Tag: bees

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A Love as Sweet as Honey

Psalm 19:10

They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the honeycomb.

Today is Valentine’s Day, the day that is known for love and lovers. Most people don’t know the history behind the day. It is the day associated with Saint Valentine, but who was he?

Saint Valentine lived in the third century and during the Roman Empire. According to historical records, the Emperor of Roman banned marriages thinking that single men made better soldiers. St. Valentine was arrested and found guilty of secretly performing weddings. During his time in jail waiting for his execution, St. Valentine converted jailers to Christianity and was asked by the head jailer to heal his daughter. St. Valentine started praying for the girl and after his execution, a letter was found written to the girl which was signed “your valentine”.

You may be asking “what does this have to do with the farm?” Well, in 496 AD St. Valentine was made the Patron Saint of Beekeepers. “Why?” you might ask. Well in many cultures, bees are symbolic of love and beekeepers symbolize the protection of love, marriage, and family. Beekeepers work to maintain the growth of the beehive, so the bee colony thrives. As the bee colony thrives new generations are born continuing the love and the family. The love flow is symbolized by honey which a strong colony can easily produce.

Throughout history, honeybees have been associated with love. In some cultures, a bride and groom walk through a honeybee swarm together and if one of the two is stung then the marriage must be meant to be. In many cultural myths, honey is used as a love potion and said to cause couples to fall in love.

Here on the farm, we have always known that our honeybees are special and work hard pollenating and producing honey. As a beekeeper, we love our bees and strive to protect them so that they can help us. We have seen through the years, the more we do to protect them and provide for them, the more honey that flows from the hives.

So, on this Valentine’s Day, show love with honey from the symbol of love and let the love flow as sweet as honey.

Thanks for visiting and welcome to our Serenity.

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Liquid Gold

Psalm 19 NIV – Psalm 19:9-10

9 The fear of the Lord is pure,
    enduring forever.
The decrees of the Lord are firm,
    and all of them are righteous.

10 They are more precious than gold,
    than much pure gold;
they are sweeter than honey,
    than honey from the honeycomb.

Being a beekeeper is a very interesting hobby for me. I am still a novice so I learn new things everyday. It fascinates me how some many bees can work in harmony for a common goal. There is no fighting among the bees or undercutting coworkers to get ahead. The goal is simple: survival. Every bee knows its job and does it for the betterment of the hive —to make HONEY!!

Making honey seems simple enough, but is it really? In order to make one pound of honey, it takes about 768 bees to fly over 55,000 miles and visit over 2 million flowers. One bee will only produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime. That bee will visit 50 to 100 flowers in a single flight harvesting nectar for honey production. Seem simple now?

Honey is not only food for the bees, but it is also their medicine for diseases. It is 80% sugar and 20% water and is the only food that can completely sustain life. It does not spoil or ruin. It is so valuable that it has been used as currency and valued greater than gold.

Just this week, we harvested honey from one of the bee hives. While processing the honey, I started thinking about what all bees do to make this small amount of honey. It occurred to me that if our society could work together in harmony like the bees there would be nothing that we couldn’t do. But we are caught up in our own agendas and not the betterment of our society. We live in a “me” world, where everyone is focused on themselves. So we have people starving, homeless, and dying because of greed and corruption. God has shown us in the Bible and told us through his son that all we have to do is LOVE. Love is the greatest thing. It is part of every commandment and Jesus even said that Love was the greatest.

So why can’t we just love one another? It all goes back to a garden where sin was released on us.

Love is the honey for our lives. It is liquid gold, sweet sustaining food for life.

Starting today, let’s love one another and care for one another so that we can sustain life and happiness. For God gave us the way, all we have to do is following.

So from us to you, we extend love to you. Thank you for visiting and #welcome2serenity.

Check out our photo of the week that relates to this post.

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The first sign

“Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second.”
‭‭Exodus‬ ‭4:8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

As a beekeeper, I am asked all the time about getting stung or being afraid to get stung. I always repeat the statement that my instructor at my first beekeeping class said. “If you are afraid to get stung, then you don’t need to be a beekeeper.” Being stung is part of the hobby or the profession.

I can tell you that every time I have been stung was because I did something wrong. Just like with most animals, bees will give you a first warning or sign. I even have a warning sign for all visitors just outside my bee fields.

Bees change the sounds they emit as a warning to their mood or level of comfort. That’s why a beekeeper has to stay calm and collective. He or she has to control movements and slow down. If a hive gets irritated, then it’s time to give them space and time to calm down. A common myth is that smoke calms bees. Smoke actually causes the bees to focus on other issues. They believe the hive is on fire and start hive fire duties — protecting the queen, the food supply, and the young.

As with things in our lives, God gives us warning signs, but most of us ignore the first sign, the Holy Bible. He has warned us of all the dangers we will face and how to handle them, but we ignore them and get ourselves into so much trouble. We ask for signs but ignore them; we beg for signs and ignore them. Why? Because we are so focused on what we want or what we think things should be that we ignore the simple first sign. We ask God why even though we know the answer.

I don’t ask a bee why it stung me. I know why immediately. It is simple, I did something wrong. It’s the same with other animals on the farm, why did a hen peck my hand? Because I was to close to her eggs or chicks. Why did a cow get between me and the calf? Because she is protecting her calf. These are first signs and on a farm you learn to read those signs.

In this world, signs are everywhere. We choose to ignore them whether they are our first or second sign, but in the end we pay a price for our choice of choosing to ignore them. So from us here at Serenity Acres, let’s start paying attention to these signs and have better lives.

Thank you for visiting and #welcome2serenity.

Life Tip: When you are around bees, don’t wear perfume or cologne, don’t wear dark colors, and don’t swipe or fan a bee away from you just walk away as calmly as you can.

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The Split

One of the chores at the farm is beehive inspection.

Hive inspection is done to determine the health and stability of the bee colony. We look for any warning signs such as hive beetles and wax moths. We check to make sure the queen is healthy and laying eggs, which leads into checking for royal cells.

A royal cell is the birth chamber of a new queen. A new queen is laid to produce a new colony or to replace the current queen, if she is old or unhealthy. The royal cell is also the sign of a future swarm. Since a colony can only have one queen, when the new queen hatches a swarm occurs splitting the colony into two colonies.

During a hive inspection and relocation this week, a royal cell was discovered. So while relocating the original hive, the royal cell was moved to a new hive, where it will hatch a new queen to produce a new colony of honey bees. Beekeepers split hives all through the spring to avoid swarming of hive.

Just like with our families, children grow and leave the colony to go forth and create a new colony. Although we are different from bees, there are a lot of similarities between the bees and us. Once a bee leaves, it doesn’t come back. Our children may leave but they often return home to visit and feel the family love.

The split is inevitable but it’s whether it’s a controlled or uncontrolled split that matters. Life changes, lives change, and the world continues according to plan. #welcome2serenity