We Michiganders are kind of like bears climbing out of our dens after a long winter. The weather warms and we’re ready to do things outdoors-go to picnics, festivals camp outs, ballgames, and all manner of fun activities. Unlike our furry friends from the dens, though, these “bears” have full-time jobs and generally can only squeeze activities in during the weekends, which makes for a busy schedule and full calendars during the months between May and September, here in the Great Lakes State!
So, understanding that you all have a busy summer season ahead of you, I would like to offer a new activity for you to pencil in between the other fun things you’re planning this year: The first ever, Michigan Honey Festival on Saturday July 28, 2012.
What’s a Honey Festival, you ask? It is an opportunity to see some things you may never have known existed, learn a few new things that may be going on all around you but you don’t know it, answer some questions you may have, enjoy foods, drinks and products that are natural, local and healthy, play some games, watch some artisans create crafts and natural products, and learn about (and have the opportunity to purchase) all of the various products that are produced by cooperation with Apis mellifera, the honey bee!
Oh, there WILL be honey! But don’t think that’s the end of the story. Bees make many other products and the substances they create can be used to do many wonderful things. Of course you know that bees also produce a wonderful natural wax that has been used for centuries to make candles, wax thread and bowstrings, to coat cheeses and create products that soften and protect our lips and make us more kissable! The wax has been used for skin care products and pomades and many, many other functions, both historical and still in use today.
Propolis and Royal Jelly are some other products made by bees that you will learn about and have an opportunity to purchase or try. Then there is pollen. Yes, it is used by many as a nutritional supplement. Bees collect it from the local vegetation while doing a very important job for all of us: pollination! The extra pollen harvested by beekeepers can be used to supplement our diets with a natural source of vitamins, minerals, proteins, amino acids, hormones, enzymes and fats, as well as significant quantities of natural antibiotics. And, the bee-collected variety of this substance is superior to that taken right off the plant; the bees actual enhance the pollen for us!
Bees are essential for our agricultural industry, since they pollinate the trees and plants that produce our fruits and veggies. Without them our yields would suffer greatly and fruits and vegetables would be more scarce and costly. Many farms and orchards actually pay beekeepers to visit their farms with their bees to help produce a better yield.
At the festival there will be a number of different demonstrations, showing you how beekeepers tend their hives and care for the bees, while gathering all the products we love to use. We’ll have folks who make candles, lip balm, and other products showing you their wares and vending them. We’ll have chefs producing local food favorites using honey. There will also be mead (honey wine). We’ll have a mead tasting event, where the different commercial meaderies in Michigan will provide samples of their locally produced honey wine for sampling and you can judge the best of the bunch! There will be amateur meadmakers making batches of honey wine and teaching you how they do it, as well as brewers showing you how adding honey to beer can be a good thing!
There will be plenty of activities for the kids as well. Children under 16 years of age can come to the festival for free! The entry fee for all others is only $5. There will be bee costume competitions, Master Gardening demonstrations, honey tastings, a bee beard demonstration (you have GOT to see this!), prizes and fun for the whole family!
Check us out at michiganhoneyfestival.com and join us on our Facebook page, too! Please consider adding this wonderful, local event to your weekend calendar this busy summer season! Remember, it won’t be long until we have to go back into the den again.
Source: Michigan Beekeepers’ Association