The buzz about bees and honey
By Susan Stein

The birds and honey.

These were the topics of Robert Ireland, guest speaker at the Booster Club on Oct. 24, at the Tec We Gwill Hall in Newton Robinson.

Robert Ireland of Montana Honey House, is the owner of Ireland Apiaries in Dufferin County.

Robert follows in the footsteps of his ancestors, who 125 years ago starting beekeeping and producing Meadow Flower honey from the Dufferin Hills.

It was in 1905 that W.H. Ireland, coming from the West on horseback, stopping in the Mansfield area, decided to settle on the land here. Mixed farming, with the emphasis on fruit trees (mostly apples), from which cider and vinegar was made.

Bees were kept for pollination and that eventually led the following Iralnd generation in establishing Beehives and producing the honey, extracting from them. First this was done by hand, and later by machine.

Robert traced the history of beekeeping and honey making to the 16th century immigrants.

Observing the bees, essential in pollinating and cross polllinating wild fruit trees, Robert's grandfather set out to use bees on his farm and consequently made producing honey his life's work.

To be a successful apiarist and honey producer, one must be knowledgable in the life cicle of bees. Robert with the help of pictures showed the inner sanctum of the beehive with the queen in the middle, catered to by the Drones

worker bees).

Her role is in laying thousands of eggs, who after 21 days come out of larvae as bees.

Every two years the queen bee is killed to make room for a new one. .

The bees fly out from hives, bringing back the nectar in pouches on their bodies.

Deposited in the octagon shaped openings, made of beeswax, it matures into honey. It takes nine pounds of honey to make one pound of beeswax, which is used for special candles.

Raw honey is the most nutririous, after pateurization it loses many of the vitamins and minerals.

Good honey granulates, bad honey does not. So when you purchase a jar of honey, you will notice the difference.

Honey is a much better preservative,than sugar for fruit and pickles.

Eating honey can also help people, suffering from some allergies. Robert, whose allergy causes his eyes and nose to water, goes as far as eating a honeybee (after removing her sting). Only a beekeeper would do that.

A bee's sting is used by his family as therapy for arthritis. When substituting sugar with honey in recipes. use 3/4 cup of honey for 1 cup of sugar.

Bees originated in Africa. The Killer Bee is a tropical bee and will not fly north from the southern American states.

There is a problem with honeybees deserting their hives, or finding dead bees there. So far scientist have concluded, that it is not a virus, it could be the herbecide or pesticide sprayed on fields.

Robert sends his bees to farmers for pollinating their soybeans, buckwheat and clover.

He send us home with a fresh appetite for honey, for respecting the busy bee on our flowers, and for knowing, that a bee will not sting, only a wasp.