I'm looking forward to following your adventures in bee-keeping.
As @"Omegalogos" mentioned, mead is one of the finer products of honey. It's pretty much just a quart of honey, 3 quarts of water, some yeast, and time for the little devils to work their way out of it, but can be additionally flavored with just about anything under the sun. My son sent me several bottles of it that were flavored with Carolina Reaper peppers. That was some rough stuff!
Additionally, locally produced honey is antibiotic. I learned that from the local vet when my dog had a disagreement with a bear. I've heard the old timers around here claim that a bear can "blow" the hide off a dog like a skin balloon, but I always chalked that up to tall tales. However, when Blackie came dragging back in from the ruckus, he had a gash on his left shoulder, and the hide beneath it had gotten detached from the underlying tissues and hung there hollow like a shirt pocket. So, I don't know if it was evidence to support the tall tales, or some other cause.
Anyhow, we took him to the vet, and the vet prescribed locally produced honey as a wound dressing after she stitched him back together. She even showed me some scientific papers about it to convince me. She did stress that it had to be LOCALLY produced honey, however - something about how each hive produces antibodies tailored to the local microfauna in their own area.
I was sort of dubious, but followed the doctors orders. We had to put one of those cones on his neck to prevent him from licking it off, so that the honey would stay in place. He hated that! Anyhow, I slathered that wound up two or three times a day with locally produced honey, and sure enough, it never festered, not even a little bit, and he was healed up in about 3 weeks.
Here's to honey - it's not just a sweetener any more!
.
As @"Omegalogos" mentioned, mead is one of the finer products of honey. It's pretty much just a quart of honey, 3 quarts of water, some yeast, and time for the little devils to work their way out of it, but can be additionally flavored with just about anything under the sun. My son sent me several bottles of it that were flavored with Carolina Reaper peppers. That was some rough stuff!
Additionally, locally produced honey is antibiotic. I learned that from the local vet when my dog had a disagreement with a bear. I've heard the old timers around here claim that a bear can "blow" the hide off a dog like a skin balloon, but I always chalked that up to tall tales. However, when Blackie came dragging back in from the ruckus, he had a gash on his left shoulder, and the hide beneath it had gotten detached from the underlying tissues and hung there hollow like a shirt pocket. So, I don't know if it was evidence to support the tall tales, or some other cause.
Anyhow, we took him to the vet, and the vet prescribed locally produced honey as a wound dressing after she stitched him back together. She even showed me some scientific papers about it to convince me. She did stress that it had to be LOCALLY produced honey, however - something about how each hive produces antibodies tailored to the local microfauna in their own area.
I was sort of dubious, but followed the doctors orders. We had to put one of those cones on his neck to prevent him from licking it off, so that the honey would stay in place. He hated that! Anyhow, I slathered that wound up two or three times a day with locally produced honey, and sure enough, it never festered, not even a little bit, and he was healed up in about 3 weeks.
Here's to honey - it's not just a sweetener any more!
.
Diogenes was eating bread and lentils for supper. He was seen by the philosopher Aristippus, who lived comfortably by flattering the king.
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’
Said Aristippus, ‘If you would learn to be subservient to the king you would not have to live on lentils.’ Said Diogenes, ‘Learn to live on lentils and you will not have to be subservient to the king.’