Welcome back to the 6th installment of the Beehive. As I write this article, I am recuperating from the busy weekend at the Legends and Logging Days event. What a great weekend of activities. Those chainsaw carving artists were amazing. Brenda and I were asked if we wanted to attend the event to do some beekeeping demos and sell some honey. I have to say, we could not have been more pleased with the response from all who attended.
I want to thank all of you who stopped and shared your beekeeping stories with us. One gentleman, Richard Mox, told us of his uncle and aunt, Ernest and Else Gerber, who had farmed one mile north of Walmart way back in the 1920s. They had 30 beehives that foraged on his hayfield, which was planted with sweet clover. Richard told us that his uncle Ernest would ship honey to his family in 60-pound square tin containers, via the railroad, all the way to California.
Once Richards's parents would receive the honey, they would fill the tin containers with almonds and ship them back to the Geber's in Park Rapids. So, how cool is that? Wait, there is more. Richard returned on Sunday and brought us one of the 5-pound tin cans that they used to sell honey in along with a label the Gerbers used on their 10 lb cans.
We could tell that Richard really enjoyed talking about his aunt and uncle and wanted to keep their legacy alive. Brenda and I were talking about Richard and the Gerbers and we wanted to share their story with you folks.
I have included a picture of the label and the 5 lb. tin can that the Gerber's sold honey in. This label has three colors and the guarantee on the bottom states they will pay $100.00 to anyone proving after analysis that their honey is not strictly pure. Now that is cool.
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Then there were the people looking at the observation hive. This turned out to be one of the best educational beekeeping tool ever. Kids and adults alike were intrigued by watching the bees going about their business. Lastly, everyone was searching for the queen bee.
I heard, "Where's Waldo?" mentioned several times. Most of the time, we were able to point out the queen. I have included a picture of the observation hive just to give you folks an idea of what it looks like.
I would like to thank the event coordinators for inviting us and giving us an opportunity to educate the public on the ins and outs of beekeeping.
In the next column, I will be writing about the honey flow coming to an end and how the fall honey harvest begins.
