Bee Stings
Let’s ignore the fact that I haven’t updated my blog in 4 years – haha, yes, I still have a blog section on the Lava Bees website – and I’ll write while I’m inspired. Sure, I could fill you in on what the past four years has entailed – lava flows, moving hives, losing hives, having babies, yada, yada, yada, but what brought me here today, what sat me down to post on my hardly ever utilized bee blog, was to respond to a question most beekeepers get asked all the time, and what keeps a lot of people scared of bees. Do you ever get stung?
The simple answer to that question is YES. I get stung. I’ve probably been stung over 150 times in my life. And it still hurts every dang time. But I would say 100 of those stings were my own fault! There was a time period when I was trying to be the -didn’t care if I got stung – cool as a cucumber, t-shirt wearing, no gloves beekeeper. I am in awe of those beekeepers. I want to say we just have different pheromones, and the bees react to mine more – but that’s just wishful thinking! Haha, I think really – most of those stings were a result of ignorance and clumsiness. The first time I caught a swarm and tried to dump it into an empty hive (wearing shorts and nearing nightfall), I got probably 25 of those stings! Or clumsily, a bee would be crawling on my arm and I would bend my arm and smash it on accident. It’s so hot in those bee suits and gloves can make for floppy, hard-to-control fingers, so the benefits of not suiting up are incredibly tempting as a beekeeper.
In the end though, 8 years into beekeeping and I still prefer to suit up when I get into the hives. For me, it’s admittedly a mental hurdle I can’t seem to get past and I’m totally okay with that. I just tend to be way too focused on where bees are crawling on me that it takes 5 times as long to do my bee inspections. Even accepting that my body doesn’t react too badly to bee stings, I just focus too much on the little tickles you feel on the back of your arm that I miss out on the best part of beekeeping. The best part about beekeeping for me is that it quickly shifts you into the present moment and you can just let your mind go. I can be cradled in the sound of their buzz and beauty and nature and often forget all about the other things going on in life. But I just wasn’t getting there while being so physically exposed. I’ve seen my beekeeper friend Jen, one of the most bad*ss women I know, get stung in the eyelid and neck, and just pull out the stingers like no big deal. I’m sure I’ll never be that cool. Seriously, the beekeepers who bare it all have my highest respects, they are true sages, and I hope they still consider me a “real” beekeeper while I continue to put on my layers. Even suited, some still make their way in, most likely by accident, and I still get stung from time to time through my gloves. Been face to face with a couple of bees that snuck inside my veil recently, and the sweet girls still didn’t sting me!
The bees that live on our property only feet away from where we play every day in the yard, hardly ever bother us. Of course, every once in a while there is a curious/seemingly mad bee.. probably trying to send me a message – which I always imagine to be like “HEY! We are getting too full in our hive over here!” Or “The sister hive next to ours isn’t sharing their nectar source location!” But most days, they just do their own thing. Their little house pad is the airport. They start buzzing with the sunrise and begin their busy day of being bees. And even the curious/seemingly mad bees have not yet decided to sting us just for hanging out in our yard.
Stings can hurt, but most of the time, I’m convinced they really aren’t trying to sting us. They die if they do, because their stinger gets stuck in our skin and rips the bottom part of their body off (they can sting other things without this happening). One thing I will say about my ultra breeze bee suit that is nice is that bees can try to sting me, but their stingers don’t seem to get stuck in the suit so I’d like to think I actually harm less bees by suiting up 😉
The real reason I was inspired to write this post though is to beam with pride that my 3.5 year old daughter got her first bee sting last week. And guess where she got stung? Not at our house! Not in the yard that she plays in every day just feet away from thousands of bees! She got stung at the beach! And it wasn’t even a live, angry bee that purposefully tried to sting her. It was a dead bee that she stepped on. She hopped around and did the “ouch, ouch, ouch” dance for a minute while I pulled the stinger out. Then the pain subsided and she was just excited to tell the tale of her first bee sting!
I kept a close eye on her to make sure she didn’t have any unusual reactions, and she didn’t. She amazingly didn’t really have any reaction at all. No swelling, no itching, no redness even. Which is more than I can usually say for myself. The first time I get stung in a certain area, it will swell up, get red, itch like crazy, and feel like a bruise for a few days. However, once I have been stung somewhere, I don’t tend to react as harshly the next time I get stung in that spot. It still stings when it happens, but within minutes of being stung I will forget which finger it was on and life goes on. I’ll spare you all the details of the time a bee managed to crawl all the way up my pant leg before it stung my girlie parts. What a humorous situation that was!
All this to say, I continually learn lessons and gain a deep appreciation for these sweet beeings. Yes, I get stung. No, not by angry, vengeful bees, but mostly by accident or my own clumsiness. You can probably apply those lessons to a lot of situations in life, at least I can, but I’ll leave that to the reader’s own interpretation.
Until next time – hopefully sooner than 4 years from now..
Bees, Beer, and a Baby (Or “Why I Haven’t Updated My Blog in Awhile”)
Excuses, excuses! But really – I have been just about as busy as my bees!! Since last writing – I have gone from 8 to 10 hives! Way past my self-imposed “limit”. One was a conscious split. It needed to happen and I did have an empty hive box just sitting there, so… – 9 hives – that’s a nice number, right? The newest addition – the 10th hive (double digits -ah!) – was a swarm that landed very low on a branch near our house. I was hesitant to get them because I can barely keep up with the hives as it is, but my husband was so encouraging – “look at how close they are”, “you have one extra box, don’t you?” OK, OK. It’s the last hive though – seriously!
I love my bees, and am so happy they are doing great – but I have to be realistic with my time. Especially since finding out that I am a Mommy-to-Bee! About 4.5 months pregnant at the moment. I can only imagine how tired I am going to be in the coming months – and then when the baby arrives! Whoo – trying not to feel overwhelmed. It helps having a good bee buddy like Melissa Honeybee P. – who has been an amazing assistant in the hives this year! She is so gentle with them and has a sweet way of keeping the positive energy flowing during our inspections. Life is too good! So I’m just rolling with all of the changes and excitement!
And where does beer fit in, you ask? I may not be drinking right now, but this sober sister is still making the time for certain beer-related hobbies and events! My husband and I have been making beer and mead for a number of years, and are quite the beer nerds. We are certified beer judges with the American Homebrewers Association and plan most of our vacations around brewery visits and beer festivals. One of our favorite weeks of the year revolves around the 2nd Saturday in March when the Kona Brewer’s Festival occurs. It is one of the best beer festivals we have ever been to, and not just because it is on the Big Island! Amazing food, quality brews, and right on the ocean! We participate as judges in the homebrew competition that precedes the brew festival. We also enter our meads (made with Lava Bees honey) and homebrews into the competition – of course, only in categories that we are not judges in!
So, with a baby on the way and all – I was benched as a judge this year – but very much enjoyed helping in the competition by cleaning glasses and pouring fresh pitchers of palette cleansers for the judges. It was actually nice to take a break from all of the writing that goes along with judging and just relax. Being a beer judge is a lot more work than you would think! To taste a small sample of beer and write about a page worth of descriptions while trying to constructively critique and encourage home brewers to continue perfecting their craft – it’s not all cheers and beers! Some homebrews are downright funky and some are savored on the side to let the rest of the judges partake in the beauty.
Anyways, despite my state of sobriety, I managed to have a great time. It is like a family reunion every year that we get to reconnect with the judges that come from all around the country. And – getting a few medals was nice, too! We were awarded a gold medal for our Chili Pepper Mead, a silver medal for our Cranberry Mead, and a bronze medal for a California Common style beer. Our friend, Diki Short, also kindly gave us credit on a gold medal winning Jaboticaba Mead that we helped him make as a demonstration at the Hawai’i Honey Festival in 2014. It’s awesome to see that almost all of the mead winners this year are also beekeepers that use their own honey to make the mead! It goes to show that the mead judges really can detect when quality honey is used!
Looking forward to tasting some of our Lava Bees meads again next year – after the baby is born and after they have aged for awhile longer. Now it’s time to get creative and come up with some new recipes. Our Lava Bees are producing so much honey it is mind-boggling! I really am behind on how much mead I could be making! Good thing honey doesn’t go bad! No rest for the bees during the Hawaiian “winter” – and no rest for this soon-to-bee mama beekeeper. But as they say – happiness is being busy doing the things you love! Buzz ya later!
Hurricane Honey
Living in Hawai’i for the past 12 years doesn’t make me an expert, but I can say for certain that the weather has felt especially crazy during 2014-2015. Hurricane Iselle in August 2014 was one of the scariest moments of my life. Our house shook like an earthquake for 6 hours straight, but that wasn’t what had me worried. Of course, what kept me wide awake and running outside in the high winds and rain every hour was the bees! We got lucky, and only one top bar hive roof got knocked off by the wind (I put it back on and no bees were harmed). Other beekeepers around Puna weren’t as fortunate while large trees fell on top of their hives. Today, a hurricane passes off the coast of the Big Island and brings back memories of that night that felt like it would never end. So, what to do when you originally planned for a bee inspection today and instead are greeted with strong winds and rain? None of your beeswax! Just kidding ~ I made some lip balm!! I have ordered a bunch of tubes to hopefully make some available online by the holidays. For now, they will be exclusively at the farmer’s markets at the Pali Kai Farm booth. Ingredients: Lava Bees beeswax, coconut oil, cocoa butter, sweet almond oil, and vitamin E oil. I have tested this recipe out for the past year and love the natural beeswax coconut scent and the smooth moisture it brings to my lips. Enjoy 🐝🐝
Farmer’s Market Fun!
I am so excited to announce that we are finally selling at a few local farmer’s markets! We have been friends with the family that runs Pali Kai Farm for many years, and they generously offered to sell our honey at their booth! Enjoy some of the best non-GMO, organic veggies around and pick up our honey while you are at it! Look for the Pali Kai booth at Uncle Robert’s in Kalapana during the Saturday SPACE market, on Sundays at the Hamakua Harvest Farmer’s Market, and at Uncle Robert’s in Kalapana at the Wednesday night market!
Hawai’i Honey Festival Fun!
Saturday, September 26th, 2015 – Nani Mau Gardens – Hilo, Hawaii ** Great times were had at the Hawai’i Honey Festival again this year! Live music, beautiful gardens, and 86 honey entries to sample! Mahalo to everyone who voted! We are happy to have received 2nd Place in the People’s Choice category for comb honey and 3rd Place from the formal judging panel in comb honey! The bees couldn’t bee happier with the results! Until next year!
New Logo!
I am so excited to have a new logo for Lava Bees! My friend Alyssa Clark is a very talented artist and came up with this design for Lava Bees! I can’t wait to show the bees! Check out Aly’s work at http://alykat.daportfolio.com
My Bee Buddy
I want to share my deepest gratitude and respect for Jen Rasmussen at Paradise Nectar Apiaries. She is truly the bee whisperer, my mentor, and my friend. Without her guidance, I am not sure I would have persevered as a beekeeper. Her calming presence and intuitive reasoning around the bees is an inspiration and a joy to watch. Not only does she have 70+ beehives on the Big Island and two of the cutest and most energetic kids I have ever met, she still somehow manages to make time for me when my bees are in need of some extra attention and care. She has just published a book and I would encourage anyone interested in beekeeping to buy her book, check out her website, her youtube videos, and share with me in appreciating Jen for all she does for me and the bees!
Bee(hive) Happy!
About our beehives… We currently have 8 beehives. 2 top bar hives and 6 langstroth (the traditional boxed-style) hives. 6 of the beehives reside in our yard just steps away from our house allowing me to peek in on them day and night. 2 of the beehives are on another property a mile down the road. All 8 beehives have ocean views! My husband was adamant that the bees hang out in a spot on the properties where WE like to hang out and view the ocean.. so cute. 8 hives seems to be my happy place. I have a full-time job (not as a beekeeper), so managing 8 hives has been challenging at times, but I continue to learn and grow as a beekeeper and am now thinking.. hmm.. maybe I can handle a couple of more hives soon. We shall see! I should mention that all of our hives originally came from one hive. That hive grew and I split it into two. Those hives grew and I split them. Some of the hives swarmed from being too full, and I caught them and so on until bam — 8 hives. As much as I love where I live, I believe the bees love it even more. The warm breeze, the nearby flowering trees, the quiet, peaceful life in Kalapana. They must wonder why I leave to go to work! I wonder the same thing sometimes! And these girls (yes, most of the bees are female) are rock stars! They have won awards for their honey and the mead we make from their honey. I always make sure to give them a big pat on the hive when that happens. Sometimes I think of them as my children, but in reality they are my teachers. A story for another day!
NewBee Blogger
Aloha Busy Buzzing People of the Internet,
I have been keeping bees for over 3 years (already?!), and what I have learned is that 1) I will never know everything when it comes to bees, 2) My bees would like me to be a full-time beekeeper, and 3) We have really good honey. The story never ends when it comes to our bees. I am constantly thinking about when I will go into the hives next, what am I going to do with all of this beeswax, Uh-oh — strong gust of wind — how are the bees? Bees on the brain!! Our bees get to enjoy a near constant state of summer (It’s a hard life here in Hawai’i), and as a result, it seems like the honey harvesting season never ends! Between all of the fruiting seasons of mac nut trees, avocados, mangoes, lehua blossoms, Christmas berries, and more, our honey is different and delicious every harvest, but nearly impossible to tell you exactly what they are gathering at any certain time. Bees can fly up to 5 miles from the hive, and we are simply surrounded by all kinds of things, so the bees go to where the nectar flows. Speaking of flows, we live near an active lava flow. Remember that town that was recently on the news as “about to get covered up by lava”…? Yep, that’s our town. But the lava goddess Pele has turned her attention elsewhere for now and we live to buzz another day in this bee-autiful paradise. I am not sure how good I will be at blogging, but once I get started talking about bees, it is hard to stop. So, I will save some more blog love for later. Thanks for checking out Lava Bees and I hope you enjoy the honey.
-Callie
lavabees.net 