Media advisory: Philadelphia Honey Festival

Note: I'll share more as I get it.... DATE: August 5, 2013 WHAT: Fourth Annual Philadelphia Honey Festival WHO: Bartram’s Gardens Wyck Historic House Wagner Free Institute of Science The Philadelphia Beekeeper’s Guild WHEN: September 6, 7, 8 WHERE: Bartram’s Gardens Wyck Historic House Wagner Free Institute of Science HOW: This 3-day festival is free, educational, and open to the public! DESCRIPTION: The mission of the Philadelphia Honey Festival is to raise awareness about the importance of bees to our environment, the impact of local honey on our economy, and to promote urban beekeeping and gardening. All festival events are free. This year’s festival will feature brand new ways to catch the buzz about urban beekeeping and the importance of honeybees! We have a little something for everyone from educational activities and our Be A Bee pageant to hive talks, honey extractions and our Honey Happy Hour. This year we also have the privilege of showing the recently released, award-winning documentary “More Than Honey.” A press release including a full schedule of events and festivities is forthcoming.

News release: Free events about bees in SE Pennsylvania

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Jim Bobb 610-584-6778 chairman@easternapiculture.org Two FREE Events All About Honey Bees on Wednesday, August 7, 2013, 7 to 8:30 pm Well Bee-ing: Your Move and Kids & Bees at West Chester University, Sykes Student Union Theater FREE Kids’ Activities • Learn How Honey Bees Make Many Foods Possible & How to Help Them! Zach Saul, State College, PA dressed like a beekeeper at a recent Kids & Bees presentation. (PHOTO ATTACHED) West Chester, PA – What does the price of an apple, your backyard, and children’s health have in common? Honey bees! Everyone’s invited to two free family events, Wednesday, August 7, 2013 from 7 – 8:30 pm, at West Chester University’s Sykes Student Union to learn about honey and honey bees, when the Eastern Apicultural Society (EAS) presents Well Bee-ing: Your Move as well as Kids & Bees. Hear from experts about how you can help honey bees stay happy and healthy, just as they do the same for us. Families can choose either simultaneous event, or kids can enjoy the supervised Kids & Bees activities while adults attend Well Bee-ing: Your Move. Without honey bees, many of your favorite foods would cost a lot more – or disappear altogether. Honey bees are vital to our economy and food supply. By pollinating, they make everything from apples to pumpkins possible. The multi-billion dollar almond industry alone is totally dependent upon honey bees. These two events on August 7th are a fun way for everyone to find the answer and learn a few simple things anyone can do to help the honey bees stay healthy. Well Bee-ing: Your Move is a program and conversation to update us all on the progress of solving the mystery of Colony Collapse Disorder, responsible for a worldwide decline in the honey bee population. The panel for this event includes: Brian Snyder, Executive Director of the PA Association for Sustainable Agriculture; Douglas Tallamy, professor and author of Bringing Nature Home which helps us understand how simply adding native plants to our yard welcomes so many more birds, butterflies and bees; and Dennis vanEngelsdorp, world-renowned honey bee expert. All three will be in town for the EAS Annual Conference on Beekeeping http://www.easternapiculture.org/conferences/eas-2013.html being held August 5 – 9, 2013. Free Baby Sitting? Sort of! Kids & Bees: Also from 7 to 8:30 pm, hands-on fun for kids aged 5 to 13 to learn: How does a bee make honey? Why do bees buzz? What does a beekeeper wear so she doesn’t get stung? Grown-ups take part or check in their children to enjoy these activities (while adults attend Well Bee-ing: Your Move). Outstanding young women selected as Honey Queens by the Pennsylvania Honey Queen program will supervise children through activities they’ve designed to share their knowledge about beloved honey bees. All this fun is free of charge, thanks to the generous sponsorship of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, Dutch Gold Honey, Giant and the Pennsylvania Honey Queen Program. Contact Rachel Bryson, at honeyqueen@pastatebeekeepers.org for more information about the Kids & Bees event. Eastern Apicultural Society www.easternapiculture.org is the largest noncommercial beekeeping organization in North America, with 26 member states/provinces in the eastern U.S. and Canada. Founded in 1955, EAS is an international nonprofit educational organization for the education of beekeepers, Master Beekeeper certification, and excellence in bee research. ADDRESS FOR BOTH EVENTS: West Chester University, Sykes Student Union Theater, 110 West Rosedale Avenue, West Chester, PA 19383 ### END ###

Honey production down in US for 2012

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its annual report on honey production in the United States for 2012. It noted that honey production was down 1 percent over the previous year, and, naturally, prices rose to record levels.

Philadelphia radio program on beekeeping

If you tune in to "Radio Times" on WHYY Radio in Philadelphia (90.9-FM, www.whyy.org/radiotimes) this hour, you will hear a program on honeybees and beekeeping. The program is archived if you cannot listen to it right now. Meanwhile, here is a related link from the station's website about honey

Philly news report: Urban vs. rural environs could affect bee health

A columnist from NewsWorks, the news website of WHYY radio in Philadelphia, writes about the differences in bee health between agricultural/rural areas where pesticide use is common and urban areas where pesticide use is less.

NPR reports on honey

NPR's "Morning Edition" travels to Lancaster, Pa.'s Dutch Gold Honey to explore the problem of suspicious imported honey.

Give the gift of honey(bees) this season

It doesn't take a wise man or woman to realize how delightful it is to give locally produced honey this holiday season. Especially in light of recent news questioning the safety of Big Honey - in short, real honey has pollen, and if it doesn't have pollen, it might not actually be entirely honey - buying honey that isn't afraid of showing where it's from is a tasty idea, not to mention good for local businesses and economies and good for you.
But - perish the thought - what if your recipients start rolling their eyes at another jar of liquid gold? Besides reminding them that honey is better than fruitcake, what else can you do to show your love of honey and their "producers," honeybees?
Two charities offer a terrific alternative - you can give honeybees! In doing so, you are helping people in the developing world. Heifer International is probably more widely known for allowing people to "give" livestock such as cows and goats to families and farmers around the world as a means toward building a better life. Less known is the fact that you also can give honeybees, for only $30.
Kiva, on the other hand, is riding the rising tide of micro-lending, loaning funds to budding entrepreneurs around the world who need a hand in getting a business off the ground, or maybe off the mat. The idea is that if lots of people give a little money, lots of good can come from it.
(Full disclosure: I have participated in both of these. My partner gave me money last February to donate to Kiva, and I just made my second loan, this one to an Armenian farmer who is trying to expand his cattle and beekeeping business. Additionally, I "bought" honeybees from Heifer in honor of my best friend's birthday.)
Heifer has offered honeybee gifts for more than a decade, according to Tim Wheeler, who works in Heifer's office in Honduras. In an email response to a series of questions, he said they range in locations from Lituania to Latin America, with about 1,000 families in Honduras alone.
"With forty hives, I have heard a farm family makes about $4,000-6,000 gross on the conservative side. Half would be profit," he wrote.
Wheeler said that some of the Heifer participants are already beekeepers, while others receive training in advance of receiving their hives, and then receive ongoing training afterward from local farming cooperatives in which they participate.
"Heifer staff does followup and monitoring of projects on a regular basis," Wheeler wrote. "The local partner, often a co-op, provides technical assistance, has supplies available, and a micro credit program. Farmers have to pass on the value of the hive that they receive with either honey or the cash equivalent for another farmer."
Heifer also has worked with beekeepers in the United States - it recently partnered with the Clinch Valley Beekeepers Association in East Tennessee, where a grant enabled officers and other leaders of the organization to gain more training from the University of Tennessee's extension office.
Heifer beekeepers operate their hives both on their own properties and on local farms.
"The most successful rent out hives to pollinate crops and move them two to three times a year, increasing honey production that way," Wheeler wrote. "There is a dry and wet season in the tropics and subtropical areas, so moving them helps to feed them with seasonal flowering of tress and flowers."
Wheeler said he has not heard of problems with these honey producers and the larger issue of so-called "honey-laundering," instances where large suppliers and exporters blend or dilute their honey with other substances or even go so far as to mislabel them as being from other points of origin, often to avoid heavy U.S. tariffs.
"[Selling their products] is done through their co-op," Wheeler wrote. "One example is a co-op of 110 members who sell in the local and national market in supermarkets.
"Others sell at farmer's markets. I haven't heard of any problems of honey laundering. Probably the scale of these projects would mean that they tie into the concept of local markets and sustainable livelihoods that is promoted in the programs."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: I'm awaiting word from Kiva on its honey and beekeeping opportunities, but I wanted to share this with you in time for the holiday. Meanwhile, a quick search on Kiva's website shows several Armenian farmers seeking funding for their beekeeping operations.
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For more information about giving the gift of honeybees, visit Heifer's website; for more info on helping developing beekeeping entrepreneurs, visit Kiva online.
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Photo shows a Heifer beekeeper (photo courtesy of Heifer).