Grace Pundyk: "The Honey Trail"
http://thedianerehmshow.org/shows/2010-09-08/grace-pundyk-honey-trail
Queen cells dangling from special queen frames in Tuscany, Italy
Grace Pundyk
Honey is a global food -- part of tradition, culture and trade. But it's not all sweet: the story also involves smuggling, deforestation and climate change. One woman explains what she found out when she went around the world in pursuit of liquid gold and vanishing bees.
Guests
Grace Pundyk
author of "The Honey Trail," award-winning photographer, and author of 10 travel and photographic books.
Comments
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This is a hugely important topic. Thank you for bringing much needed attention to this subject to many, many people through your radio show.
-Chad McCullough
that is a very cool picture of commercial queen cells.
I've always loved honey, that nature must make honey, but I'd like to know if honey has medicinal qualities.
This is a fascinating topic. A previous episode of the Diane Rehm show on bees a few years ago fascinated me so much that I was inspired to start this Wikipedia article, entitled "Bees and toxic chemicals":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_and_toxic_chemicals
Previous segment: It might have been adventageous to have a psychologist on the show. The caller referencing parent involvement was right based on medical and social issues showing up in classrooms, particularly the grades. Qualifying statements about teacher performance distract statistics showing that over half of all students come from broken homes. Obviously, the focus of the program was to be on teacher performance, but the fact remains our family infrastructure is in decline and no competitive teacher program is going to solve the decay of America's family with stability influenced by such factors as education, finances, medical issues, use of drugs, behavioral issues, language, etc., etc. Schools are not supposed to be day care centers, but blaming teachers is not going to solve the problem, especially when teachers are being fired in groves.
It's true, when you are so taken with honey and the bees, it starts to follow you around--much like hearing this program on the very day that I was mailed a package of my favorite bottles! Mesquite, raw honey, from the Sonoran Desert and a West Virginia honey, and a blueberry honey from Oregon.
Honey tells the story of a landscape, of the population of its bees--there is an art and history to it, as well as healing capacity.
Thank-you for this program,
Danielle
My favorite honey is carrot. It has a wonderful flavor.
When we visited Slovenia a few years ago, we were struck by the esteem in which bees were held. We also loved seeing the antic and inventive paintings on the hives, from the sacred to the profane.
Article from PAN:
Pesticide Dew - Exposure route for bees
Humans aren't the only ones whose drinking water has been contaminated by pesticides: in Europe, a new study finds that the insects already on the frontlines in the battle against toxic pesticides are consuming lethal doses of neonicitinoid pesticides in the droplets of dew they drink. Plants emit guttation droplets -- a source of morning dew -- as part of their respiration process. These droplets of water are a favorite source of moisture and nutrients for bees to drink from after leaving the hive in the morning. Germans scientists have found that seeds treated with neonicitinoid pesticides such as imidacloprid (Gaucho) and clothianidin (Poncho) show contaminated guttation droplets for as long as two months after germination. The study, which looked at corn, barley and canola plants, showed levels were highest during the ten days after germination -- as high as 100 parts per million (ppm). Two weeks after germination, levels were closer to 10 ppm. Levels of imidacloprid in the pollen of plants treated with commercial levels of the pesticide averaged around 3.4 ppm - 1,000 times lower than the levels found in the guttation droplets. Imidacloprid has been shown to affect bees with as little as 0.1 nanogram. A range of serious effects has been documented in the 1-20 nanogram per bee level. This means that a bee drinking a small fraction of a guttation droplet with 100 ppm of imidacloprid would be consuming a potentially fatal dose. The study's authors say that in light of their findings, strong and rapid action is needed to protect bee populations.
watch this:
http://www.vanishingbees.com/B/Trailer.html
I once had a serious injury and my mother spread some honey on it. It took two weeks for it to heal. It was extraordinary. Honey is known for its medicinal benefits.
I'm a new beekeeper (in my second year) and have had a "plethora" of experiences in this short time. I went from one Langstroth hive last year to now six this year... I caught one wild swarm right next to where I was setting up new hives, made splits from my original hive, and recently took a hive from a large hickory tree and transplanted it into a Langstroth hive. Keeping bees is an addictive hobby! They are fascinating, calm (relatively!), and they need our help -- Hobbyist beekeepers are the key to sustaining the honeybee and I urge more people to try it out. It is a part-time thing (they pretty much do all the work) and can be done in rural, urban, and even many suburban (covenant protected) areas. They also help your local flowers and orchard trees to be more prolific. And of course the wonderful pure and raw honey--yum! I LOVE this hobby!!!
I lived on Krete in the late 70's and I can still 'remember' the scent of the wild ditney ( thyme) that grows wild all over the island - and you sell Krete way before you see the island.
bee hives feed on this plant and the honey tastes herbal, like thyme, rosemary and sometimes like pinecones.
wow!!
from maggie in Ann Arbor
Does anyone know how to spell the honey with healing properties, which I believe she called "Micuna". I would like to learn more about it.
Back in the 70's when my kids were small, I kept bees for a couple of years, but as I didn't get home from teaching until late in the day, the bees were pretty angry when I worked them so late. I got stung badly one time so gave up. Instead I was able to purchase 35 # tins of honey from a Russian immigrant bee keeper nearby. (southern Michigan) Good memories and good taste! I would like to know how the Canadians make the "spun" honey which is just very finely crystalized honey.
Regarding a caller’s question, grapes certainly have flowers, and their fruit develop from flowers.
Grape species are minor (usually) through major honey plants in, e.g., the continental U.S., depending on the season and location (Pellett 1978). Honey Bees also collect fruit juice, honeydew, and pollen from grape species. Honeydew is sugary excrement of many aphid and related species.
Diane, thanks for your great programs!
Edd
Bees, really cool, an expert in the field is Jim Tew at Ohio State University, if sent a bee carcass from caller Laura in Kentucky, he might possibly be able to identify the cause of death. Of course determining what caused it, has little to do with anything except possibly placing blame, it won't bring them back or replace them. As a natural hive, untended, most would agree that the prevalent diseases are as likely the cause, as the spraying that has recently started in her area. If she is interested in keeping another hive just google bee keeping and she will find she is very close to one of the largest bee operations in the U.S. in Clarkson Kentucky.
Hi,
I always listen to your show. Today's brought back many fond memories. My uncle, GL Pennington was a bee keeper for many years. He passed away in May of 2009 but in his life time harvested many gallons of honey from his precious bees. I loved the honey comb he used to leave in the jar. He also helped educate the next several generations of bee keepers. He was consulted for his advice even in the last few months of his life. I must admit that I used to cringe when he talked about putting the bees on his knuckles so they would intentionally sting. He swore by it to counteract arthritis, which he did not have even at the age of 95! Maybe his was right. When he passed away, the local bee society sent a poem about how the other bee keepers must go and tell the bees. It is very touching and reiterates the special bond between man and bees. I wonder sometimes who is the caretaker of the other?
My favorite memory is when I used to spend the night with another uncle. I too received that famous anti-coughing elixir except that mine also included whiskey and paregoric. I didn't cough and slept like a baby. To this day, although I do not care for the taste of alcoholic beverages, I do enjoy the smell and taste of bourbon.
Today I use raw honey to sweeten my tea. I love honey and have such fond childhood memories around it. Thank you for such a wonderful program.
Jayne in Raleigh, NC
Fascinating!
Two observations about bees;
1. Bees evolved symbiotically with flowers over 100 million years ago. One lives dependent on the other.
2. Bees do not kill anything to survive; they eat sunlight in the form of nectar.
George Coon
Apalachicola, Florida
Here's a subject you deliberately left out of your discussion while your anti-Jewish stance continues to shine through: http://israel21c.org/201009068324/environment/a-bee-story-with-a-difference
CHAG SAMAYACH - SHANA TOVA - to all the Jews around the world who are celebrating ROSH HASHANAH today!
The name of the honey is Manuka. It comes from New Zealand but is easily obtained on the net. My mother's leg ulcer was cured of MRSA by the application of this honey. I highly recommend it.
Here are a couple of projects to bring more bees to neighborhoods and produce local honey and to help beekeepers with record keeping.
www.backyardbeehive.com
www.hivetracks.com
If this is a book, I shall be purchasing it. As for honey being medicinal, check www.beehealing.org. Man has been using honey for beauty products and healing since they discovered it more than several thousand years ago. And honey never goes bad. Bee Venom is used in Apitherapy as well.
Scientists are also looking into bees not only being affected by pesticides in relation to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), but they are thinking the combination of the chemicals in pesticides and herbicides may be creating other different chemicals. They have found over 100 different chemicals in the beeswax.
I wonder if the honey bees would have less illness if they were able to eat some of their own honey instead of High Fructose Corn Syrup. Honey must have curative additives to keep them healthy along with us.
I just happened to read the "PRECAUTIONARY STATEMENTS" section of a very prominent brand of household bug killer. and part of it read, "This product is highly toxic to bees exposed to direct treatment or residues on blooming plants. Do not apply .....if bees are visiting the treatment area." I purchased and used it. I thought I was a good consumer. Must read fine print. Theses companies know they are killing the bees, legal way out. put it on the label and say it kills ants. There is a bottle of this stuff in every household.
I'm listening to the rebroadcast. I was a beekeeper during what I consider to be the Golden Age of Beekeeping - that 30 year period after WWII. My father, a Russian Cossack immigrant, introduced me to beekeeping and by the time I was 16 we had 125 hives scattered in various bee-yards in Central Illinois. We would extract up to 6000 - 7000 pounds of honey which we bottled, labeled and sold to local markets. The income was important to our family and became known as "honey money."
With due respect to Grace Pundyk the best honey in the world is sweet clover
honey.
I am a gardener and my husband is a professional woodworker. We became concerned about lack of pollination and discovered the plight of the honeybee. We now make and use top-bar hives. This hive doesn't require heavy lifting as does the Langstroth. Nor do you rob the bees of all their honey. The idea is to provide them a natural home with minimal or no medication and virtually no interference. You take honey only when they have ample supply for themselves. You can harvest without the aid of expensive extractors. You can observe your bees easily by pulling out a single comb or through an observation window. We call our hive The Garden Hive and have placed them all over the United States.
Perfect. The most enlightened item I've read, yet. When I begin, this will be the foundation of my bee work.
Thank you VERY much,
KB
Thanks Diane for the rebroadcast shows. I am a resident of the District of Columbia but am away for the holidays, this time in Ft Worth TX and last time in my hometown of St. Louis. I have been able to listen to your shows each time I have been out of town. It's like taking a little bit of home with me on my travels.
The shows today were both interesting and informative. I especially enjoyed the show on the bees. I'd forgotten about the healing properties of Manuka honey. I, like many listeners, had the spoonful of honey for sore throats, but had not thought about honey for the skin conditions.
Enjoy the rest of the holidays, I look forward to hearing you again with more informative shows when I return to DC.
I disagree- knowing a cause can change our habits to bring the populations back. I was struck dumb (not unusual, since I have to research many things before I can speak intelligently!) that Laura's call about vineyard pesticides was passed over so lightly to tee-hee about whiskey and lemon for a sore throat. It suddenly seemed so OBvious to me that the recent flourishing of new vineyards worldwide is overlapping so concurrently with CCD. Monoculture, pesticides, that despicable sugar-water diet...sure there may not be one cause, but all three of these can come together to a tipping point around vineyards. I CERtainly will now look at a bottle of wine a bit more slant, and opt for the organic one. Thanks, Laura~ I'm sorry your call wasn't taken more seriously.