Honey in general

Isn't it funny How a bear likes honey? Buzz! Buzz! Buzz! I wonder why he does? (A.A. Milne, Winnie the Pooh, 1926) I am getting to that point in my workload now where I am feeling pretty stressed - as sugar is supposed to be a sedative I have been looking out for my fixes in as many different ways as possible of late. Oh, I know, it's any excuse for me! Well, it just so happens that honey happens to be one of my favourites; as far as I am concerned, it is right up there with chocolate as hallowed comfort food. I suppose it is partly because I associate it so much with my childhood, as my mother used it as a sweetener instead of ...

Where does honey come from? Honey Bees of course! But how? Well, here goes with all the facts you've always wanted to know (!) : Honey bees are colony-forming insects. A normal colony consists of a queen, about a thousand males (drones), and several thousand workers. I'll just talk about worker bees as they are the ones that make the honey that we are so interested in. Worker bees within a colony do jobs according to their age and the needs of their colony. Those under 2 weeks old clean the cells and feed the larvae. After this, some become house bees and work with honey, wax and pollen. House bees meet the nectar collecting bees ...

How doth the little busy bee Improve each shining hour, And gather honey all the day From every opening flower! How skilfully she builds her cell! How neat she spreads the wax: And labours hard to store it well With the sweet food she makes. Isaac Watts 1674-1748 It is only about 300 days before the next show! The National Honey Show, that is! I bet that you did not even know that there was such an event. The first honey show was held at the famous Crystal Palace in 1923. Although there were no shows during the Second World War years there has been a show in all ...