Post by Ismail AbdulAzeez on Jul 2, 2013 3:22:29 GMT 1
Tony and Alethia Prettyman have been beekeeping for 15 years, and each year, the Bramble and Bee Farm owners, face a different
obstacle. Tony said their
job is very similar to crop farmers.
“Weather, disease and pests could all ruin the hives,” he said. “With a drought, it dries the flowers out so there’s no nectar for them to eat,” he said.
“If there’s too much rain, they can’t fly, and the nectar is washed out of the flowers,” he continued. “If it’s too warm in the wintertime, they fly too much and eat up all their food and they die of starvation.”
Alethia said this has been the most challenging year they’ve had in a while. Tony said this year has been horrible for their harvest.
“Between last year’s drought, and this year’s rainy, cool spring, the hives weren’t really strong going into winter, and the cold and the wet, (the bees) weren’t able to get out in it,” Tony said.
They planned ahead for the season by keeping a good queen in the hives and feeding the bees corn syrup only when needed.
“You never want to get sugar water in the honey,” he said. “So, you’re only feeding in the fall and the winter.”
Despite all the challenges that come with beekeeping, there’s nothing else they’d rather do.
Tony is a retired school teacher and Alethia retired as an executive secretary and administrative assistant for Hewlett-Packard.
Alethia had been working in an office since high school, but she slowly became interested in working with natural and herbal products.
“I had watched a bee program on PBS and bought a few books on beekeeping,” she said.
When she met Tony, she had no idea that his dad was a beekeeper. When they got married, they found a common interest in it.
When Tony’s dad decided to get rid of his beekeeping equipment, they jumped on the chance to pursue a new hobby.
“Basically, he said ‘if you don’t want it, I’m going to burn it in the fireplace,’” Tony said. “So, we took it and brought it home and got some bees.”
They started as “backyard beekeepers” in 1998 with three hives and a handful of bees. Alethia said it was a slow process.
“Most people don’t just launch into it,” she said. “It’s something that you start out slow.”
Tony said a lot of people enjoy keeping only a few hives to produce enough honey for themselves. However, the Prettyman’s developed their hives into a business and operate Bramble and Bee Farm full-time in Bluff Springs.
The couple sells bottled natural raw honey, chunk (or comb) honey and honeystix at the Downtown Farmers Market and in several stores across the state. Honeystix can be thrown in a bag on the go and added to tea or sucked out of the straw.
Alethia has known some customers to take a teaspoon of honey to help with allergy symptoms.
To supplement their income, they found lots of other ways to use the bees.
Tony pollinates, or transfers, bees to nearly 30 farmers in Christian, Todd and Trigg counties to help stimulate crop growth.
“For me, it’s a way to be close to agriculture, which I’ve wanted since I was a kid,” he said. “I wanted to own my own 50 acres and have a tractor … To, me it’s peaceful.”
Alethia makes a variety of products including lip balm, solid lotion, soaps, jams and baked goods made with honey, and candles from beeswax.
She also extracts bee pollen granules, which can be taken as a vitamin supplement, and propolis tincture, or bee glue, which is often used as an antibiotic in Europe.
In the fall, Alethia makes a smooth honey crème in raspberry, hazelnut, strawberry flavors.
“We use everything from the hive, except royal jelly,” she said. “With some other things there’s an excess so we’re not depriving them.”
Royal jelly is used to feed the larvae in the hive and can hinder reproduction of queen bees if too much is taken out. For that reason, the couple doesn’t extract it.
Tony said last year they lost three-fourths of their hives, and he knows other beekeepers who lost even more. Bee swarms helped them rebuild.
“When people see a bee swarm in the spring, don’t be afraid of it,” he said. “Call a beekeeper or the extension office, and we’ll come get it … It’s how a bee hive reproduces itself.”
Tony said if it hadn’t been for six swarms this year, their honey harvest would have suffered even more.
“We always run out of honey,” he said. “We’ve never produced more than we can sell. We just take each year as it comes and adjust accordingly.”
The couple plans to be beekeepers as long as they’re able bodied. Tony said they’ll never see store bought honey as competition.
“When you buy honey in the store, you have no idea where it comes from or what’s been done to it,” he said. “It has been pasteurized and ultra filtered so the flavor is bland and there’s no health benefit from the pollen in it, and it could have come from another country.”
“Our honey has never been pasteurized,” he said. “It’s straight out of the hive, straight into the bottle.”
Source: www.kentuckynewera.com/web/news/article_a389df38-e20d-11e2-97d1-001a4bcf887a.html
obstacle. Tony said their
job is very similar to crop farmers.
“Weather, disease and pests could all ruin the hives,” he said. “With a drought, it dries the flowers out so there’s no nectar for them to eat,” he said.
“If there’s too much rain, they can’t fly, and the nectar is washed out of the flowers,” he continued. “If it’s too warm in the wintertime, they fly too much and eat up all their food and they die of starvation.”
Alethia said this has been the most challenging year they’ve had in a while. Tony said this year has been horrible for their harvest.
“Between last year’s drought, and this year’s rainy, cool spring, the hives weren’t really strong going into winter, and the cold and the wet, (the bees) weren’t able to get out in it,” Tony said.
They planned ahead for the season by keeping a good queen in the hives and feeding the bees corn syrup only when needed.
“You never want to get sugar water in the honey,” he said. “So, you’re only feeding in the fall and the winter.”
Despite all the challenges that come with beekeeping, there’s nothing else they’d rather do.
Tony is a retired school teacher and Alethia retired as an executive secretary and administrative assistant for Hewlett-Packard.
Alethia had been working in an office since high school, but she slowly became interested in working with natural and herbal products.
“I had watched a bee program on PBS and bought a few books on beekeeping,” she said.
When she met Tony, she had no idea that his dad was a beekeeper. When they got married, they found a common interest in it.
When Tony’s dad decided to get rid of his beekeeping equipment, they jumped on the chance to pursue a new hobby.
“Basically, he said ‘if you don’t want it, I’m going to burn it in the fireplace,’” Tony said. “So, we took it and brought it home and got some bees.”
They started as “backyard beekeepers” in 1998 with three hives and a handful of bees. Alethia said it was a slow process.
“Most people don’t just launch into it,” she said. “It’s something that you start out slow.”
Tony said a lot of people enjoy keeping only a few hives to produce enough honey for themselves. However, the Prettyman’s developed their hives into a business and operate Bramble and Bee Farm full-time in Bluff Springs.
The couple sells bottled natural raw honey, chunk (or comb) honey and honeystix at the Downtown Farmers Market and in several stores across the state. Honeystix can be thrown in a bag on the go and added to tea or sucked out of the straw.
Alethia has known some customers to take a teaspoon of honey to help with allergy symptoms.
To supplement their income, they found lots of other ways to use the bees.
Tony pollinates, or transfers, bees to nearly 30 farmers in Christian, Todd and Trigg counties to help stimulate crop growth.
“For me, it’s a way to be close to agriculture, which I’ve wanted since I was a kid,” he said. “I wanted to own my own 50 acres and have a tractor … To, me it’s peaceful.”
Alethia makes a variety of products including lip balm, solid lotion, soaps, jams and baked goods made with honey, and candles from beeswax.
She also extracts bee pollen granules, which can be taken as a vitamin supplement, and propolis tincture, or bee glue, which is often used as an antibiotic in Europe.
In the fall, Alethia makes a smooth honey crème in raspberry, hazelnut, strawberry flavors.
“We use everything from the hive, except royal jelly,” she said. “With some other things there’s an excess so we’re not depriving them.”
Royal jelly is used to feed the larvae in the hive and can hinder reproduction of queen bees if too much is taken out. For that reason, the couple doesn’t extract it.
Tony said last year they lost three-fourths of their hives, and he knows other beekeepers who lost even more. Bee swarms helped them rebuild.
“When people see a bee swarm in the spring, don’t be afraid of it,” he said. “Call a beekeeper or the extension office, and we’ll come get it … It’s how a bee hive reproduces itself.”
Tony said if it hadn’t been for six swarms this year, their honey harvest would have suffered even more.
“We always run out of honey,” he said. “We’ve never produced more than we can sell. We just take each year as it comes and adjust accordingly.”
The couple plans to be beekeepers as long as they’re able bodied. Tony said they’ll never see store bought honey as competition.
“When you buy honey in the store, you have no idea where it comes from or what’s been done to it,” he said. “It has been pasteurized and ultra filtered so the flavor is bland and there’s no health benefit from the pollen in it, and it could have come from another country.”
“Our honey has never been pasteurized,” he said. “It’s straight out of the hive, straight into the bottle.”
Source: www.kentuckynewera.com/web/news/article_a389df38-e20d-11e2-97d1-001a4bcf887a.html
