I’m not a beekeeper or a beekeeper’s son, but boy, I like the honey when all the work is done.
As I mentioned in an earlier column, a beekeeper has placed greater than 30 hives in a sheltered area on what I refer to as our “back 40.” Bees are not new to me, as I grew up in a market garden where a beekeeper kept upward of 60 hives in what was referred to as the bee yard, fenced and tucked in the shelter of a tall spruce windbreak.
What I know about beekeeping could be penciled on a thumbnail. But honey has been included almost daily in my diet since I was knee-high to a grasshopper. Having played host to the keeper’s colony of bees, year after year we were shown gratitude by being given free honey. I grew up on cinnamon and honey liberally spread on toasted homemade bread each and every morning. What goes around comes around, and we are now back in that same possible position.
This past week, we were given a demonstrated tour of our beekeeper’s honey house where the honey is extracted from the wax combs that were gathered earlier from the hives. There was nothing more interesting than the explanation of the process given by the workers on duty there. On our departure, we were handed a box with quite a liberal supply of honey.
Coincidentally, when back home, I rummaged through a yet unpacked box of items that I have not had a chance to even look through since I moved. There tumbled out an old cookbook of my mother’s that had obviously been given to my Little Lady sometime in the distant past. In it was a handwritten list of what my mother had jotted down about honey. In part, it goes like this:
“Honey is the only food known to man that will not spoil. Over long periods, it will crystallize. When this happens, warm the honey in hot water and it will liquefy. Do not overheat it, as doing so will kill the natural enzymes that make honey what it is.
“Honey can be used with little side effects for many ailments. Honey, spread thick and sprinkled liberally with cinnamon, cures many ailments such as colds, upset stomach, ulcers, indigestion, pimples, skin infections, tiredness and unpleasant breath.”
The fact is, folks, honey is produced in most countries of the world. It is gaining sanction by many scientists as a very effective medicine when combined with cinnamon. And the fact that I like most of all, is nothing needs to be killed – plant or animal – in order to acquire it.
So get smacking your lips on your toast and honey each morning, folks. It’s good for you.
Take care, ‘cause we care.
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