by Annmarie Kostyk

Created on: June 05, 2010

Honey has been used for over 2,700 years.  Ever wonder what honey is?  The honey bee goes from flower to flower, plant to plant and collects the nectar resulting in honey.  Where is there production facility?  The bee hive!  This operation never closes down. They work 24/7.  Each bee hive usually has 20,000-60,000 bees present.  Each honey bee lives about one month.  The astounding fact is these bees travel up to 55,000 miles visiting more than two million flowers just to make one pound of honey! 

Honey comes in a wide range of tastes and colors, because the type of honey depends upon where the bees decided to get the nectar from.  It all lays in their hands, so to speak.  There are actually over 300 different kinds of honey available throughout the world.  Clover honey is the most popular honey on the grocer's shelf.  It is very light in color and taste.  Eucalyptus and orange blossom honey are getting more popular as are dark honeys as more people are beekeeping. 

Now how do you actually get the honey from the beehive?  Honey may be harvested in a few different ways as it depends upon whether the beehives are actually being "kept" or if they are wild.  Since someone might not want to actually "keep" honey bees, harvesting honey in the wild might be a fun adventure.  First you have to watch the bees.  There is a certain pattern they fly in to get back and forth from the hive.  It's actually called a "bee line" which is where that term came from.  Make sure you are knowledgeable as to which type of hive you are watching and then approaching.  Take a book on bees with you.  The last thing you want to do is enter a wasp or hornets nest!

Once you find the hive, you want to take a look at where the bees are entering and exiting the hive. Find exactly where the hive's entrance is located.  You will need protective gear for this task, namely a hat with a veil that covers not only the entire head but the neck too.  Your clothes should be  made of a light, man-made fabric such as nylon that the bees cannot attach themselves too.  The clothes should also be light in color so you can locate any bees on your person.  None of your clothes should be tight.  This makes it harder for the bees to actually sting you.  You should have boots on that attach to your pants.  Pants have to be secured so the bees don't fly up your

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