The Bob Dylan of Apitherapy 0001

Last year, my second year with the bees at my secret East Village location, in the autumn all over the East Coast beekeepers were astounded at how hungry the bees were. You'd put out some sugar tea for them to drink, and they would lap it up in an hour, while it used to take days. So I came up with the idea to have a tea party for them. This is a little video I made. It was so much fun to see so many of them at once and to honor their greatness with a crystal bowl flower party.

However, the bees got sick afterward. And the colony did not survive the winter. Just another lesson for me about how tender these little ladies really are. Some people say it's fine and dandy to serve them sugar - i.e. Chris Harp, and Jim Fischer; others like Gunther Hauk say not to. I am starting to think it's better not to serve them anything but a light herbal honey-water. Here's Gunther's Recipe. It makes 2 gallons or so, enough to serve 12 colonies:

Put 3 teaspoons each of yarrow, equisetum (horse-tail,) and stinging nettle, and 2 teaspoons each of anise, hyssop, dandelion, peppermint, lemon balm and chamomile, and one teaspoon each of thyme, sage and hyssop, with 1/4 teaspoon of rue, into 1 gallon of water that has boiled and been taken off the stove. Leave out anything you don't have, it's no biggie!

Let steep 10 minutes. Simmer 1 Tablespoon ground up oak bark for 1/2 hour into 1 Qt. of water. Add the two mixes, and then strain them through a cloth, and let cool enough to mix in 1 lb honey. Double the quantity of water and taste. If the taste is overpowering, dillute some more, and add a bit more honey. Do not give more than a pint per colony at a time. If they don't take it readily, make it milder or add a bit more honey.

I used a formula that was more than half sugar, a bit of honey, and water and tea. So this year I will go with Gunther's formula. But only a pint at a time!

Still, it made for a fun film, and I hope my bees can forgive me. It could be that they died because I under-treated them for varroa mites, or that they flew away to Central Park because of a nearby construction project. All I know is that I miss them and will try even harder next time to make my girls happy and healthy, and to be as gentle and as hygeinic as possible with them.

A bee-keeper is always learning...always challenged!

Category:

Comedy

Tags:

• Honeybees
• Comedy
• Dana Lee Cohen