Firestone, Colo. – The National Honey Board today announced that it is now making a new brochure available to the honey industry. The new brochure entitled: “Honey Simplified,” addresses the important consumer topic of what ingredients can be found in a bottle of honey.
The “Honey Simplified” brochure has been created in response to disturbing findings that have recently been uncovered by National Honey Board sponsored market research. Among these findings are the facts that among even the most frequent and dedicated honey users there is widespread confusion as to what ingredients might be found in a bottle of pure honey. Anywhere from 30-percent to 40-percent of frequent honey users believe that other sweeteners, water, or even oils are added to pure honey once it is extracted from the comb. Another disturbing finding is that a large percentage of honey consumers feel that there is a major difference in terms of purity in what can be found in “supermarket honey” versus “farmer’s market honey.”
For a comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the world, check out Bee Cultures Global Calendar
And to put YOUR event on the Global Calendar, send your information to BC Calendar today.
The full-color brochure follows honey from the flower all the way to bottling through the use of a simple flow chart series of pictures. There is additional text that explains that honey is pure and is bottled without any chemical or ingredient additives.
“These negative consumer perceptions must be addressed in a positive, easy-to-understand light,” said Bruce Boynton, CEO of the National Honey Board. “The brochure is a perfect handout for beekeepers to better explain that pure honey means pure honey.”
Subscribe to Malcolm Sanford’s Apis Newsletter right HereThe “Honey Simplified” brochure costs $0.40 each and is now in stock. Please contact the National Honey Board to order your supply.
For additional information: National Honey Board 11409 Business Park Circle Suite 210 Firestone, CO80504 Phone: (303) 776-233 7 Phone (800) 553-7162www.honey.com
I’ve been away from the office and the computer for more time than usual over the last few weeks so I’ve missed getting some things out, and just plain missed some things. Here’s one that’s almost late, but even if you can’t make the festivities it’s good to know someone is charging ahead.
There Can Bee Better
Highways and Farms!
A National Pollinator Week Briefing
·CCD, Bee and Pollinator Update – Dr. Stephen Buchmann,
Author of The Forgotten Pollinators, NAS NRC Pollinator Study Panelist
·Farm Bill PollinatorUpdate – Dave White,
Chief, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service
·Pollinating the Transportation Bill, a Win-Win – Tom Van Arsdall,
Public Affairs Director, Pollinator Partnership
·Ecoregional Planting Guides for Pollinators – Laurie Davies Adams,
Executive Director, Pollinator Partnership
Friday, June 26, 2009, 3:30-5 PM
Briefing and Update – 3:30 to 4:00
Informal Questions and Treats – until 5:00
2167 RayburnHouseOfficeBuilding
House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Hearing Room
So take a break from working in your garden and read on!
Yes! You Can Build a Chicken Tractor
If you've ever thought of keeping free range chickens in a chicken tractor, this book is for you! In addition to providing full plans and giving you step by step instructions on how to build your own chicken tractor, this handy guide gives tons of great tips, including great sources of free wood, how to recover your costs by selling chicks, chicken care and egg recipes. All for the great low price of $12.95.
Or save money and the environment by purchasing the e-book at the ridiculously low price of $7.95! Click here to learn more.
Frustrated With Modern Medicine?
You have flu-like symptoms so you go to the doctor, who tells you it's a virus and then charges you umpteen dollars for the visit. Has this happened to you? It has to me, which is why I started pursuing alternative medicines.
There is another way!
There are many herbs out there you can grow yourself that will help ease many symptoms including:
Coughs
Flu Symptoms
Fever
Constipation
Headaches
Sore Throat
Varicose veins
Warts
And many more!
Growing and Using Medicinal Herbs will show you many herbs you can grow in your garden that will help ease the discomfort of these symptoms and many more!
Watch for it later this summer!
Homesteading Lessons We Can Learn From the Shakers
Recently I've been reading an interesting book entitled The Shaker Herb and Garden Book by Rita Buchanan. The Shakers started in the late 1700's when a poor factory worker named Ann Lee started having visions and revelations and became a charismatic leader, calling people to a pure, Christly life.
Unfortunately, she also taught that the bible didn't have to be strictly adhered to, which caused her to be labeled a heretic. She fled her native country of England and came to America with relatives and a handful of followers. She eventually founded a group that grew to almost 17,000 members. They called themselves Believers, but were called Shakers by outsiders because they would shake violently during worship.
The Shaker faith was a tough one to follow and not one I personally recommend. For one thing, they demanded celibacy from all members. No way I could do that one; I like being married. :-)
But they did become successful in their businesses and in their gardening and managed to transform the wilderness land they lived in into a near paradise on earth.
Their secret? Among other things, Shakers believed you should be faithful and diligent in your work. In other words, don't rush, nurture the soil and take care of your tools.
Here are some of the virtues the Shakers embraced:
Be honest in all you do
Be kind to both friends and enemies
Work diligently, but don't become a workaholic
Be frugal, but don't be stingy
Be completely debt free
Make sure your children are well educated
Great tips to follow, although I'll leave the shaking to someone else. :-)
What's New at Organic Gardening and Homesteading!
Homestead Gardening and the Importance of Beauty at Your Homestead
Sure, we need to grow things to eat, but beauty in our gardens can be equally important. Homestead Cottage Gardening is a way of combining practical, self-reliant gardening with beauty.
A methane digester isn't for everyone, but rather a way for hardy homesteaders to make their own fuel.
Homesteading and Homeschooling
Homesteading and homeschooling go hand in hand. Here's why.
Here's Your Chance to Strut Your Homesteading Stuff!
I've come out with a new section on Organic Gardening and Homesteading that will give you the chance to shine as well as earn a chance to win a free e-book!
Are you keeping chickens successfully? Growing a fantastic organic garden? Have an awesome casserole recipe you'd love to share? Don't be shy about telling others; other aspiring self reliant souls will be inspired by your success. Tell us about it on My Homesteading Story and help others as they work toward self sufficiency!
Plus, if I feel your story is beneficial to others, I'll put your name in a hat (my gardener's straw hat, natch) for a chance to win You Can Build a Chicken Tractor. Just imagine! The satisfaction of knowing you helped others and a great book for free! Click here to learn more.
And as always, happy homesteading!
Like this issue of Successful Homesteading? Please forward it to a friend! And if a friend did forward this to you and you like what you read, please subscribe here.
Comments? Ideas? Feedback? I'd love to hear from you. Just reply to this zine and tell me what you think! And thanks!
Hot weather has come to Gainesville, mid 90s’ most of the week. Fortunately, we are experiencing some afternoon thundershowers. The fires in the Sunshine state have abated for the present time. I planted a garden for the first time here. The snow peas got a small crop off before going south in the heat, the tomatoes came on ok, but it’s the zucchini squash that is interesting. Many blooms; no fruit. Few insects and not a single honey bee. My neighbor gardening consultant says have patience, but I’m not sanguine. I live in a neighborhood where keeping bees is frowned on, but beyond that it is more and more a desert with manicured, mowed and watered lawns under a canopy of oaks and pines. Fortunately, some folks are seeing the light and putting native plants into this modified pine forest hammock we live it.
Bumblebee Nest Survey: My name is Athena Anderson and I'm a doctoral student at the University of Georgia. I designed a bumblebee survey to be easily-accessible to anyone who finds a bumble bee nest. Please consider filling one out for me if you find a nest this year, and pass the survey along to anyone you think might be interested! The Xerces Society has agreed to post a link to the survey on their site soon, and you can see it posted on the Pollinator Partnership site immediately (http://www.pollinator.org/projects.htm).
African Honey Bee Defensive Behavior: There are some who have downplayed AHB defensive behavior in the past. A recent study suggests that this might be reevaluated:
Beehive fence deters crop-raiding elephants: “Previous work has shown that African elephants Loxodonta africana will avoid African honeybees Apis mellifera scutellata. Here we present results from a pilot study conducted to evaluate the concept of using beehives to mitigate elephant crop depredation. In Laikipia, Kenya, we deployed a 90-m fence-line of nine inter-connected hives, all empty, on two exposed sides of a square two-acre farm that was experiencing high levels of elephant crop depredation. Compared with a nearby control farm of similar status and size, our experimental farm experienced fewer raids and consequently had higher productivity. Socioeconomic indicators suggest that not only was the concept of a beehive fence popular and desired by the community but also that it can pay for its construction costs through the s ale of honey and bee products. We are calling for experiments testing this concept of a 'guardian beehive-fence' to be conducted rigorously and scientifically in as wide a range of agricultural settings as possible to evaluate jointly its effectiveness and efficiency. See more at http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/118510939/home
Bees and Land Mines: It looks like Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk’s research on land mine detection will get a boost from the Obama administration according to Editor Flottum’s Catch the Buzz:. “Last year the previous administration halted plans to move the tests overseas - a crucial step needed to explore conditions in actual minefields. With a new administration dedicated to more federal funds for scientific research, there’s a chance that the research will resume soon, and negotiations are underway on arrangements for a new round of trials.
“Aside from their accuracy, bees have a number of strong advantages when it comes to land mine detection. As lightweight hoverers, they can cover an area without accidently discharging a mine. They are much cheaper than high-tech equipment and they are much easier to train than dogs and other mammals, lending themselves to use in areas where funds for mine removal are thin (one leading mine removal organization, HALO Trust, has stopped using dogs due to lack of consistency). Amazingly, bees from one hive will recruit others, so only one trained hive is needed to start surveying a large area.”
Check out my June 2009 compilation of links on drugs in the water (bees drink too), blueberry issues, abandoned comb amulet, Brazilian pepper as a carbon sink, hydrogen peroxide and the immune system (honey anyone?), wild bees as pollinator replacements for honey bees, African bees and beekeeping in Utah, black bees in Britain, Manuka honey prices, and others http://www.publish2.com/newsgroups/june-2009.
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Gleanings from the June 2009 Bee Culture:
Dave Meldrum, Andover, MA provides a CCD update according to his sources. Charles Knaack, Circleville, OH says both bees and humans act the same under the influence of alcohol. Heather Burgett, Bonnyman, KY remembers her grandmother’s four hives in eastern KY. Keith Fletcher, Gainesville, VA declares mission accomplished in PrinceWilliamCounty where supervisors voted 4-2 to overturn old zoning language in favor of new. Frank Linton, Fairfax, VA implements a variation of a scale hive using a plastic mirror replacement kit. Finally Norm Gary, Citrus Heights, CA (formerly professor at UC Davis) gives kudos to Editor Flottum for his Inner Cover and writes that retirement is a second career. In his case retiring from retirement will take another 15 years.
Editor Flottum says it’s time to change and provides some detailed tips on how to do just that. Read his recommendations, especially about those Russian bees, rotating frames, detecting mites and others. Good stuff this month; I’m sure Dr. Gary would agree.
The June honey report seeks to predict the future. Read what observers in the field think about honey production, commercial pollination and the percentages of folks who are considering each kind of enterprise.
Peter Smith reports on the biggest meeting for beekeepers in the UK, Stoneleigh, with the British beekeepers Association occupying the conference centre. Read who he ran into and what they said. The Brits too appear to be having a beekeeping boom with over 40 applications for the beginners course. They too are having problems coping with the influx like other places in the U.S. It is the “worst of times and the best of times.”
Duane Waid recommends learning how to make candles for added income. Read how to define your interests and the great number of types of candles possible. He will give a workshop at the Eastern Apicultural Society’s meeting in Ellicot, NY http://www.easternapiculture.org/programs/2009/.
Kitty Kiefer is an “ambassador of sweetness.” A trained lawyer, she advocates telling the truth, having beautiful labels and doing demos. She too will be at EAS. Find out why it’s OK to own more than one jar of honey at a time.
Jason Nelson discusses a small storm, the dynamics of the honey bee’s flight mechanism. Read how it is possible that the wings beat 240 times a second and all that emanates from that eye-popping statistic.
Larry Connor discusses time management and the beekeeper. His tips are timeless;, use a check list, start small and grow gradually, and work smarter not harder.
Kim Flottum reports on the documentary film, The Importance of Honey Bees: A Case Study. Read his account of the production of this film and where you might be able to view it, including youtube.com, although I can’t find it at the present time..
Alan Harman asks “What’s with those Asian Honey Bees.” He discusses the risks of entry of Asian bees into Australia. This involves mites as well small hive beetle.
Jim Tew writes about his beehive mistakes. Read how both bees and beekeepers can make mistakes, and the advice he and others have provided for many years, when in doubt doing nothing is better than taking action.
Clarence Collison takes a closer look at PER, the proboscis Extension Response. Read how this behavior is used for a number of assays and how it could be used in the future.
Ross Conrad looks at Colony Collapse Disorder from a new perspective. Colonies, and the environment in general, is awash in chemicals. Read the evidence behind this and stay tuned for his followup comments in future columns.
Ann Harman discusses good design and good reading. She allows becoming a newsletter editor is your choice to be creative, but with limits. Read how font size, margins, lengths of paragraphs and page divides are all involved in producing a quality publication.
In All the News That Fits, we find information about the changes at the American Beekeeping Federation, and my good friend Doug McRory’s (OntarioCanada’s Provincial Apiarist) retirement. He will be missed; few people have his depth of experience in the craft. His successor will have big shoes to fill.
Finally, on the Bottom Board read a letter from a beekeeper’s wife and then try to guess the date it was written. As she concludes, “No man who is not good gambler should ever be a beekeeper.” Amen.
CATCH THE BUZZA Previously Harmless, Mutated Varroa Species Is Now Killing European Honey Bees
A dangerous mutant gene in a previously harmless honeybee mite in Papua New Guinea has Australian beekeepers fearing for their future.
The Asian honeybee mite has undergone a genetic mutation which allows it to infest European honeybees.
Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization bee pathologist Denis Anderson tells the Australian Broadcasting Corp. the mite is one of a strain of Varroa mites which had never before been able to breed on the European honeybee, and thus had been no threat to horticulture.
Find out what’s happening and what’s new at Mann Lake now Now the mutant mites are running rampant through honeybee hives in Papua New Guinea, wiping out up to half the country’s honey industry.
The mutation is believed to have originated from a single female mite.
Anderson says based on experiences in the past, the mites will be also carrying exotic viral diseases.
Subscribe to the Apis Newsletter Today “Those viruses are actually what cause the death to the European honey bee colonies,” he says.
Australian Agriculture Minister Tony Burke is meeting Papua New Guinea officials in Brisbane and containment of the mite to prevent them from entering Australia will be on the agenda.
Burke tells reporters the government recognizes the importance of rigorous quarantine and biosecurity measures to protect Australia's agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries.
“In November last year we announced an extra $300,000 over two years to continue the sentinel hive program,” he says. “This is an important surveillance program for pests and disease in Australia's honey bee and pollination industries.”
An Asian honeybee eradication campaign is continuing in Queensland two years after an incursion was found in Cairns. Thus far 28 hives have been destroyed.
The message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists have sequenced the genome of a parasite that can kill honey bees. Nosema ceranae is one of many pathogens suspected of contributing to the current bee population decline, termed colony collapse disorder (CCD). Researchers describe the parasite's genome in a study published June 5 in the open-access journal PLoS Pathogens.Find out what’s new at Mann Lake HereIn 2006, CCD began devastating commercial beekeeping operations, with some beekeepers reporting losses of up to 90 percent, according to the USDA. Researchers believe CCD may be the result of a combination of pathogens, parasites and stress factors, but the cause remains elusive. At stake are honey bees that play a valuable part in a $15 billion industry of crop farming in the United States.Subscribe To The Apis Newsletter HereThe microsporidian Nosema is a fungus-related microbe that produces spores that bees consume when they forage. Infection spreads from their digestive tract to other tissues. Within weeks, colonies are either wiped out or lose much of their strength. Nosema apis was the leading cause of microsporidia infections among domestic bee colonies until recently when N. ceranae jumped from Asian honey bees to the European honey bees used commercially in the United States.For a Comprehensive listing of beekeeping events around the country and around the world go to Bee Culture’s Global Beekeeping CalendarTo list your event on this calendar, send your information to info@BeeCulture.comThe ARS scientists used genetic tools and microscopic analysis at the ARS Bee Research Laboratory (BRL) in Beltsville, Maryland to examine N. ceranae. They collaborated with colleagues at the University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland, Columbia University, New York, New York, and 454 Life Sciences, of Branford, Connecticut.
Sequencing the genome should help scientists trace the parasite's migration patterns, determine how it became dominant, and help resolve the spread of infection by enabling the development of diagnostic tests and treatments.
This message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
Bee Culture is a Proud Sponsor of the 2009 EAS Conference in Ellicotville, New York in August.
Southeast New Brunswick Beekeepers' Association Semi-Annual Meeting Workshop/Field Day, Friday, June 12th and Saturday, June 13th, 2009
FRIDAY, JUNE 12th, 2009
Ruth and George Wheatley's Apiary, 1848 Route 112, Upper Coverdale, NB 2:00-4:00 p.m. • “A Honey Of An Opportunity” — Hive Savvy by local beekeepers to students interested in beekeeping as a future career • “Learning By Doing” — Amy Tizzard, Oxford, NS
Department of Agriculture & Aquaculture Board Room, Moncton Coliseum, Moncton, NB 6:30 p.m. • SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING — DAA and blueberry representatives will be present at this meeting. Registration fee is $20.00/beekeeper, spouses $10.00
SATURDAY, JUNE 13th, 2009
Salisbury Baptist Church, 3128 Main Street Salisbury, NB 10:00 a.m. • COFFEE AND REGISTRATION 10:30 a.m. • Agristability Program — Phil Parlee, DAA • Nosema Research Update — Geoff Williams • Fumigation of Equipment with Acetic Acid — Fletcher Colpitts 11:00 a.m. • Queen Breeding — Lorraine and Elizabeth Hamilton 12:00 p.m. LUNCH BREAK - PIZZA 1:00 p.m. FIELD WORK • Queen Breeding — Lorraine Hamilton • Splits — Southeast Beekeepers
Abandoned land mines have been called “the worst form of pollution on earth.” They kill up to 20,000 people every year, and according to one recent study it will take 450 years to find and clear all of them. That estimate might be too optimistic, because new mines can be laid as fast as the old ones are cleared. Ridding the world of land mines sounds like a Sisyphean task of epic proportions. Or is it? Enter DARPA (the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency) and the humble bee.
Bees and Chemicals
Using bees to detect land mines has its roots in decades-long research at the University of Montana, conducted by research professor Dr. Jerry J. Bromenshenk. Dr. Bromenshenk and his team have found that bees are expert sample-takers. They collect everything: air, water, vegetation, and chemicals in gaseous, liquid and particulate forms. A single colony can generate up to hundreds of thousands of flights every day, each bee returning to the hive with his collection.
Bees, DARPA, and Odors of Interest
More recently, Dr. Bromenshenk and his team began focusing on “odors of interest” under a DARPA contract. The team was able to document that the bees’ acute sense of smell enables them to function as fine-tuned, highly accurate vapor detectors for chemicals that are present in explosives, bombs, and landmines. Under certain conditions they can detect concentrations at approximately 30 parts per trillion, with the potential to reach an even lower threshhold.
Find Out What’s New At Mann Lake – Click Here. How to Make a Bee Find a Land Mine
Like mine-sniffing dogs and other mammals, bees can be trained with a food reward. Within a matter of hours, they can learn to associate designated odors with food. Dr. Bromenshenk’s team found that bees will detect a vapor plume and follow it to the source. By comparing the density of bees in different areas over time, observers can pinpoint the likely sources. Lasers, radar and other new developments in surveillance technology can enable researchers to track and count practically every single bee.
For A Comprehensive Listing Of Beekeeping Events Around the Country and Around the World, Go Here Bees to the Rescue
Aside from their accuracy, bees have a number of strong advantages when it comes to land mine detection. As lightweight hoverers, they can cover an area without accidently discharging a mine. They are much cheaper than high-tech equipment and they are much easier to train than dogs and other mammals, lending themselves to use in areas where funds for mine removal are thin (one leading mine removal organization, HALO Trust, has stopped using dogs due to lack of consistency). Amazingly, bees from one hive will recruit others, so only one trained hive is needed to start surveilling a large area.
Last year the previous administration halted plans to move the tests overseas - a crucial step needed to explore conditions in actual minefields. With a new administration dedicated to more federal funds for scientific research, there’s a chance that the research will resume soon, and negotions are underway on arrangements for a new round of trials.
Subscribe To The Apis Newsletter Here Colony Collapse Disorder: To the Rescue of the Bees
The mine-detecting potential of bees adds another dimension of urgency to the mystery of colony collapse disorder, which has been decimating bee populations around the globe. Changing the bees — introducing hardier species or using genetic modification to produce a resistant species — is one avenue being exp lored. Bromenshenk, a leading researcher in the phenomenon, has been studying colony collapse disorder from early on, and University of Montana researchers have been investigating a number of possible causes including Nosema ceranae, a single-celled fungus.
The message brought to you by Bee Culture, The Magazine Of American Beekeeping
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