That was a fascinating article. I find it strange that the primary use of honey by the ancient Irish wasn’t mentioned though, and that would be fermenting mead, an alcoholic beverage. We are talking about the Irish here. An interesting element of beekeeping in traditional cultures around the World is that no matter how collectively all other material is shared in the community, someone always owns a beehive. You mess with someone else’s hive at peril to your life in every society that I’m aware of. It’s private property, which is why an elaborate oral code of laws had to be put in place to regulate apiary matters.

The greatest defenders of healthy bee populations across the World now are the many beekeeping associations and commercial honey producers. People engaged in scientific beekeeping and honey production know more about bees than anyone else, and directly benefit from strong bee populations, as do we when we put a little of their honey in our tea. To learn more about bees, talk to the person selling honey at the farmers market. They’ll buzz on about bees for as long as you can stand it, and you will be amazed by the number of hives in your area.