"Honey is made from bee throw up"

We recently went to a UF/CALS Alumni event where each of the department's had displays. Will's favorite display was the honey bees. He spent most of the two hours we were there in front of it. Dr. Ellis (the bee guy) gave Will quite a bit of attention and explained to him the process of how honey is made. If you ask Will, he now tells you it's made from bee throw up. Yuck. Kaity also really liked them (especially the queen bee).

Maybe Will is a Master Bee Keeper in the making! I think the Master Bee Keeper program is one of the coolest that IFAS has to offer. We've been talking about getting bees in the next couple of years and this would be a great place to learn more. During squash season, I really appreciate the bees and other pollinators because when they're there I don't have to hand pollinate. They've also got a 4-H division where youth write 4-H Honey Bee Essay Contest. 2009's topic is "the dance language of bees." I've got some really creative young writers in my 4-H club, so this could be a really interesting project for them.








PS - I'm sorry for being absent. It's been a crazy fall and it's about to be an even crazier holiday season! But, I do have some Christmas cactus photos to share with you.

Bees

Yesterday morning, one of our great faculty here at UF, Jamie Ellis, was featured on Good Morning America. Dr. Ellis is our bee expert and has recently been putting together a bee college for those interested in having home apiaries. He's also an expert on colony collapse disorder and has been educating on Africanized bees for sometime.

I've always known bees are important ecologically. I grew up on an orange grove and we often had apiarists with hives in our groves. But, until recently, I didn't realize the impact NOT having pollinators could have. I was hand pollinating my squash plants for awhile because of the lack of pollinators around. Imagine having to do this in a 1,000 acre squash field. Wow, we may not have any squash or any other vegetables for that matter. And, I love squash.

UF Genetics has also featured Dr. Ellis with Honey Bees lesson plans and videos. I like these videos because they're short and easy to understand and really bring about the importance of honey bees.

Video: I Heart Honeybees



Video: Show Me the Honey



Video: Where are the Bees?



Video: Bee Love



Video: Honey, I'm Home



Video: African Honey Bees, Public Enemy #1