My Introduction to Honey Bees

by Walt
(Amsterdam, NY)

When I was about 15, the farmer that I had been working for throughout the summer asked me if I would be willing to help him put new rolled roofing on his old farmhouse. It was in Late August.... the first and second hay cutting had been done, oats and wheat were finished and the summer work was just about over.

The following Saturday, I walked through the fields to his place and he had everything ready. We started on the roof and after a few minutes, It seemed thousands of bees were swarming around my head and just a real bother to me in general! Mr Pauling, the farm owner, stated in no uncertain terms that the bees were not to be harmed... they were honey bees! I tried my best to ignore them, but all day and the next day too, they constantly flew into my head, my back and my chest. Mr Pauling told me finally to get out of their flight path and they would leave me alone... he said that I was in THEIR way... Imagine me being in the way of a bug!

We finally finished the project and Mr Pauling paid me, and also promised that the week of Christmas Vacation from school, we would harvest the honey that the bees had stored under the floor boards of his upstairs bedrooms! That would be the rest of my pay for not causing the bees any harm.

As promised, we harvested the honey comb from the under the floor of the old farmhouse. I brought home at least 4 five gallon pails filled with honey comb. We were poor folk, I had never tasted honey and Ma was so glad to get the free honey. We ate raw honey comb for quite some time, had it on our oatmeal, toast, pancakes and she had it in her tea.

It is now fifty years later and I have never forgotten the event that got me interested in the little work horses. I now own my own small bee yard with three hives which I have been keeping for three years. I started giving honey away, but now I sell raw honey to a select few buyers who have been loyal ever since I started. It started with family and has evolved to selling about 100 pounds of the best tasting honey in New York State, thanks to the lovely ladies that produce it!