Manuka honey is a growing industry in New Zealand, with the island country’s honey exports worth over $200 million per year. Some industry numbers are even saying those same exports will be worth $1 billion in 2028. With such figures, there has been a rush–New Zealand’s gold rush, in a way–by corporations and other big…
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Have you ever found large mounds of soil that looked like anthills but had almost inch long openings? While it might be the home of a freaky super-ant (in which case you should run because ants are insect geniuses), it’s probably just a ground bee nest, especially if it’s early spring–ground bees’ most active time.…
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Ethiopia is remembered internationally for its 1973 and 1984 famines, both of which sparked desperate, worldwide calls for aid when hundreds of thousands of its countrymen were starving to death and images of malnourished children were brought into living rooms around the world. Ever since then, the country has worked its hardest to shed that…
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The variety of different honeys in the world cannot be underestimated, but let’s talk Manuka honey, the darling of New Zealand! After exploding onto the market in the last few years, Manuka honey is highly sought after on a global level for its flavor and soothing properties. As avid fans of this rare blend of…
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Orange-Honey Glazed Carrots In the book To Kill a Mockingbird, there is a scene where a young boy pours molasses over his plate of food, the reason being that he was so used to his food having little flavor, and the molasses was the easiest, least expensive way to give the food a sweetness it…
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Honeybees have many adversaries in the wild they struggle against in order to survive. In Zimbabwe, however, there is another adversary that U.S. bees likely haven’t seen before–and hopefully never will. Beekeepers in Zimbabwe–which has a very successful domestic honey market, with writer Lazarus Sauti calling it a “gift”–have been reporting growing issues with “pirate…
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Much research has been dedicated to improving beekeeping practices and the declining population of honeybees, and part of that effort has been to discover why honeybee queens now have shorter lifespans and reproductive periods. Beekeepers often purchase queens from breeders and then have them shipped by mail, but according to an article in the journal…
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All types of animals, as has been done for hundreds of years and as long as we’ve been domesticating animals, are typically bred for the most desirable and beneficial traits in any given industry. Some include calm temperaments in dogs, certain sizes for pigs and cows, but for beekeepers, it’s more likely they will select…
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With populations of honeybees coming under duress from pests, disease, and pesticides, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is working to build a gene bank for bees to store sperm and embryos and therefore preserve bee genetics for the future. One specific place where this is happening is the USDA labs in Fargo, North Dakota,…
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Honey Ricotta Cheesecake The best advice a person ever gets is to try new things, especially if they’ve grown bored with the same old, same old. It happens with your hobbies, your Saturday afternoons, and even with the sweets that are meant to make life sweeter. If you’re thinking of doing something a bit different–something…
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With the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and the start of U.S. trade embargo, the Caribbean island of Cuba has had few major trading partners for its industries, including its honey trade. Because of this, Cuba could not afford pesticides for agricultural endeavors, and as a result of this Cuba effectively embraced organic…
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Almond production has grown consistently and quickly over the past few years, especially in California due to the ideal climate. And the one thing the almond industry needs more than anything for a successful season–one that can support California’s $6 billion industry–is a solid population of pollinators, aka the honey bees. They are so necessary…
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It’s not unusual to find individuals keeping bees as a hobby and growing their own honey reserves. What you don’t see every day is an individual tending and caring for bee colonies strictly to give those bees a home and a shelter, with or without gaining the reward of honey. Doug Penning, a retiree from…
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Everyone has a project they remember doing in grade school–building a model solar system or volcano, writing a poem or a story, or even dissecting a worm or a frog. Students in Hebron, Ohio–led by seventh grade teacher Julia Hansel–are learning about real-world problems in a project-based learning (PBL) platform, and their attention is on…
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Iconic Lodge in NZ Introduces New ‘Culinary Safari’ An iconic wilderness lodge in New Zealand that is known for luxury has recently introduced a new food experience called “The Estate to Plate Safari.” Rotorua’s Treetops Estate is offering guests a personal and unique encounter with gamekeepers and specialist chefs that focuses on cuisine that is…
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