The Honeys produce over thirteen tons of honey a year. That's a whole lot of honey, especially when you consider that's there's only three of them harvesting it (Mr. & Mrs. Honey and Honey Jr... but soon Honey's Honey will join them), so it's no surprise that they need a little help from time to time, and that's where The Husband comes in.
Two nights a year, The Husband helps The Honeys move their hives from the outskirts of Marseille up to Grenoble, three hours north. They do this at night when the bees are supposed to be sleeping, but just because they are 'supposed to be' sleeping, doesn't mean they are, so the work and the journey aren't exactly sting proof.
(Getting stung doesn't bother Honey Jr.... being a fifth generation honey farmer, his body is practically immune. Bee stings to him are like mosquito bites to us, annoying, but not a big deal. I'm sure Professor X will be coming for him any day now. Poor Honey's Honey on the other hand, well she's still trying to build up her immunity. It's not always pretty.)
Last year after the second bee run, The Husband came home with twenty-one stings. (Apologies, I reported twenty-three on my Facebook page last night. And get this... somehow, he managed to escape with only three on the first run last year!) I asked him to keep track again this year for me, and as of 7:30AM, there had only been seven with only two hours left go.
But my money is on ten.
Bisou!
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omg 21 stings! that's scary! isn't that like, a lot of bee venom in your blood? haha, i think i saw my girl recently, forgive me! :) happy weekend amica mia!
ReplyDeletewhat the what?? that's crazy.
ReplyDeletei got stung once, by one bee and it was already hurt. like really hurt.
but it seems you have a really nice weather. jealous
Yowie! I'll look at provencal honey in a whole new light this summer!
ReplyDeleteDon't they "smoke" the bees to make them calmer when they move them? Saw that on National Geographic once. Is it lavender honey? Croatia made such a big deal that their honey was from lavender.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear the Honey's bees are doing well. American honey bees are struggling. NPR says we lost 30% again this winter - at least the third or fourth year. Even my math skills reveal that you can't sustain a bee population for long at that rate.
ReplyDeleteWe may need for you to send us some ... soon. Great pics!
I love hearing about the bees. I am going to show this post to my sons because they have been asking me questions about how you raise bees and where the honey comes from. We go through many jars of honey at my house.
ReplyDeleteBonnie Rose | A Compass Rose
Thirteen tons is a lot of honey. Being a self described "foodie" I love to learn where food comes from or how is it made. If I recall correctly, the Honeys live near you in the LPV. Are the bees kept near Marseille during the winter because it's warmer than up in the mountains near the LPV and then moved to the Grenoble area in a sort of bee transhumance for the summer? Where do the Honeys' bees get their nectar near Grenoble? Do they sell their honey at markets?
ReplyDelete"bee stings to him are like mosquito bites to us".. i cant believe it!! i would never! why don't they where gloves?! i hope your husband at least gets to take some honey home?
ReplyDeleteI want bees! I am jealous!
ReplyDeleteI don't think I could go for a ride with that many bees. Even 1 in my car and I panic!
ReplyDeleteThere is such an art in beekeeping! How cool The Husband gets to be involved! My great-grandparents kept bees and I got to see them when I was little, but they gave it up when they got too old to manage them...it was really the BEST honey! Love all your pictures!!
ReplyDeletePS>I moved blogs! My new blog is http://postcardsofmylifeblog.blogspot.com/
Great photos. It sounds both fund scary to be a bee keeper! I would love to keep bees someday!
ReplyDeleteI'd say he got stung 12 times. :) (But I hope it is less than that!)
ReplyDeleteI'm on slow internet this week, so the pictures revealed themselves slowly. I was hooked with the first one. I'm assuming all the flower pictures show different nectar sources for the bees.
ReplyDeleteIt must be scary for the bees to be jostled about like that. No wonder they're inclined to sting.
Bee stings hurt me for a little while, but wear off. The ones that get me badly are big red ants. They may be just bites, rather than venom, but they hurt for hours.
Twenty one stings????? I would be so miserable!
ReplyDeleteGreat photos especially the one of the purple flower. Helping out with bees -that's definitely something I wouldn't want to do!
ReplyDeletehttp://missbbobochic.blogspot.co.uk/
One bee sting is one too many for me, let alone seven... Or twenty-three!
ReplyDeleteYIKES! hope he was okay in the end :(
ReplyDeletep.s. I"m so tickled by the idea of being a bee farmer!
in love with those natural pict, bus bees really make me be scared hahaha
ReplyDeletereally liked, i stay here <3
www.malesclutch.blogspot.com
Sergio,xx
This is so very cool! I absolutely love bees (but loathe butterflies... go figure), and it's always so interesting to see the work that goes into harvesting honey!
ReplyDeleteI helped a friend once to harvest his three hives - it was unnerving to have so many bees around. Can't imagine to do this as a profession, although sweet rewards? ;)
ReplyDeleteI have a lot of bees on my terrace.
ReplyDeleteThey are eating flowers of rosemary, lemon and roses. My lavender is not ready, I'm waiting to see flowers.
Nice job ... I want to buy some honey.
Bisous, Babi
I just can't wrap my brain around being immune to bee stings! Ahhh! They're THE worst. The only time I didn't mind getting stung by a bee was when "he" stung my lips. I rocked mad juicy lips for a few hours - totally FREE!! How do you like that Lana Del Rey?
ReplyDeleteBut really, thanks for this post. I never bothered to think of what goes into producing honey. Learn something new everyday. : )
i hope he's being paid LOTS of money to do this. i don't know if there's a price that you could offer me to do that job... i HATE being stung. #hurtslikethedickens
ReplyDeletedo you relaize how fairytale book far off land your life is?! moving honey bees?! so awesome!!
ReplyDeleteok maybe i'm just a city girl and really they do that everywhere??
:)
Pretty sure this is my worst nightmare yet so cool at the same time.
ReplyDeleteDid you dare taking all these great pictures? I'd be so scared!..I'd be so scared of a single sting - how can a person bear several of them?
ReplyDeleteWow! But I really like this post anyway. This is amazing, I didn't know the hives needed to be moved.
Wow! What great photos. We have quite a few bee keepers around here. I would never in a million years keep bees mainly because my husband reacts to them in a very bad and dangerous way.
ReplyDeleteBut also because I am a chicken and have a low pain threshold...oh, and it looks like it's a pain in the ass. But interesting to see from a distance nonetheless!
no lie.....i read 87% of this story thinking "the honey's" was a nickname you had for the bees - and couldn't get over the fact that two bees and their one bee kid made all that honey.
ReplyDeletelove, your american friend that struggles. I promise not to wear my LPV shirt when I struggle like this ;)
Moving bees possibly sounds like my worst nightmare, but I'm glad there are other people who do! What interesting pictures and a unique trade...5th generation?! Awesome!
ReplyDeleteTwenty one stings? Yikes! Once was one too many for me! So, why do they need to move the bees? That was something I'd never heard of before!
ReplyDeleteI have great respect for Bee Farmers, Bee's need all of the love they can get!
ReplyDeleteMy uncle had a few hives and I helped him before, it's quite nerve racking... I was ready to bolt at a moments notice but he was so calm... I keep learning the best stuff about you! We should meet up sometime.. being in Austin together and all!
Tammy