Bee Season Is Done

Wrapped up hives at one of our BC sites.

What's new on the farm:

It's a wrap! The bees are safe and snug in their winter homes on Vancouver Island.

We run one of the longest bee seasons in Canada.

We start up in February and finish in mid-November. Most beekeepers run from May-October, because they don't move their bees for the winter.

Now, combine that with the fact that while most farming has modernized a lot with automated machinery and equipment, beekeeping still involves a LOT of hard physical labor.

That isn't the case with beekeeping. Most of the work involves a lot of hard physical labor. Especially since we look at each hive to check for diseases and health.

Needless to say, we are ready for a long break!

After some time off, we will start preparing for the next year. Until then, it's time to focus on the holidays!

Cool Research: Honey as a Brain Booster

I came across a review paper (a paper that analyzes multiple studies) published in 2023 looking at the effects of honey on the brain.

Unlike refined sugar, we know that honey has lots of benefits. It turns out, this includes improving our brain health!

The paper described how eating 1 tablespoon of honey for sixteen weeks helped boost short term memory in post-menopausal women. Short term memory learning was also improved in another study on schizophrenic patients.

It also has a protective effect on our brain cells, and is linked to improved cognition!

I don't need many excuses to eat honey, but these are good ones!

If you want to read the paper yourself, check it out here:

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2022.1092596/full