12 Strokes of Midnight

Chapter 3

  Copyright Ⓒ 2018 by B. Bailey All Rights Reserved     

"And you pull the lid up, taking hold of the edge of the frame here," Grandma reaches down in her white suit, her kind face hidden behind a dark grey gauzy mask, "shaking out the bees gently. Each rack lifts up and you scrape the honey out after making sure there is a decent buildup of white wax on the top at least three days after the nectar flow has stopped. That is very important, otherwise you could hurt the colony."

"We only take the excess," I respond, nodding my head seriously as I stare out through the netting of my own hood, excited to finally be inside of the greenhouses. "The bees live there so we do not damage their homes."

"Yes dear," Grandma states, sounding very proud. "They do the work and a great business man or business woman knows that when the workers are happy and secure the business stays happy and secure."

"You always said that the honey is different with different types of pollen, does that mean the honey combs and bees act differently too?"

"No," she laughs, sounding excited by my constant stream of questions. "The bees all act the same and the honey combs are always the same. It's just the pollen source that's different. I have the greenhouses split up to gather different flavors of honey," she confides, scraping her tool across the honeycombed surface in her hands into a bucket. "A lot of people don't realize that all honey is not the same. The pollen affects the flavor. You noticed the difference in color immediately. Amber, light orange, dark brown, it all indicates that types of plants that the bees visited."

Her right foot reaches out, lightly tapping the side of the bucket she's scraping the honey into. "You see that this greenhouse has white buckets. I give each greenhouse a different color. There are a total of 12 greenhouses, each one covering 0.75 acres, making up 9 of our 10 total acre ranch. Each greenhouse has different pH for the water supply with the aquaponics, supporting the pH necessary for the plants in the enclosed system, keeping the plants producing year-round at three times the rate of traditional farming, which keeps the bees busy pollinating year-round."

"And none of the bees get exposed to toxins. I read those reports you emailed me and you're right – pollution of pesticides and herbicides does kill of bees. Raising the garden beds three feet eliminated over 80% of the pests and mitigates disease to each grow bed. It's all very efficient and clever Grandma. You need to teach people about this!"

"Nah, No one wants to listen to an old codger," she laughs, switching the frame out so it's closer to the bottom of the super, closest to the queen. "They're young people with the energy for it. I'm busy enough as it is keeping up with the ranch!"

The fact that she and Grandpa manage to run this place with just 2 hired full time employees is impressive.

"They all tasted great! I like the orange blossom honey best!"

"I like the orange best too," she admits with a wink at me. "Most people prefer the Manuka Honey though, which is too sweet for my old teeth. Orange Blossom is light and has that citrus hint that sparks anything I add it to, my orange tea being the main use."

"You said we get to make a fresh batch today?" I ask, giddy at collecting my own food. Grandma was sad to say that her supplies were worn out due to it being high season for sales. She was so busy that she didn't have time to even make her favorite tea. An issue she is resolving today with my assistance now that her products are all packaged for this weekend.

"Mm-hmm," she hums, nodding her head again. "And I have more of those homemade Blueberry Honey pops if you want some with our lunch."

The lollipops Grandma Wilma has with her are almost all her own confection with a few other brands she purchases form the farmers market and a couple of local stores that only sell local products. She's pretty big into supporting small businesses. She talked about how many resources it conserves taking away from the "Big Driver" business of wasting gas and oil delivering products around the United States, and even the world, when we should simply foster smarter methods of growing at home.