develop
until their fifth or tenth day,i know.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I know, but it is so fascinating.
Pull it all together, it allcomes together.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
This all only happens when flowers are blooming.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
So wintertime, this is not happening.
This is not happening in thewintertime She'll lay a few eggs
.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
I mean especially when it's cold.
You know we're talking aboutthe cold winners.
They rely on that honey stores.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
I got it.
This is where they use theirhoney.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
They disconnect their wings Whoa, from their muscle,
wing muscles and they Vibratethem to build the heat in their
hive, to keep the hive warmInside that hive, and all honey
is their fuel to do this, tosurvive over the winter.
So with this honey, you knowthey found we're talking going
(26:47):
way back in Egyptian times thatthey found things about this
honey that was so important thatthey actually They used it in.
The physicians used it in theirbags to to for wounds right and
a bacterial and a viral in therules, because when it, when the
honey went and we're talkingnow, we're not talking about any
(27:08):
.
We're not talking about astore-bought honey that comes
from, you know, a high-processedcompany that Filters that
everything out, heats it up to160 degrees.
Speaker 1 (27:17):
You've killed it then , haven't?
Speaker 2 (27:19):
you It's considered dead honey.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Let's, let's let's Continue, but I want to get back
to that to make sure thateverybody understands that that
honey is alive.
It's alive.
Speaker 2 (27:29):
Yes, it has live enzymes in it.
So when you put that, you takethat teaspoon of honey, smell it
first, put it in your mouth,hold it in your mouth, hold it
to the roof of your mouth, justhold.
You, let that flavor roll downyour tongue, get in all the
different taste buds all aroundyour tongue, feel it, go down
(27:50):
Your throat and you get thatsmell, adds to that flavor,
right, and so you, you get thatand then you have it.
You have a beginning, just likeyou're tasting wine, just, and
you have that, that firstimpression.
What, what do you taste whenyou first put it in your mouth,
besides the sweetness?
right, sometimes you, you'll,you'll get that, you'll get the
(28:11):
sweetness.
And then, as it comes down now,is it have?
does it have a butterscotchtaste?
does have a caramel taste?
doesn't have, i mean, thedifferent flavors?
I mean, does it?
does it smell like a flower?
does it smell like Mint?
does it smell me?
Speaker 1 (28:26):
there, and you can taste all those things too in
the honey right.
It doesn't have a woody tasteand it's all based upon where
where the bees got their nectar,exactly.
Speaker 2 (28:35):
So it all tastes.
And then the blends.
Then you get these differentblends.
They they say there's over,there's 200 or more different
types of honey, but there's morethan that, because the bees
blend Different.
Usually you get all thesedifferent blends so they're not
varietal, you know, right, right, you know varietal.
(28:56):
Like our varietal wines have tohave 50% of that Grape in it to
make that the varietal wine.
You know, you only have to havea little over 50% for it to be
called Cabernet.
So, same thing with.
You know a beekeeper say well,this is this all honey?
Well, they can, if they can,fly five miles out and bring the
honey back.
It could be from any flower,but maybe mostly this because
(29:17):
there was by chance.
Speaker 1 (29:18):
There was a thistle field nearby.
Speaker 2 (29:20):
There's thistle, thistle field or clover field,
or, and there's no other flowersblooming, then it's going to be
predominantly that Flower, ithink clover honey Well, i was
raised on clover honey, justlike most of the people work.
I loved honey, but when I gotthe first taste of beekeepers
Raw honey that was just filterednot filtered, but run through a
(29:42):
screen just to remove the bigparticles right the pollen and
not that, you know, i little waxparticles don't bother me and
Just be able to taste that andtaste all the different flavors
Of the honey, i just, i was inlove, but I didn't start
beekeeping because of honey.
Speaker 1 (30:02):
I started beekeeping because of bees, right, but Yeah
, you've told me several times,the honey part of it is your
least favorite, favorite partnot eating it, of course right
right, but harvesting it andextracting it And pulling it is
is so much work.
Speaker 2 (30:22):
I mean people really think, oh, it's free, you know
they have bees, bring it back.
It's just as free as milk outof a cow, it's just as free as
as Lettuce out of a field.
I mean it takes It's work toget it out.
And and I and people say, well,you know, the honey is so
expensive.
I think if you're getting honeyfor anything less than a
(30:43):
hundred dollars a pound, you'regetting a deal, because I'm
telling you that I We've we'vetracked the labor and how much
labor it takes to put it inalive and how much.
You know How much effort youwork on these hives all year
long to keep those bees alive,keep them healthy, don't give
them, don't you keep them awayfrom pesticides, all these, and
(31:06):
it's a lot of work.
You have to work on these beesevery week.
You know It takes hours andhours and hours, all the, and
then they get this honey at theend of the year Harvesting, and
you, just you, have to harvestit.
You've been there right havehelped you do that He's 90
degrees in the room, in a roombecause you want the honey to
flow and you're just perspiringand it's just unbelievable How
(31:28):
much work it is and you'reeating stung.
Speaker 1 (31:31):
Yeah, so, so and fascinating as that is because
that's your end of it Yeah, butI think about when the
conversation first started here.
You told me that the bee haslike two stomachs, is going out.
We all know how little a bee isso I can't imagine how big, how
small their stomach is and thento come back and have to fill
That little bees life, yeah, onetwelve.
Speaker 2 (31:55):
And some people tell you it's a teaspoon.
It's not a teaspoon.
One little bees life, yes, onetwelfth of a teaspoon.
So I mean, and that's only ifit lives, doesn't get eaten by a
spider or a bird or so.
They work from a beekeeper, butSo Yeah just think of the of the
honey, the bottle of honey, a16 ounce bottle of honey.
(32:18):
It is anywhere, depending onwhat type of flower they get it
from, how much nectar comes fromthat flower.
They're all different rightanywhere from a million to two
million flowers to make that onepound, and it takes 12 bees to
make one teaspoon of honey.
So all that work, it's just on.
It's unfathomable.
(32:39):
It's just trying to figure outhow you know.
I mean, don't get me wrong, idon't know all the figures but
but that's pretty impressive.
Wow, how much work they put inand they store it and To to
think that they the honey thatthey make.
They don't even get the taste,they don't even get to eat it.
It's, it's for the nextgeneration.
(32:59):
Wow they're doing something foranother generation of bees.
Wow, total, total, social.
I mean, wow, got it down.
Wow, it's just in.
Just so, i got, i have a colorwheel.
On that color wheel, i got aflavor.
Speaker 1 (33:17):
It looks like a color wheel, like a traditional color
wheel.
Speaker 2 (33:20):
Yes, they come from.
It came from UC Davis and Justthat.
Just to let you know all thedifferent flavors, i'll just go
over some of them really quick.
They got berries, citrus, driedfruit.
Some of them taste like a treefruit, some of them taste like
tropical fruit.
You have a floral taste.
A lot of people taste thefloral taste.
Then you have a herbaceouswhich is fresh or dry You can
(33:41):
take.
You can take a taste of grass,a grass, grassy flavor, a clover
favorite mint.
Speaker 1 (33:46):
Peppermint.
Speaker 2 (33:47):
Wow, eucalyptus, hey, you can have any taste like a
straw.
You have any taste like tea,malt, tobacco.
You have a taste taste like drygraph alfalfa.
I don't know if you don't knowwhat broccolis tastes like, but
you have bees that taste honey.
It tastes like broccolis, pine,oak, cedar.
How can you taste like trees?
(34:08):
because the bees are collectinga, not nectar, but actually do
from other insects, and theybring that back and they make
and they call it honey.
But it's actually it's, it'sactually a do insect, do.
Speaker 1 (34:21):
Okay, okay, okay, wait a minute.
So you told me this before.
This is my interpretation ofwhat you just said that there's
little bugs up in that tree thatare actually pooping out.
Are peeing out some kind ofliquid that the bees are
collecting as a form of nectar.
Yeah, because it's.
Speaker 2 (34:37):
Sugar.
Wow, yeah, they'll.
They'll collect it off of pinegeneral.
In Italy They have this pinehoney that actually comes from
me from an insect Releases thisdo because it's just Taking so
much of this sap in right, right, right.
Be comes and collects in.
(34:58):
It tastes just like it, tasteslike pine, tastes like oak.
You know people go well, howdid they get the oak flavor?
Well, there's a I.
You know I don't, i'm not a, idon't know the name of the
insect, but it attacks the oakAcorn.
Yes, and this little, thislittle larva that's in there,
this little grub, it secretes anectar and that be collects that
(35:23):
And that goes back and it givesthat little oaky taste.
I love it.
I love that flavor.
It adds a little.
It's like a shard in a Honey.
I love it.
You can get all these differentflavors and people.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
I think that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Instead of buying the same, oh honey, get a local
beekeeper.
Find the local, local beekeeperin your area and then Taste
their honey.
Yes, you'll find one.
Different areas give differenthoneys and they're there.
They'll be truthful.
You know they, they, thesepeople, beekeepers that are, are
.
They're not in it for that,they're just one trying to pay
(36:00):
for their hobby, to pay for, youknow, the.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
Which you can see now is a lot of work.
Speaker 2 (36:05):
It costs like good $600 to get a hive going, you
know for a new beekeeper.
I mean it's wow.
So you have to write to pay.
You know like $16 for $15, $16or $20 for a pound of honey,
that's really, really a gooddeal, wow.
People don't think of it.
I mean a grocery store.
They have to pay their help andeverything inside the store.
(36:28):
So I mean, of course, of course, but you there beekeepers are
not in.
And then a competition with thegrocery store, right?
Speaker 1 (36:35):
right.
Speaker 2 (36:36):
You shouldn't compare the price of a grocery store to
a beekeepers price.
Speaker 1 (36:40):
Let me and clearly you can see that it's all the
effort that's going- into it,it's totally different on both
sides.
Speaker 2 (36:46):
Yeah, it's a better for you to have to have your own
.
Speaker 1 (36:48):
So let's.
I'm gonna ask about thatbecause you've always told me,
too, that when people haveallergies, that they should be
taking a Teaspoon of local honey, because it has the pollen and
the nectar's from the localflowers.
Speaker 2 (37:02):
It doesn't have to be in your neighborhood, it could
be They.
you know, i keep in UC Davis,did a study on it Within 50
miles of where you live.
So and even if you buy honeywe're in San Jose, for instance
You can buy honey from SanFrancisco.
It's still good for you.
You can buy it all the way down.
You know Gilroy, morgan Hill,half Moon Bay, you know Santa
(37:26):
Cruz right right.
The all that honey is all gonnataste different, right?
you know, in fact, the honeyfrom right here.
Even though the bees cross inwillow gland I saw the willow
gland honey They'll cross withbees, like, for instance, happy
hollow zoo, and that honeytastes completely different,
which is what I gave you today.
(37:47):
Right, it tastes completelydifferent than the honey which
is only that's only two milesaway from here, and I mean so
it's and it tastes totallydifferent.
So, but it helps with allergies, correct?
Yes?
And now the the reason, and?
And?
they're not sure, and there arepeople gonna say, oh no, it
really doesn't, but It helpsbuild your immune system up.
(38:11):
Number one Got it.
I think it's the pollen that'sin that honey.
There's a lot of pollen in thehoney and that's how they test
for honey to make sure that it'shoney.
If they don't see any pollen init, they feel it's adulterated.
They've something that's addedsyrup or rice syrup or corn
(38:33):
syrup.
You're not buying honey.
The word honey doesn't mean itcomes from bees.
It could be corn syrup, sugarsyrup, it could be any kind of
syrup and they can sell it underthe name honey.
Really, Yeah, there's no lawthat says that has to have
anything from a bee in it.
Speaker 1 (38:52):
How do you know if you're getting adulterated honey
?
You don't.
Speaker 2 (38:57):
You don't know, i'm not going to say that the honey
that you buy in the store isadulterated, but I bet you, i
would bet, that a lot of thehoney is, unless you know the
beekeeper not saying that thathoney's bad.
But if you should know thebeekeeper, trust the beekeeper,
(39:18):
know that person and supportthat.
Speaker 1 (39:21):
Support that beekeeper.
I think that's the biggestthing right there.
Support that.
Speaker 2 (39:24):
Support your local beekeeper.
Speaker 1 (39:25):
He can afford to do this.
Speaker 2 (39:29):
You're scared that he's going to make a couple of
dollars after you know that youcan buy a beer or something with
it After he pays for his bees.
I mean, I've taught a lot ofbeekeepers get started and I
don't make any money from thebees And they do pay for
themselves.
Now, Right, And others are Jackout.
(39:53):
He lives out in Palo Alto areaand a Cupertino in Palo Alto And
it took him six years for himjust to break even.
And now this cost of thebottles are just one.
Speaker 1 (40:08):
They've doubled the prices, Everything, the cost of
everything has gone up.
Speaker 2 (40:12):
Yeah they've gone up 6%, 8%, they've doubled.
We used to cost a dollar, weused to figure a dollar for the
bottle and the cap.
Now it's $2.
And even those little teeny twoounce little honey bear things.
They're a dollar and a quarter,wow.
So it's just awful.
But not that all honey tastesgood either.
(40:34):
So we have some that taste likeanimals, some that taste like
What?
Why?
Because of what plant they gotit from, has the flavor, has
this flavor.
We're talking honey that tastessweaty, honey that tastes like
leather Honey that tastes like abarnyard.
It has that smell so it's goingto put that taste in your mouth
(40:57):
.
Honey that tastes like a lockerroom, honey that tastes like
goat or dog.
And then you have primarytastes like sweet, sour, salty,
bitter.
Wow, right Now, the honey thatwe get from Oak Hill Cemetery.
They have these linden trees Andthey bloom in June And their
(41:19):
blossoms hang down And goingback, let's go with.
The trees are more important,actually, and shrubs are a
really more important nectarsource.
Then flowers, then flowers intheir yard.
Those are important, butthey're not as important as
trees.
Street elms, maples, willows,lindens, give them tons.
(41:43):
That's what gets them throughthe year.
That's what gets them throughthe winter is those trees, the
trees.
And so you get these tastesfrom these trees.
Wow, the linden tree, which isa basswood tree, it has a little
bite at the end of the taste ofthe honey.
(42:03):
So when you take the honey inyour mouth and it has that lint,
you feel this bite.
And the pepper trees, theCalifornia pepper trees, they
have that, but the pepper treehas a really solid bite.
Speaker 1 (42:18):
Wow, i never would have imagined that, because you
always think sweet, sweet, sweet.
Speaker 2 (42:21):
They're all tasting different sages, all these
different flavors.
You know I'm going on thesedifferent flavors of honey but I
don't want to miss out on.
of course.
we have the orange blossomhoney, which is delicious.
I think that's a great honey,but the oranges actually don't
(42:42):
need the bees.
They actually there's growsdown there that don't want them
in their tangerines, becausewhen they pollinate the plant
they add a seed to the tangerineAnd they don't want seeds in
their tangerines.
They want.
Oh, interesting They wantseedless And the bee.
if you get a seed in yourtangerine is because a bee got
(43:02):
in there and pollinated theplant.
They don't want bees in there,but the beekeepers want them
because that's great honey.
Speaker 1 (43:10):
Right, that's great honey.
Speaker 2 (43:11):
Wow, so there's this big fight going on down in
Southern California.
It's really funny.
So it's not funny to them, butit's funny to me.
Speaker 1 (43:19):
So let me just ask you real quick, because we've
touched on it a couple times now, that honey is alive.
Yes, it's alive, And you'vetold me over the years and I
think it's important foreverybody to understand this too
is don't microwave your honey.
Speaker 2 (43:34):
Oh, absolutely not Do that.
Your beekeeper can warm it upso he can bottle it, Because
sometimes in a winter timethey'll have it in a five gallon
bucket.
Speaker 1 (43:43):
It's kind of hard.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
And it's starting to get hard.
They'll have to warm it up Aslong as they don't take it over
125 degrees, 150.
I don't warm, i try not to warmmine up over 100 to 110.
You've got to realize that thebees have it anywhere from 90 to
.
It'll get up to 100 degrees intheir hive with the honey in
there, but they need to keep itat 90.
(44:06):
And usually the honey is abovethem so that heat is going up
And that keeps the honey fromgranulating.
Ok.
Speaker 1 (44:16):
So let's say, when I get honey It doesn't turn to
sugar.
Ok.
So let's say, when I get honeyand it starts to granulate and I
can't get it out of the bottleanymore, how am I supposed to
get it out?
Well, you either eat it in thatform, which would be better,
right, and out of a jar you putit in between, because people
think when it gets kind of solidor granulated, they think it's
(44:37):
turned to sugar, they think it'sbad, they think it's gone bad.
Speaker 2 (44:40):
No, all it is is granulated sugar.
It's honey crystals.
Because what I just think of inhoney crystals and what causes
this?
some honey granulates fast,some doesn't.
So what causes this is?
remember when I told you aboutwhen the bees are flying back
(45:00):
with the sucrose and they'rebreaking it down into glucose
and fructose.
Well, the higher the glucosecontent in the honey, the higher
the chance of it granulatingfast.
And now there's differentgranulations too.
There's big crystals andthere's tiny crystals.
There's really small crystals,very small, so small that it
(45:24):
feels like in your mouth, feelslike frosting off a cake.
Speaker 1 (45:30):
And then some of it feels like rock candy.
Right, right.
Speaker 2 (45:34):
But the one that granulates really small, which
also comes from the zoo and from, not from here, from Willow
Glen.
mine granulates really coarseBut the zoo's granulates just so
fine.
I can't tell you what it'scoming off of that makes it that
small.
(45:54):
But I love the honey.
In Europe they will not buy thehoney unless it's granulated.
Speaker 1 (46:02):
Oh.
Speaker 2 (46:03):
Because they feel that it's not natural raw honey.
So the only way that keeps thatliquid in the store is that
they've heated it to 165 degrees.
They've run it through paperfilters that remove every
particle of pollen, everythingthat's in that that the glucose
(46:25):
and fructose molecules willattach to and start making
crystals on.
So that's when it's unfilteredhoney Right.
It will granulate fast.
Speaker 1 (46:35):
But in essence, though, when you talk about the
process that you just saidheating it up to 160 with the
paper filters- you're taking theenzymes.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
But you're taking out everything beneficial correct
Everything that's beneficial,anything that does you any good.
You've taken it out of thathoney.
Speaker 1 (46:49):
So don't stick your honey in the microwave or
overheat it You're killing it.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
No, it's absolutely dead.
Now you can bring water.
you could put it in hot waterbecause, just remember, it
doesn't matter how hot the wateris, it matters how hot the
honey is.
Got it So you can put it in hotwater.
You just pull it out, stir itaround, stir it around, pull it
as long as you don't get thathoney over a hundred and fifteen
(47:14):
hundred twenty twenty fivedegrees.
Got it, it's going to be fine.
Speaker 1 (47:29):
We've been talking about how they make honey and I
see these bees I mentioned.
I've been watching these beesin my yard and they're going to
the California poppies and theygot these big sacks of like
pollen on their legs and I'mlike like big sacks and I'm like
wow, that's how they make honey.
But you're telling me that'snot it.
(47:50):
So okay, so now we understandhow they make honey, but what?
Speaker 2 (47:54):
is all that orange pollen on their legs for honey
is their carbohydrates right,and so they need protein and
their babies need protein sothat they make.
They make bread from thatpollen that they collect, and
that's what makes them goodpollinators.
They collect all this pollen.
Speaker 1 (48:14):
They usually stick to the same species of flower
right so they do a good crosspollination on their, on their
uh, from one flower to the next,so that that pollen on their
legs when they go to the nextflower some of it rubs off falls
off and they're pulling.
Well, no, they get it on theirhair, okay, and then?
Speaker 2 (48:29):
they brush, they, they have comb, they have a comb
on their leg, on each one oftheir legs, and they they're
four leg and then they combtheir hair and then they collect
that and then they move it downand they put a little nectar
and they move it down to theiruh little bad, just the two
little hairs that come out oftheir legs.
(48:50):
They call it a honey basket.
It's really not a basket, butthey put it on there and they
gather that and you can seethese they get that's what I see
.
Yes, size of a lentil, yes, bigthey get really big, and so they
take that, they collect that,and they also ask that they have
to process that too.
They cannot, they cannot eatthis raw pollen.
It will not digest us in their,in their gut.
(49:13):
So they have to take that backto their hive and they actually
knock, they actually go to thecomb on this one and they'll
knock, knock the, uh, the pollenoff their legs into the, into
the cell, and then they'll taketheir head and they pack it down
in there and then they add.
They'll add a little nectar,they'll add, but what they do is
(49:37):
they, they have to let thatpollen ferment, or what's the
better word?
bacteria yeast make an actualbee bread.
Ah, okay, they make a bread andthat bread, uh, is, uh, they'll
they're able to digest it,everybody eats that bread yes,
(49:58):
they have to feed that to their.
They cannot have larva, uh, alarvae in the in the hive.
That larvae needs that pollenbesides their royal jelly that
they get the first first.
Got it, got it.
Okay, they start getting honeyand, uh, bee bread.
They say pollen, but it's beebread, got it if you really
(50:19):
wanted to take something reallynutritious for you.
It tastes real sour, like sour.
It tastes like sourdough bread.
You can actually there's somepeople have made starters, a
bread starter really with that.
Yeah, pull that out because ithas a yeast, a natural yeast, in
it so the pollen you see on thebees legs makes the bee bread.
Yes, the stuff that we don't see, but that's in their gut,
(50:40):
that's the nectar that makes thehoney correct okay now i now i
got it and so the to make thatbread, to, to make that bread
last long, to keep it, to keepit natural, they'll cap it with
honey to keep that bread fresh.
Wow, i know, amazing, they'reunbelievable, amazing.
(51:03):
So, and we and we so you know,going back, i know we didn't
talk that much about you knowthe history, but they actually
embalmed the bodies, you know,in egypt, with it.
It uh, they uh, during theroman times, when they had, uh,
the goers to send a, uh, a guyout to hunt down a criminal, uh,
(51:24):
for him, the bounty hunter, uhthey, he would go into.
I mean, he'd be gone for likesix months sometimes you know,
because they had.
They would actually cut the headoff of the uh, of the criminal,
put it in a bucket, fill thebucket up with honey, so they
would prove, when they pull thebucket out, that that head would
still be in perfect conditionso they could see who it was
(51:46):
yeah, when they because thehoney preserved it the honey,
preserved the head.
Speaker 1 (51:50):
I'm like i never heard that and i heard too.
Speaker 2 (51:52):
The great was buried in no, yeah and uh, well, i
believe us.
And then this is some of thisstuff, might you know, uh be
stories be keeper stories but,uh, he was buried in a, i
believe, a lead casket, uh in uh, uh filled with honey to
preserve him.
To preserve him.
Yeah, so they, they and theegyptians.
(52:14):
You actually used that in thethey're preserving uh process i
heard they found dried honey.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Dried honey in the tombs.
Speaker 2 (52:21):
That was an egypt actually still edible, but it
wasn't liquid.
I mean it's got right rightdust, right right.
Speaker 1 (52:28):
But i heard it was edible, but it was honey but it
was honey.
Speaker 2 (52:31):
Yeah, wow amazing it was still in the in the pot, in
the honey pots they get.
Now the egyptians, you know,the egyptians had a, they had a
crush their honey.
They, they actually uh, a lotof the old beekeepers when they
first, they actually killed thehives.
The beekeepers today do notkill the bees to get the honey
(52:52):
out, right, right.
So i mean we are so much morehumane now than they were then.
Everybody was, oh, you know,it's not natural as it used to
be.
You know, these, they used tokill those hives to get those uh
bees.
You know, when you saw thoseskep hives, those bees were
destroyed.
It was all about the honey, itwas all about just the honey.
Speaker 1 (53:10):
Yeah, we're all about bees so quite fascinating and i
can't believe how much we'veactually talked about honey and
i know there's so so much moreyeah there is, but i do want to
(53:32):
touch on one thing.
Okay, one more thing.
Years ago, we started a projectat, and had happy hollow zoo,
which is located here in sanjosec, california, and, uh, you
actually started selling localhoney to benefit guerrilla
conservation in the democraticrepublic of congo right, well,
(53:54):
it is actually to benefit thefallen rangers widows, correct,
correct, because i'm really nota guerrilla guy yes, he is a
girl, but i wasn't at the time,right, i wasn't at the time.
Speaker 2 (54:08):
And and until we went to africa and i met all those
beautiful people, i fell in lovewith the right, right and, uh,
i was just unbelievable,unbelievable happy with
absolutely nothing, right, imean, you know, to have that
happiness.
It was just unbelievable sowonderful.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
So yes, it was, and i totally agree with you that i
know our initial push was toprotect gorillas and it it's
still it does, it does, yes, itdoes but it's to protect the
people that are protecting thegorillas.
Yes, yes, so, um, that honey isactually still being sold, so
you can go to the, you can go tohappy hollow zoo, right, you
(54:54):
can go.
Where can you get this honey?
i want to push this out therebecause it's still available,
and a hundred percent of theproceeds from buying this honey
go directly to the rangers inthe congo that are protecting
the mountain gorillas right.
Speaker 2 (55:06):
We take the money with that, we sell when we sell
bees or we make money anywhereelse doing, you know, propolis
wax.
We use that to buy the bottles,to buy the lids, to buy the
labels, to buy.
We don't use any of the honeymoney for anything so where can
i get?
Speaker 1 (55:23):
so where i know where to get it, but where can
somebody get this honey?
Speaker 2 (55:26):
so you, get this honey at, uh, the three sister
store.
Speaker 1 (55:29):
Okay, three sisters is a store in willow glenn,
which is a neighborhood in sanjose, california but right now
we're running low, so i meanwe're.
Speaker 2 (55:37):
In fact i just bottled a hundred bears that i'm
taking to the zoo, so they'llsell it in there at the zoo so
they can, you can buy it happyhollow zoo at the discovery.
Speaker 1 (55:47):
But let's say i don't live in the bay area, right,
well, i know, maybe that's alittle bit more challenging.
You should go to your own.
You should go to your own localbeekeeper.
Yes, you should go to your go.
Speaker 2 (55:58):
Go to your local, by the time, yeah you want to keep
the idea of sending i.
I feel that sending honey or uh, you're actually burning up
more carbon your carbonfootprint is much bigger much
bigger agreed.
Speaker 1 (56:12):
So if you're local here in the bay area, you can
get gorilla honey.
Yes, get gorilla, you can getthree sister store.
Speaker 2 (56:18):
Also sam's downtown feed sells it, but right now
they are out within two days.
Speaker 1 (56:24):
Well, have more honey .
Speaker 2 (56:25):
We always have honey, then we, yeah, we got we, but
we took 2000 pounds off lastyear.
Speaker 1 (56:31):
Wow so 2000 pounds, yeah, that's a ton so you can
see where steve has doneincredible things for the bees
and then expanded that out intoa much larger global reach to,
you know, to to benefitconservation in the central
africa region.
So it's it's been amazing.
(56:52):
It's been amazing, it's been anamazing experience working with
you, steve.
Speaker 2 (56:56):
But thanks, thank you for everything you do for the
bees and for conservation i hadno idea, honey, but uh, that
would actually lead me, the beeswould actually lead me in this
direction.
You have to realize that whenthat swarm came to my backyard
that's starting on bees broughtme.
That was almost 30 years agobrought me from that, from that
(57:19):
point, all the way around to tothe gorillas, to the zoo, to
pollinators.
I mean unbelievable and justtook my whole life in a
different spin.
Speaker 1 (57:34):
I'm so grateful that you got involved in that swarm.
Speaker 2 (57:37):
I just love it just to think i think of.
Every time i think of a swarm.
You have to think of a swarm asa new beginning.
It was a new beginning for me,it was a new beginning.
People have to look at thatswarm and think of a new
beginning.
I mean, it's just an amazingthing, amazing awesome.
Speaker 1 (57:54):
Thank you so much, steve.
Thank you, vanessa, it was fun.
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