Bee Pollen - A Convenient Truth

-Posted by Isaac

What do you do with bee pollen? What is this? What's it used for?

Every week at the market, same questions, same worn out answers. Jayne and Jess handle it better than I. They smile patiently, draw the customer's interest, and proceed to sell a jar of pollen. Myself, frustrated with typical consumer ignorance, I just hand this out:

And glare.

For the people who don't immediately walk away disgusted with the customer service, this paper offers a sort of summary. In very matter-of-fact terms we learn a few somewhat boring facts about bee pollen. As only words on a sheet of paper can do, it kind of explains that there are some health benefits to this stuff... in the same way you'd kind of explain that there are some atoms in the universe.

No, there's just no justice here. In this post I hope to remedy the unrevealed and cure the colorless. It's the convenient truth about bee pollen. Let's spread the gospel and shine the light on this amazing superfood!

First, a personal testimony.

So a few months ago I was doing my grocery shopping, and unbeknownst to me, some sneaky lowlife dog came up from behind and took a picture at the exact moment of my peril. 

And not only that, the sonofagun made a meme out of it! Next thing I know, I'm the laughing stock of the internet. All my friends, neighbors and coworkers getting their jollies at the expense of yours truly! 

Now I'm not sure if he was making fun of Walmart or my faulty fat-boy cart, but that doesn't much matter. What matters is that it pissed me off! In fact, it pissed me off so much, I totally changed my diet. Bee pollen to the rescue! Oh, don't get me wrong, I still loves me some Big K Cola, but now I use my daily 12 pack to chase down a couple teaspoons of pollen. It kicked off a complete metamorphosis! Thank you glorious bee pollen! Now I run marathons.

Meme this you sonofabitch!

And I'm proud to say I can kick Mason's ass. How? Well, how do you think?? He doesn't take his bee pollen. I do!

Now let's examine the wonders of pollen in a more public setting. If you'll remember, about a year ago we were engulfed in a monumental race for the White House. Of the non-pollen users we had a sniveling socialist with hemorrhoids who didn't even make it through the primaries.

And we had a dope smoking libertarian who captured a whopping 3% of the vote.

Hey buddy, you toke, you choke...

Well, all I can say is Let Freedumb Ring!  Look who remembered to take his pollen!

How else do you think he can fire off those tweets at 3 am?

God bless the USA! And God bless the Donald!

And while we're at it, God bless God!

That's right, God. Yet another pollen crusader who's been taking it for like, eternity.

"Sinners repent, or feel ye the wrath of bee pollen!"

Seriously folks, if the Almighty takes a daily dose, shouldn't you too?

It's basically the Omnivore's Non-dilemma. I'm telling you, big things can happen on the pollen diet. Let me explain this with a little elementary history lesson. Way back in the 1700's we had 13 puny and somewhat miserable colonies. 

Why were they miserable? Because they were small. And blue.

They were even afraid to call themselves states. Yes, a sad state affairs it was- not taking themselves seriously, bickering with England, and oh yeah, not taking their pollen.

Eventually, round about 1776, they figured some things out and got on the pollen wagon.

By 1845 we had Texas.

(And we don't!)

Well,  maybe we don't mess with Texas, but just a few weeks ago somebody had the gonads to give Texas a much unwanted bath. A somebody we all know as Hurricane Harvey. That's right, Big Bad Harvey- the most expensive storm in the history of mankind.

And, an avid pollen user I might add. You see, hurricanes occur in the fall, and we all know what also fills the air in the fall-- pollen. Lots and lots of pollen. How to you think these storms reach such size and strength? By sucking up dairy farms and sugarcane fields? Not hardly. It's the pollen, dummy. The pollen!

In fact, as Time Magazine points out, these storms are getting stronger. Below is a comparison of tiny Hurricane Andrew from 25 years ago, and  big fat Hurricane Irma from four weeks ago. Now climatologists and the scientific community, as they are apt to do, will spout off some scientific B.S. about rising global temperatures and increased atmospheric heat causing bigger storms. (yawn) This may have some bearing, true, but they have obviously missed a huge variable in their geeky calculations. Any beekeeper with half a lick of sense will tell you why Irma was such a monster: the goldenrod was in bloom!

Step back and think about it. (But not too hard.) If pollen can deliver such benefits to a human body, imagine what it can do for a storm the size of Texas! I know, I know, a decidedly inconvenient truth. 

So why the title of this post? Well... I didn't say it was convenient for everyone. I guess I mainly meant convenient for us. We sell the stuff.

But folks, it's like anything-- a powerful weapon, a fast car, a highly intelligent wife-- you have to proceed with caution and avoid the pitfalls. Basically, don't overdo it!

For those of you thinking about taking the leap, you now know some mighty tall truths about bee pollen. Where you take it from here is up to you. It's yin and yang, my friends. Sure, you have the yin of angry storms and stormy presidents, but the whole of the pollen picture also includes the yang of enormous health benefits. Health benefits to you! 

For you bee pollen regulars, I'm sure we just covered things that you already knew. Sorry to waste your time. But thanks for reading anyway. And thanks for spreading the good word about pollen. If you keep buying, we'll keep collecting.

You really are buying this stuff, right? 

Bee Pollen- the hard part

-Posted by Isaac

Yes, we're still talking about pollen. And like it or not, we'll be on the pollen train for another week. I still need to tell you about all the benefits to this awesome superfood. Just you wait.

But for now, we're going to go over the in-between steps. 

The bees take care of step 1:

And at the end, usually I take care of the getting-it-to-the-store step:

Hmmm... choices, choices...

This is not the last step, mind you. That's up to you: the putting-it-in-your-smoothie step.

This post is about the hard part of bee pollen- all the in-betweens. For this, we have some wonderful employees.

Last week we talked about the trapping part. We're just about done with my favorite part of the pollen season. When the goldenrod is in full swing, the bees hammer down. The pollen all turns a brilliant orange and the traps need to be emptied every other day or they'll overfill.

As I said last week, after the trapping and collecting, the pollen goes into the freezer and just sits there.

It could sit for days or months. When it comes time for the drying and the cleaning, back into the daylight it comes. I try to find pollen from the first few weeks and mix it with the later goldenrod. This diversifies the colors, the floral sources and, I think, the health benefits.

The pollen sits on the drying racks for about a day. These are simply screens with a fan blowing from below. Room temperature, and a dehumidifier are all that's needed.

We dry the pollen because it just wouldn't be shelf stable at room temperature. It would quickly mold. But it doesn't need over-dried. If you've ever tasted pollen and it crunches like grape nuts, that's too dry!

Once dry (enough), we run the pollen in front of a fan several times. This gets rid of the dust, a few bees' wings, and some of the smaller ants. There are commercial cleaners that do this, but why buy a commercial cleaner when you've got Mr. Blair?

The dust is saved and later fed back to the bees in the form of protein patties. We'll usually fill four or five buckets a year.

The next part of the equation happens once a week, usually on Friday morning: in comes our master pollen cleaner, Jeanne Brigner. Jeanne is a retired elementary school teacher, so she now puts her acquired patience and mental fortitude toward another demanding and very tedious task:

They make commercial pollen cleaners to do this job also, but nothing can get it as clean as Jeanne with three hours and a pair of tweezers. I'm not lying. The machines just can't compete with a patient pair of human eyes. There are bee parts, hive beetles, ants and pollen clumps to contend with. Jeanne sorts through it all and bottles the final product.

At this point, the pollen is shelf stable. It's fine for months at room temperature, but we only keep a few out for the coming week's markets.

Most goes back into the freezer to preserve freshness.

Between the comb honey, chunk honey and pollen, our freezer space is in high demand this time of year. By mid-October, we'll have four deep freezers filled.

And little by little throughout the year, the orders will come in, and those freezers will slowly empty.

Next week is the easy part-- the benefits of bee pollen. Why do we go to such lengths to obtain this rare superfood? You'll be soon to know! I'm already researching this, and my excitement is growing. Stay tuned!

Goldenrod Season

-Posted by Isaac

The goldenrod is upon us. For bees and beekeepers alike, it's like manna from heaven.

This beautiful sunny week, you could walk into any bee yard and immediately smell the dirty socks. That's right, just like a basket of old laundry. When goldenrod nectar is coming in and the bees are rushing to dry it before the coming October cold, the air is filled with a rank musty odor. It sort of brings me back to my days of camper living. Gives me a chance to reminisce.

But that's a blog for another day. For now, I'm going to show you some pics from pollen collection. When goldenrod season begins, the pollen changes to a bright orange and the traps really start to fill.

We've been waiting for this. In August the traps went on. It's a tedious affair, requiring the lifting of every box. This year we're running about 65 traps in four yards.

This particular yard doubled as a comb honey yard. Mid-August, the comb boxes came off and the traps went on. Along with a couple pounds of protein. If you're going to be taking the pollen, the bees need a supplement. I try to give every hive in the pollen yards at least six pounds of patties over the next 40 days.

Another tedious aspect of pollen collection- getting the bees to maneuver through those traps. They don't exactly enjoy learning a new route, and will avoid the traps if they can find an alternative. Duct tape, as always, is a handy thing to have around.

I pick four yards that are not on pallets. The Sundance traps that we have are designed for hives on individual stands. Last year I acquired a few side-drawer traps that are made specifically for palletized hives, but still ran into complications. Now they just reside on individual hives, but are emptied from the side instead of the back.

The August pollen starts coming in as browns, greens, grays and whites. Soon the ragweed blooms and it turns a bright yellow.

For about two weeks you get a mix of yellow and brown, and then, slowly you start to see some orange. The taste changes with the color. I can tell what's in bloom by the look on Eden's face.

Suddenly, on a hot week in September, everything turns to a brilliant orange. The goldenrod!

The traps fill so quickly, you have to make the rounds at least every other day. Everything goes into the freezers after it is collected. We start with buckets, but soon move to black plastic bags when space gets limited. 

From there, it waits.

It just occurred to me that the cleaning and packing process may be of interest. Not to mention a possible blog post on the benefits of bee pollen. I'll try to collect some photos in the coming weeks.

But for now, with the goldenrod in full bloom, we've got to focus on the collecting.

If I'm lucky, I'll get a kid or two along for company. Maizy was with me the other evening and as usual, grabbed my camera. I mostly like to make the rounds in the mornings. It's cool, the bees are quiet, and you can pretty much do the job in shorts if you want to. Even in your tighty whities, which is sometimes fun in the murky veil of early dawn.

But in the evening it's a different story. The bees are still active and hot, having just worked a long day collecting the very pollen you're about to take. You learn quickly- bring a suit.

A breather

-Posted by Isaac

Yesterday I resumed work on the big barn lean-to. 

Back to the projects. We had to slog through the remnants of Irma this week, but by mid-morning on Friday the sun had come out, the temps approached 80, in the distance the soybeans were turning to gold, and those 16 hives you see below the locust trees were just a'roaring. For quite a while I simply enjoyed my perch, sat and listened. It was electric- the radiant flux, the fluid living air, streaming with sound and fury. What a day to be alive!

All's well in the land of Honeyrun. The bees have found the goldenrod, and if the weather cooperates, we're going to have ourselves a productive week. The girls will pack in that rich fall nectar, and I will do, well, whatever I darn well please. Within Jayne's approval, of course. The projects are calling. It's time to hang up the bee suit for a little while.

The three week summer harvest proved not quite as bad as I anticipated- about half of our normal. A Monday morning optimist I am. And securing my optimism, this last Monday we finished up the first round of buckwheat. Not bad-- Close to 700 pounds! 

This came off the hives here at home. You can see that it's not quite as dark as true buckwheat honey should be. I think I left too much spring honey on in June. But that's ok, the next round will be darker. The girls are already working the second bloom.

We're going to have sort of a succession bloom. Half now and half will go until mid October, providing the frost holds off.

The work really doesn't end when the last drop of honey finds its way to the bulk tank. There are the supers to think about. Three and a half trailer loads are now cleaned up and stacked neatly (or crookedly) in the barn.

And the cappings wax is still being rendered. This week Jayne put this cool shot on Instagram:

That's wax from the spring and summer harvests combined. About 400 pounds, which will make quite a few one ounce blocks.

So bring on the crafters!

How good it is. The summer harvest is over. The Honeyfest is over. The weather is lovely and the goldenrod is gorgeous. The bees are busy being bees.

It's time, for a while at least, to take a breather.

Honeyfest 2017- the great irony

-Posted by Isaac

How great is it to be right here, right now? 

Here it comes, the Big Parade! The Honeyfest is on!

Yesterday as I walked around garnering images, I couldn't help but feel a mixed sense of luck and guilt. Here we are in mid-Ohio on a gorgeous sunny September weekend. This never happens. Over the last decade, I can't remember a single Honeyfest weekend when there wasn't the threat of rain or wind, plague or famine. Usually it seems we luck out, but not always. There have been some miseries. Well, irony of ironies, here we are living in the sunshine while the rest of the country is getting blasted- running for their lives, drowning, choking on smoke, burning up... for once, the Ohioans rolled a seven. I'm not sure how I feel about this. It's hard to get used to not griping about something.  

But over the last few weeks I guess I've done my share. It's hard to juggle the bees and the Honeyfest prep during this busy busy time of year.

Thank God Katie is on the team.

Starting about two weeks ago, she's bottled a mountain of honey, sorted, organized, counted, cut, filed, labeled, built, created, carried, collected, cleaned, and generally made this big parade happen.

And the last few days, even Lafe got in on the action.

It takes some work. Some planning, some coordination. Some people skills. It's sort of an art in its own way.

My lovely girl is, and has been the mastermind of the whole thing.

So come on out to the Honeyfest and partake! You've still got today. Relish in the irony. 

You can watch old men wearing bees. 

Or watch old men learning about bees.

Or just buzz around and be your own parade.

If you tire of the kids, drop them at the Busy Bees learning area and go have some fun.

When you've had too much fun, you'll find plenty of soak-it-up options.

Or do what I like to do- relax in the park with music filling the air.

Enjoy yourself! You've watched other people work hard for this.