Honey and chair

Wednesday I drove north of town to buy some honey. I love honey and I learned about a local beekeeper that sells natural honey. By natural I mean honey that will eventually crystallize with age as no preservatives or other ingredients are added to the honey. I bought a half gallon of honey for $8.50.

From this beekeeper I learned an acquaintance of my family from the 1970s (Mr. Kester) has retired from being a beekeeper. My, how time flies.

The people I bought the honey from have 70,000 hives. (Did I ever mention that North Dakota is the number 1 honey producing state?) Their hives are still in California having finished pollinating the almond crops and currently are pollinating the citrus crops before returning to North Dakota in May.

My Montana friend Grant used to have a few of his hives on my ranch so I learned a few things about bees and honey. Today I talked about the Colony Collapse Disorder killing off large number of honeybees. This guy didn't have this problem this year but he knew of people how lost 40% or more of their bees. He thinks they didn't have a problem because they don't keep their Queens old. Also, with the need for honeybees for pollination the bees often are kept active all year round and bees do like to go dormant over the winter. More active lives can be more stressful lives.

He also mentioned that honey made from Buckwheat pollen is mostly used for cooking and not eating. Apparently honey made from buckwheat smells similar to manure. *yuck!*

After I bought the honey I checked with mom's doctor's office and learned her doctor still hadn't filled out the form for mom to get a powered wheelchair. *sigh* They promise they will do this within the next few days.