The North: Wisdom The Hive

I am so impressed with the productivity of the bee colony. We use several parts of the hives products for our own healing and consumption.

Other bee products from the hive include:

Royal Jelly: this is produced by a special group of young bees in their 6^thto 12^th days of life. It is fed to the Queen for her entire life. Because of the nutrients, over 48, it is considered a power food. Royal Jelly is often used in cosmetics and may help energy, and when ill.

Pollen: pollen is collected by the bees from flowers and used as the protein part of their diet and the most important requirement for bee growth. Pollen can be either dried or frozen and is included in natural remedies and food supplements. Some people can be allergic so it is always wise that a test is carried out with small amounts of pollen first before ingesting on a regular basis.

Propolis: this is collected from plants and trees and is used to coat the inside of the beehive and the honeycomb cell with an antiseptic layer. This resinous substance is used in creams, tinctures, cosmetics, tablets and capsules.

Beeswax: this is secreted by the worker bee from special glands on the underside of the body and is used to build the home in which the bees live. Its source is the honey that is eaten by the bees. Between two and four pounds of honey need to be consumed by the bees in order to produce 1 pound of beeswax. Beeswax is a commonly used ingredient in the cosmetic industry as a thickening agent, e.g. lipsticks, lip salves.

Honeybees are so incredibly valuable to our food crops and production. Serious problems face our crops, our beekeepers, our nation. One small way we can help is to plant bee friendly gardens.

thehoneybeeconservancy.org is a great site with practical information.

Also Gunther Hauk, filmed Queen of the Sun, a documentary and created a bee sanctuary right here in Floyd VA.! Happy planning and planting.