Many of the members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market are closet beekeepers. In general, no food producers can seriously contemplate success without insect pollinators — not producers of tree fruits like apples, cherries, and plums; not small fruit growers of strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries; not gardeners with beans, peas, onions, melons, or squash. As a bonus to the pollination, beekeepers get paid for their stewardship with honey supers removed from successful hives and gleefully carried off for extraction, bottling, and ultimately intense enjoyment on the dinner table.
People know about pollination and honey. However, folks may not realize that it is about impossible to keep bees without becoming enthralled. Despite their alien appearance, it is hard not to identify with them, especially at this time of year. The shortening days, longer shadows, cool mornings and the dangers of frost push us to hurry, hurry, hurry before winter descends. Our survival depends on our finishing necessary preparations; it is the same for honeybees.
In late July or early August, beekeepers top off the hives with empty frames. House bees create hexagonal cells of comb from wax gland secretions pressed into shape on the new frames. The foragers venture off to find goldenrod, asters, jewelweed, hogweed, late clover, sunflowers and other sturdy, hardy blooms that produce nectar and pollen to fill the larder. Nectar is condensed into honey and sealed up in the comb much the same way humans harvest the garden and pack things away in freezers and canning jars. Other workers seal up cracks and crevices with propolis derived from the buds of trees; this is the honey bees’ version of caulking. Nurse bees are tending the last of the brood as the queen slows down her egg production for winter. Drones, no longer needed to be kept in reserve, are unceremoniously dragged out of the hive and dumped in the grass — no more free lunch for them!
Perhaps by way of apology for our honey avarice, beekeepers attempt to help the insects along by providing sugar sources, reducing the airflow through the hive, and restricting the entrance to only bees and no freeloading mice. Some apiarists wrap their hives with insulation; others rely on snow and wind blocks to protect their charges from the cold and wet. As the temperatures drop, the bees will form a cluster around their queen, shivering to generate heat and using their bodies to insulate her from harm. She is the future of the hive once the depths of winter pass, so is protected at all costs. Beekeepers tuck them away with a little prayer — -may we find them alive in the spring. “Bee safe!”
Stop by on a Saturday morning in the Aroostook Centre Mall parking lot and ask the Market vendors about their bees. They have been an integral part of producing the food you purchase.
This column is written by members of the Presque Isle Farmers’ Market. For more information, visit their website at https://sites.google.com /site/presqueislefarmersmarket/home.
