Three events "pollinated" my fondness for bees and honey. First, as an amateur herbalist, I enjoyed having bees and insects visit my garden. I adopted the bee skep, symbolic of herb gardening, as a decorative accent in my backyard herb garden. As fortune would have it, this fancy led me to begin picking up bee pins, honey pots, bee note cards and all kinds of other bee related objects. I found them and my friends found them for me.

The second trigger came when I read Gene Stratton Porter's The Keeper of the Bees. Porter was an Indiana author who wrote of a master bee keeper, his bees, and the beauty of nature in this story about restoring a wounded World War I veteran to health.

Thirdly, my son actually became a bee keeper for several years. While in graduate school in Illinois, one of my son's professors shared his bee keeping knowledge. Two subsequent visits to my son's hives were memorable. The first was on a cool, foggy morning. We drove out into the country and ventured to the "back 40" where several beekeepers kept their hives. Watching my son don his protective gear, fire up the smoker, and gently move the frames to check the honey production thrilled me beyond words. About a year later, I met him at another location. He had moved his two hives to a site planted with lavender and linden trees. He proceeded to open a hive, took a knife, and carefully scraped out a hunk of beeswax dripping with pale golden honey. The sample was pure ambrosia with a hint of lavender - an indelible moment.

So began my research and appreciation of honey. I have learned that I prefer raw honey right from the hive rather than the pasteurized form. Processing sterilizes the honey and improves shelf-life but can darken it and also reduces specific enzymes. I keep raw honey on hand for first-aid needs. From sore throats, laryngitis, burns, wounds and to upset stomachs, I use honey for both humans and pets.

It is said that local honey (retrieved from hives in close to home) contains traces of pollen that make it an immune system booster. Some people have effectively fought allergies with local honey. Honey therapy is inexpensive and easily accomplished.

You can find out more information about the healing properties of honey on the internet. There are all kinds of bee and honey therapies. Check out the American Apitherapy Society Inc at www.apitherapy.org or the Indiana Beekeepers Association at indianabeekeeper.goshen.edu/Beekeepers.html.