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I want you to think about the most expensive liquid per unit volume that you can. What different liquids came to mind? Gasoline or other petroleum based products? Sure. I am sure many of you thought of bottled water, as crazy it sounds, it is up there.
I want you to think about the most expensive liquid per unit volume that you can. What different liquids came to mind? Gasoline or other petroleum based products? Sure. I am sure many of you thought of bottled water, as crazy it sounds, it is up there.
But no, that's not the liquid I am
thinking of, though all of those are certainly expensive. This liquid is sweet.
It's extremely useful. It's fairly hard to come by. It is commonly
referred to as "liquid gold". Have you figured it out? It's honey.
Many of you are raising your eyebrows at
that. But, when is the last time you went to the grocery store and bought the
small honey bear shaped bottle of honey? I know, most of the time we don't even
check the price of many of the products we throw into our shopping cart these
days. Fact is, they are all expensive, but that small bottle you just paid for
sells for between $5-8. That's right. Go check Amazon right now. Just type in
"honey" and see what comes up. You will see that the price per ounce
is between $.33-$.50 an ounce.
That’s $42.25 a gallon. Assuming we use
the cheapest unit cost. How do you feel about gasoline and bottled water?
Doesn't seem so bad, does it?
Now, it's true that the average person
doesn't use much honey throughout the year. But is it because they don't like
it that much, or that they just don't buy that much because of the price ?
Growing up, we ate honey every single day.
Now, I was blessed to have been raised on a functioning farm that featured a
set of tended bee hives. Now, we didn't do the tending. We rented out the land
that the beekeeper used in exchange for product. Because we usually had a
steady supply of honey, we featured it regularly in our diet. We had it on
toast every morning (and sometimes after other meals). It was used in BBQ
sauces. My grandmother used it in salad dressings, which we ate usually twice a
day. It was used in many dessert recipes as a sugar substitute. After all, why
buy a bag of sugar when you have a renewable supply?
As time marched on, the beekeeper
neglected the bees on our property. The supply dwindled and eventually
disappeared. Having become used to the supply, my father set out to do
something about it. He knew next to nothing about apiculture, but he knew the
resources were out there. Indeed, there were. The internet is a great resource,
if you choose to believe it. Otherwise, there are a lot of books and printed
literature on the subject. Dad subscribed to both and dove right in, ordering
all the stuff he needed to get started. The first thing he had to do was
rehabilitate the beehives and the colonies and get them healthy. He quickly
discovered that it was mostly neglect that had caused the colonies to develop
problems. The man-made hives were rotting and broken, which had led to disease and
easy access for predators.
He used his carpentry skills to rebuild
and replace the hives. He cared for the bees. And within the first few months,
he harvested his first bunch of honey.
The amazing thing was just how much money
came out of these few hives. We just didn't realize just how much liquid gold a
healthy hive could produce. I will say this, the old beekeeper was certainly
doing well when the hives were healthy. I remember that we would a handful of
quart jars each year, and we were happy to get those. The first batch dad
harvested yielded 3 gallons. If dad sold that batch at market prices, he would
clear $100 after the cost of a case of jars ($25). Now, understand that the
market prices are certainly driven by overhead, shipping, and all that other
stuff that a private grower doesn't have to worry about.
What happened next was what really got me
thinking. Dad had all of this wax left over from his harvest. Being ever
creative, he came up with some terrific uses of the wax, though none of them
should surprise you.
The first thing he did with the wax was
fashion homemade candles with it. He added ground cedar wood, commonly found on
our land, as a scent. Each hive produced several candles.
Additionally, with the addition of some
essential oils such as lavender, he formulated different balms and lotions. Of
course, I didn't care much for them, but my wife sure did.
I did, however, love having a steady
supply of honey. I was able to do what my parents and grandparents had
done when we had steady supply years ago. I featured it in my own BBQ sauces and marinades.
I used it in glazes and salad dressings. And, of course we ate it on toast and
biscuits all the time.
That was all great, but a series of events
made me appreciate apiculture and think of it as a real resource for making
money on the side as a hobby or even in an EOTWAWKI situation. I had a friend
from Wisconsin over one night for some BBQ. He was watching me make a glaze for
some chicken and he noticed that I was using copious amounts of honey. He
noticed that I wasn't pouring from a store bought jar, so he asked where I had
come up with it. I told him about our families history with the bees and how we
were now producing it regularly again. He immediately asked if I would sell him
some. He was willing to pay whatever we wanted, even offering $25 for the quart
jar. Taken aback, I asked him why he wanted it that bad. He went on to explain
that he had terrible allergies and that local honey was a proven way of
inoculating yourself to the effects of local pollen on your sinuses. Of course,
I didn't charge him anything. I just gave him some. But it started me thinking
about the value of honey as a renewable resource. The idea was further
fortified as I read "Alas, Babylon" a few months ago.
In a barter and trade situation, most
everyone will only have a fixed amount of resources to barter with. Few people
will have the ability to produce a valuable staple on a regular basis. And,
honey is a resource that doesn't take much manpower to operate. You need a few
special items and a few hours a month to ensure the health of your hives and to
harvest and process the honey and byproducts. While honey may not seem like a
necessity and more of a luxury, I challenge you to think a little outside of
the box, as the protagonist in the aforementioned literary work thought.
Man will always want alcohol. Throughout
history, alcohol has been a staple of man. Whether it is a a vice, a hobby, or
a survival technique, man will always want alcohol. We see many Biblical
examples throughout the bible, from Noah to the parables taught by Jesus. We
see it used by explores on the high seas to stave off the affects of water
stagnation and contamination. Obviously, there are many medicinal uses. Though
alcohol will always be a sought after commodity, not every man will have the
ability to produce it. Alcohol based on honey is unique in that the bees do all
the hard work, as opposed to man tending a vineyard, orchard, or cane grove. While
the bees make the main ingredient, the man can be doing other useful things to
provide and protect. It is one of the few products that is stable over time.
Meaning, storage and spoilage is not an issue as it would be with other
consumables such as crops. If the demand is low or the supply is high, the
producer can simply store the excess for another time, which can't be said for
other products.
That isn't to say that alcohol is the only
product of apiculture that is valuable. Candles will be one of the most
important consumable housewares that all people will need. And, it will be one
of the things that the average person will run out of first. Face it, the work
doesn't stop when the sun goes down. While many houses have a fireplace that
could provide light, most people (especially here in the South) won't want to
have a roaring fireplace between the months of March to October.
Additionally, light will be needed in more places than the living room.
When the sun goes down, people still need to see to eat, wash dishes,
mend clothes, go to the bathroom, etc. Apiculture provides a renewable source
of valuable wax to make such candles. Again, another product that doesn't take
man much time to produce, but provides a necessary product for the family as
well as a valuable commodity to trade or sell.
Candles and honey aren't the only two
valuable products that can be harvested through apiculture, though they are
easily the two most visible ones. There is at least one other valuable things
that apiculture offers that you may not have considered because it isn't a
direct product. Perhaps the most important thing that partaking in
apiculture can gain someone is the pollination services offered by bees. In
case you missed that part of the 3rd grade, pollination is a requirement for
growing anything. Though other insects do aid in pollination, the amount of
pollination done by these insects compared to a local hive of bees pales in
comparison. Having a hive even remotely close to your orchard or garden will
ensure than the maximum amount of pollination will be achieved. When you think
about all the things that can (and do) go wrong every planting and growing
season, this is one aspect that you can control. You may not be able to control
the weather, but you can at least ensure that the maximum numbers of plants
were pollinated.
Whether you are looking for a new hobby, a
way to make some money at your local farmers market, or you are looking to
prepare yourself for the EOTWAWKI, apiculture is one of the most valuable and
overlooked ways to achieve any of these goals. In it's most basic form, it
provides honey, one of the most expensive liquids per unit volume, and a
favorite at the table for millions. Honey can be used to produce alcohol, one
of the human necessities, which would provide you and your family with an
extremely useful product for your own use, or a renewable product to sell or trade.
The biproducts from apiculture are extremely useful in making items such as
candles and balms. The bees themselves are a blessing for anyone striving to
grow crops. And even though apiculture provides all of these staples, it is one
of the easiest things to learn and implement on your homestead. But, it is an
art that is dying out in today's culture. Though most people don't have the
land or ability to participate, we should all understand what apiculture
provides to humanity and what its decreasing participation is doing to our
world.
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