This I believe

[Andrew Dewey]

In the spirit of the “This I believe” Essays first published in the 1950s and most recently broadcast on National Public Radio, I offer the following:

1. The adage “all beekeeping is local” is a phrase that must be kept in mind when reading Internet articles regarding beekeeping. Screened bottom boards and top bar hives may be just the ticket for some folks, but they don't work for me.
   
   
   
2. Treatment Free or Natural Beekeeping is a worthwhile goal, one which I'm glad for the efforts made in that direction. I am concerned by some of the claims (small cell) and find denigrating actions/words by all sides of the TF issue repulsive.
   
   
   
3. Healthy honey bees need healthy habitat. If in providing healthy honey bee habitat I/we also provide healthy habitat for native pollinators, so much the better!
   
   
   
4. Honey that is sold for human consumption needs to be processed to meet health and governmental standards. I may disagree with aspects of food processing regulations as being over blown for honey, but I can't escape the basic thought that responsibility for providing a safe food supply is a governmental responsibility. Hence regulations that are sometimes onerous.
   
   
   
5. By deciding to start on the beekeeping adventure, I committed to overseeing the welfare of my bees, and doing what my best judgment says I must to keep them healthy and productive.
   
   
   
6. The results of scientific studies are not automatically good or bad. Science is a way that humans advance knowledge, and arguing about the results of scientific surveys is part of the knowledge building.
   
   
   
7. Human knowledge about bees is dynamic not static. I have faith that we will know more about bees and beekeeping ten years from now than we do now.
   
   
   
8. Beekeeping is an agricultural endeavor, subject to the continuing evolution of agriculture world wide. Should I be fortunate and have an agricultural product (honey) to sell, my operation becomes a cog in the wheel of worldwide agriculture. Knowledge of, and participation in groups working to identify and support best practices is part of the deal.
   
   
   
9. Short of a world wide apocalypse (my wife is convinced there won't be power in the grid in another ten years) it seems naive to me to believe that methodologies that were state of the art 100 years ago represent the best solutions to our modern day challenges. I cringe at some of what was done as best agricultural practices in the past, and am grateful that the most environmentally damaging practices have fallen from favor. I have confidence that environmental impacts will continue as a most necessary criteria when evaluating new products and methodologies.
   
   
   
10. As “all beekeeping is local” I have a responsibility to help pass on the local knowledge.
    

In all of this I try to be guided by a quotation attributed to George Fox: "Walk gently on the earth. You will come to walk cheerfully over the world answering that of God in everyone."

[cdevier]

Amen

[Tony Rogers]

I believe God made all things for His good pleasure and part of that pleasure is that we delight in His creation! We were given the reasponsilibity to watch over and tend His creation and that is the very reason we love working with Honey Bees :-)

[GLOCK]

I believe God made all things for His good pleasure and part of that pleasure is that we delight in His creation! We were given the reasponsilibity to watch over and tend His creation and that is the very reason we love working with Honey Bees :-)

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Sorry BARRY.

[Barry]

This thread is about to get off topic. Let's not let that happen.

[Vance G]

Much of what was said goes without comment. The Stockholm Syndrome demands for regulation is just silly. It is mostly just a barrier to entry for new beekeepers wanting to sell honey and compete with the established better heeled folks. As a health inspector told me when I asked about regulation in his county: He said that there is nothing you can put in but water that will make it spoil. If it is dirty or tastes bad, it won't sell. That is why there are national standards requiring addresses and phone numbers to trace the honey back to the source if there are problems with the honey. Are you sure you are not just protecting your market share?

[squarepeg]

i disagree.

i would love it if the guy selling 'syrup' honey for $8 a quart two tables down from me at the flea market had to make that disclosure.

i would also love it if anyone around me who was practicing the 'bond' method, or was 'bee-having' instead of beekeeping, was compelled to clean up or burn any typhoid mary hives before they became a threat to other bees.

[bhfury]

I believe this website is the best... and everyone know matter their experience can learn something on here.

[Andrew Dewey]

@Vance - The regulations for home food processing in Maine seem reasonable to me. They want to make sure that the facility you process in is cleanable, that the water is up to snuff, and that the septic system can handle what you put in it. Honey is exempt from the requirement that a sample of each new bottle or container be sent to the University lab for testing. There is no requirement to heat honey to a certain level or to remove pollen by filtering. I do strain my honey primarily to remove bee parts. As for market share, if I sold 15 quarts this past year I'd be surprised. It was a lousy honey production year around here combined with some poor supering strategies on my part. And yes there are labeling requirements too, but they have little to do with what goes in the bottle.

I probably should mention too that there is very little enforcement of the home processing rules in regards to honey. There are some beekeepers who are not aware that they should be processing in a licensed or approved facility before selling their honey.

[Acebird]

I probably should mention too that there is very little enforcement of the home processing rules in regards to honey.

Are there enough government employees in the state of Maine to police 1/10 its area? If the regulation does not have a production limit for this licensing it sounds foolish.