Honey bees are beloved characters in our lives. Inspiring admiration (and respect for boundaries), we also recognize their importance in the chain of life. And they have their own highly attuned perspective on the world. Their work and survival involves an intimate exploration of the floral landscape. As Maurice Maeterlinck wrote in "The Life of the Bee" more than a century ago, "But what have we to do, some will ask, with the intelligence of bees?[] I hold, and exaggerate nothing, that our interest herein is of the most considerable." Maeterlinck, Maurice, "The Life of The Bee," (transcribed by Alfred Sutro), Dodd, Mead & Co., 1914.
Our interest in bees has been longstanding, and this year we were finally able to welcome several hives to the farm.
For those following along, earlier this year several honey bee hives were brought in by Ron Lauff of Walnut Creek Apiary. When Ron retired from the Army, he dedicated himself to studying and raising bees. Under his loving care, he has shepherded several beehives successfully without the large-scale die off many other hives have suffered. Some of the reasons Ron was willing to install a portion of his bees on the farm is that we eschew chemical herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers, and also that the farm is of sufficient size to feed the bees all season. Plus he is just a really fine soul!
Beyond simply lusting after bees (oh the smell of honey'd hives hanging on the summer air), we welcomed the bees for their intimate perspective on this place. Where as the trees are responding to the soils, stars, and weather, the bees are responding to the flora of the landscape (which in turn is responding to the soils, stars, and weather). Ron explains that the bees are monofloral--harvesting one type of flower at a time. I was unable to confirm this with the bees directly, but of necessity they must be. Flowers are a productive (and beautiful) life feature, and of limited duration--generally they flower, are pollinated, and then go on to grow their fruits and seeds.
We encourage flowers. On the farm, we limit pasture mowing which allows birds to nest and promotes all sorts of flowering plants like milkweed, grasses, asparagus, crown vetch, asters, daisies, goldenrod, and so many others. What may be less front-of-mind in the flower department are the many tree and shrub flowers also feeding the bees--fragrant black locust, maples, walnut, buckeye, cherry, shadbush, raspberry, plum, viburnum, apple, oak, and all the other good citizens of our diverse forests.
This inaugural year, we are presenting three iterations of honey created entirely by the bees at the farm: Early Summer, Midsummer, and Late Summer. We have (of course) flavor-profiled them for you. This year, Early Summer tastes of ripe Anjou pear and melon notes with layers of vanilla and chamomile; Midsummer conjures rose water high notes over a tart pink grapefruit layer; and the Late Summer (in its highlighter yellow magnificence) reminds us of a buttery raspberry-lemon custard confection with floral hints. We hope you'll treasure these gifts from our bee friends. One single teaspoon of honey represents the life work of 12 honey bees. We think that inspires a certain solemnity.
I was thinking more about perspective--and saw first-hand how it can be a powerful experiential tool--at a recent Omega Institute writing seminar led by Padraig O'Tuoma. We were challenged to examine a single concept from 13 perspectives, distilling each perspective into a single line. We then arranged those lines into a composition. The resulting amalgam was a far richer portrayal and understanding of the concept. It added dimension and nuance. And it was not lost to me that Tapatree is engaged in a similar examination. We are viewing this piece of earth from multiple perspectives and offering those perspectives to you in the form of tastes of a place: Tastes of this place with its wild inhabitants, its winter storms, its summer blooms. Although it is but one more tiny window into the life of this land, we hope you relish it, and that it provides you one more perspective of our corner of Tapatree.
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