R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Circa 1400

Check out this wonderful article about the Rosslyn Chapel's beehive.Carved of stone 600 years ago, with a beautiful flower-shaped passage for the bees, this hive nestled within the ancient chapel's complex architecture appears to have been designed solely as a haven for the bees, rather than a beekeeping or honey-getting ploy. Now that's what I call sacred!

Coolest Photos Ever From the American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History has posted an amazing—and I mean AMAZING!—collection of photos documenting the history of the museum, its famous dioramas, and its educational activities over the years. I encourage you to grab the beverage of your choice and hurry over there for a truly delightful time. I have an abundance of fond memories of spending time in this museum as a child, and rediscovered that sense of wonder and excitement as I perused these fabulous old images.

This is just the tip of the iceberg—check out the whole collection now.

A History of White House Gardens

Recently we posted an article from the Thrill Dept. about the new vegetable garden and beekeeping scene over on the White House lawn along with a fun video about the history of White House gardens (see below).

Along similar lines, I recently found this nugget of fun on the website of the Brooklyn Botanic Gardens (a truly wonderful place in the Home Borough): First Gardens: An Election Year Primer on the White House Gardens, published last summer. It's well worth reading, and don't miss the part (and the very end) about Ronald Reagan and the sinkhole—priceless and just so achingly metaphoric.

And here's that video I posted last month, in case you missed it:

The Garden of Eatin': A Short History of America's Garden from roger doiron on Vimeo.

Pliny the Fabulous

If you've never had the pleasure of reading or perusing the natural history writings of Pliny the Elder, you're missing out. A friend recently sent this gem along, reminding me of how much I've enjoyed my past excursions with the great naturalist of yore.

"Honey comes out of the air....At early dawn the leaves of trees are found bedewed with honey.... Whether this is the perspiration of the sky or a sort of saliva of the stars, or the moisture of the air purging itself, nevertheless it brings with it the great pleasure of its heavenly nature. It is always of the best quality when it is stored in the best flowers."—Pliny (A.D. 23-79) 'Natural History', book 20

Check out Pliny's encyclopedia of natural life, circa AD 77.

View or download Vol. 3 of the Pliny's Natural History here. In this edition, he writes of insects (including bees), with chapter headings such as:

• The extreme smallness of insects
• Happy omens sometimes afforded by a swarm of bees
• The kinds of honey peculiar to various places

If this sort of thing is up your alley, consider joining the Yahoo listserve on Historical Honeybee Articles. It's a great list with wonderful archaic lit, articles, and news items of and pertaining to our friend the bee.

Honeybee Wallpaper!

Check out this amazing honeybee wallpaper by Candace Wheeler, a contemporary of Louis Tiffany's and founder of the Associated Artists.
This is the stuff that makes life worth living, no?As if the wallpaper weren't Thrill Factory enough, get a load of these honeybee lace curtains—also from Candace Wheeler.
Great Depression notwithstanding, these inspire one to consider a major redecorating project. For now, we can only dream and stare longingly at other designs from the Arts & Crafts, Victorian, and Deco movements at J.R. Burrows & Co.

We can also learn more about the marvelous Candace Wheeler and delight in the knowledge that such lace and wallpaper reside upon this earth.

Echoes of Colony Collapse Disorder

Interesting in light of our current concerns about Colony Collapse Disorder to happen on this description of "spring dwindling" in A Thousand Answers to Beekeeping Questions by Dr. C.C. Miller, published 1931:

Dwindling.—Q. (a) Why do some colonies (having plenty of stores and a fairly good number of bees) start brood-rearing in the latter part of winter and get a good deal of capped brood and brood in all stages, and when cold weather comes they whole outfit dies? This is happening with me two seasons. (b) How can I avoid this thing?

A. (a) This seems to be a case of what is called spring dwindling. The cause is somewhat in doubt. It looks a little as if the bees were old, had more brood started than they could take care of, then died off with the strain of trying to provide digested food for the brood, sometimes swarming out with plenty of food in the hive. (b) I don’t know, unless it be to have colonies strong with bees not too old the preceding fall.

Bees, Livelihood From

From A Thousand Answers to Beekeeping Questions by Dr. C.C. Miller, published 1931:

Bees, Livelihood from.—I have been trying to decide on a move for several years; that is, in the keeping of bees. I had a slight experience of two years with bees, but just became greatly interested in them when I left the country to accept a position in the Postal Department in New York City. I still hold such a position, but my desire and love for bees have increased so much that I am contemplating a change to the country. My hesitation comes from the doubt whether I could make a good living from them alone should I devote my entire time to them. What is your opinion? Would it be wise and profitable to give up my position of $100 a month to lurch into beekeeping? I would not go in extensively at the start, but try and feel my way as I advance. Will you kindly give me advice I seek as to whether there is a profitable field in the keeping of bees as a business proposition?

A. Your question is one that is exceedingly difficult to answer. If it be a mere matter of dollars and cents, I should say that beekeeping is a good business to let alone, for the same amount of brains and energy that will make you a living at beekeeping will make more than a living at almost any other business. But if you have the great love for beekeeping that some men have, then it may be the part of wisdom for you to choose beekeeping in preference to any other business that would net you ten times as much money. For your true beekeeper doesn’t have to wait until he has made his pile before he begins to enjoy life, but every day is a vacation day, and a day of enjoyment.

But you must make a living. Can you make a living at beekeeping? I don’t know. There are a few who make a living at beekeeping alone. There are probably a few more of them who can. You may be one of them, and you may not.

It would not be advisable for you to cut loose from everything else and start in at beekeeping with the idea of making a living at it from the very start. If you have enough ahead so that you can afford to do nothing for a year or two, with a fair assurance that you could take up your old line of work at the end of the year or two, if you should so elect, then all right. For you must count it among the possibilities that the next two years may be years of failure in the honey harvest.

If you can take such a risk, perhaps you can grow into quite a business with bees, while still continuing at your present business. Indeed, that might be the best way. In a suburban home you could probably care for 25 or 50 colonies mornings and evenings. Or, you might have a roof apiary in the city. The profit from them would be all the while bringing you nearer the point when you could cut loose from everything else. After a year or two you could judge better than anyone else whether it would be feasible and advisable to try beekeeping alone.

The Land of Milk and Honey

Recently, my partner, Wren, got back from Israel and brought some wonderful honey (orange blossom + lemon blossom) home with her. As we tasted it, we wondered about the origins of the phrase, "the land of milk and honey."

Well, ask and ye shall receive, right? Tonight, skidding 'round the New York Times website, I was rather astonished to see this AP headline: Archaeologists Discover Ancient Beehives.

Here's the deal:

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Archaeologists digging in northern Israel have discovered evidence of a 3,000-year-old beekeeping industry, including remnants of ancient honeycombs, beeswax and what they believe are the oldest intact beehives ever found.

The findings in the ruins of the city of Rehov this summer include 30 intact hives dating to around 900 B.C., archaeologist Amihai Mazar of Jerusalem's Hebrew University told The Associated Press. He said it offers unique evidence that an advanced honey industry existed in the Holy Land at the time of the Bible.

Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world, where honey used for medicinal and religious purposes as well as for food, and beeswax was used to make molds for metal and to create surfaces to write on. While bees and beekeeping are depicted in ancient artwork, nothing similar to the Rehov hives has ever been found before, Mazar said.

The beehives, made of straw and unbaked clay, have a hole at one end to allow the bees in and out and a lid on the other end to allow beekeepers access to the honeycombs inside. They were found in orderly rows, three high, in a room that could have accommodated around 100 hives, Mazar said.

The Bible repeatedly refers to Israel as a ''land of milk and honey,'' but that's believed to refer to honey made from dates and figs -- there is no mention of honeybee cultivation. But the new find shows that the Holy Land was home to a highly developed beekeeping industry nearly 3,000 years ago.

''You can tell that this was an organized industry, part of an organized economy, in an ultra-organized city,'' Mazar said.

At the time the beehives were in use, Mazar believes Rehov had around 2,000 residents, a mix of Israelites, Canaanites and others.

Ezra Marcus, an expert on the ancient Mediterranean world at Haifa University, said Tuesday the finding was a unique glimpse into ancient beekeeping. Marcus was not involved in the Rehov excavation.

''We have seen depictions of beekeeping in texts and ancient art from the Near East, but this is the first time we've been able to actually feel and see the industry,'' Marcus said.

The finding is especially unique, Marcus said, because of its location in the middle of a thriving city -- a strange place for thousands of bees.

This might have been because the city's ruler wanted the industry under his control, Marcus said, or because the beekeeping industry was linked to residents' religious practices, as might be indicated by an altar decorated with fertility figurines that archaeologists found alongside the hives.

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