OCTOBER 10, 2011 BEE PROPOLIS

"PAIN MAKES MAN THINK. THOUGHT MAKES MAN WISE. WISDOM MAKES LIFE ENDURABLE." john patrick



Can you draw any conclusions from the pain you have suffered through your life? I can when qualifying at a twelve step meeting. I need that constant reminder of where I was years ago in my life. It is a good reminder. When I survey my life and my suffering, it helps me not to make the same mistakes. But of course, I did make similar mistakes but they were not as drastic. The idea of trusting too many, the idea of doing too many things to help others, and forgetting to help myself. I can speak like this because it I have changed. Have you changed? The virtue for me was patience. I need to have patience. Out of all this has come some wisdom. Can you believe that I have wisdom! Wisdom has come from my insight. Two things have given me the courage to stand up for what I believe - HONESTY AND SELF-RESPECT.


Rick and I said goodbye to 'our girls' this weekend. Who would have thought we would be involved in such a project together. It has been gratifying for both of us. It is great as a couple to have some common interests.

How much of the actual bee products from a hive can be used? Well there is the honey, of course. Then there is the wax. But there is also the Royal Jelly and the Bee Propolis.

Bee propolis has been used for centuries. In Fifty Years Among the Bees, Dr. CC Miller discusses bee propolis. The film Queen of the Sun highlights its amazing qualities. It has been used for many medical conditions. An active anti inflammatory component of bee propolis is Caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE). It also has immunomodulator factors and anti microbial factors as well.

A study from 2002 , "Photochemical compounds involved in the anti inflammatory effect of propolis extract." Although the study used rats, its results were revealing. The study looked at CAPE with and without propolis on rat pedal edema. Those with propolis and CAPE had no (paw/foot) edema while those with propolis and NO CAPE had edema. Propolis has been used in studies with colitis and to treat H. pylori. More studies need to be done on propolis. Rick and I have found no down side effects using any by-product of a bee hive.


This Fall and Winter is dedicated to more reading, seminars and courses. Not only do we have our Fire Island 'girls' but we have to set up hives in two school locations within New York City.
Get involved.

For clarification, 'our girls' = our honeybees.

rick and i have our 'girls' and then our boys, Spencer, Jack and Grant - man's best friends. These boys are more than that. Those who own and care for dogs as children will understand. Unfortunately, it is with great sadness that JACK, Rick's Yorkie died today. He was 15 years old. Words cannot describe how wonderful he was.

Until tomorrow...

AUGUST 16, 2011 DO BEES HAVE EMOTION?

"Power is not about exerting our will over others, it is about BEing in complete truth with yourself."

"You have no power here. Be gone, before someone drops a house on you." A classic line from the Good Witch (Billie Burke) to the Wicked Witch of the West (Margaret Hamilton) from the 1939 classic, The Wizard of Oz. No one has the power to exert will over anyone but himself/herself. Never let anyone but your Higher Power be your Higher Power. At one point in my life, I let someone else other than my twelve step program and sponsor be my higher power. It was at a time when I had low self esteem. I was fearful of being rejected. I couldn't even buy myself anything without feeling guilty. Something had to change. And it did. I changed my life. I started to live in complete truth of my character defects. I wrote resentments; I made amends; I started to live the life I always wanted to live.

Do you think animals have feelings? Do you think that a honeybee has emotions? After reading "Do Bees have feelings?" from Scientific American 8/2/2011 I am convinved that honeybees do have emotion. I first thought of it at the Honey Plant in Nampa Idaho two weeks ago. I carefully watched honeybees entering and leaving their hives in the onion and carrot fields. Some seemed to pause before entering the hive. Those worker females that are foragers coil and uncoil their tapered mouths towards the onion flower. Perhaps they are not only eating but rather enjoying the sun, the onion flower, and 'hanging out'...

In this article, Geraldine Wright from the UK proposed that bees, like dogs, monkeys and some birds, see the glass half empty. This proves nothing-- but we should consider the idea of honeybees having emotion.

If they do have emotions, they might be saying this:

1. Why are you people letting us die and disappear?

2. Can't you stop using pesticides? These chemicals are killing us!

3. Tell migratory beekeepers to do other pollination besides just mono crop pollination.

4. When you take our honey and wax in the processing plants, many of us lose our way to our home. I do not want to fly around looking for my queen mother! Why do I always lose my friends?

5. I am far from mindless, you stupid human being --I am pollinating your fruits/vegetables...

6. Did you ever think we honeybees are very sophisticated?

After choosing the difference between an unpleasant and pleasant taste chemical, and bees being shaken to stimulate an attck of an animal, conclusions were made. The experiments also measured different neurotransmitters for learning (octopamine), agitation /aggression (serotonin) and aversive conditioning (dopamine). After all this, the scientific conclusion was that bees have a persistent state of negative affects that are triggered by agitation, wide changes in neurotranmitter (NT) levels and clear, measurable cognitive biases.

This actually tells me nothing.

Of course bees would be agitated if they are shaken. They are angry and aggressive. That is no suprise. So neurotransmitters are widely changing. Shake a human being for a while in a box and see what happens to her/him!

How do you regard the mind of an insect like a bee, butterfly or praying mantis?

In college biology we are taught that these invertebrates (animals without backbones) are life's second string (compared to vertebrates). We are taught invertebrates are mindless, have nuance behaviors (such as stinging an individual)... just critters--alien at that. This is all nonsense. Take the time to observe flight patterns. Take the time to read 'Honeybee Democracy'. Watch the film Queen of the Sun. Get inspired.

Get real. Take up the cause to save the Honeybee.

Thank you

Until tomorrow...