In Macon County, it is estimated that at least 100 apiarists (beekeepers) whose inventory ranges from two hives to more than 100, are currently operating. A honeybee hive usually has between 20,000 and 80,000 bees living together in a colony. A colony is made up of one queen bee and several drones (males), with female worker bees making up the balance. It is likely the number of honey bees staying busy in Macon County numbers in the millions.
Most people have tasted honey and many like the sweet taste it brings. Honey bees produce the nectar that never goes bad and has abundant health and nutritional attributes. But what goes into the making and processing of honey? How is the honey-producing business conducted locally? What kind of honey is produced in this area?
The Macon County Beekeepers Association is one organization that answers these questions and more. Established in 1980, it seeks to “promote better methods and best practices of beekeeping among apiarists of Macon County, North Carolina, and the nation.” Additionally, the North Carolina Beekeepers Association is one of the largest state beekeeping organizations in the United States, with around 4,000 members.
Alberto Hernandez is one Macon County resident who knows beekeeping. Hernandez, while a full-time employee at Tellico Trout Farm, is also a professional apiarist and owns Brothers Honey. He has seven different locations at which he currently manages a total of 100 hives. In addition to working with the fishery, Hernandez also processes honey for Tellico Honey, a co-located business on the same property.
Periodically, he dons the standard beekeeper’s suit to check the health of the honey bees and make adjustments to the hives when necessary. Smoke is used to subdue honey bees and keep them from stinging, but Hernandez – who often does not even wear gloves when checking hives – attests to the fact that honey bees are not very aggressive because they are so focused on pollinating plants, making honey, tending to larvae within the hive, and keeping the queen happy.
Sticky process
Visiting Tellico in June, Macon Sense received a tour from Hernandez as he explained the steps for processing honey. Learning about the processing of raw honey from hive to packaging reveals some interesting steps. A standard hive includes a bottom board, a hive body or two containing frames, several honey “supers” containing frames, an inner cover and an outer telescoping cover that fits on top. The terms “hive body” and “super” are functionally interchangeable. They are both basically wooden boxes.
“We have to pull the trays (supers) and clean the wax off, then drain the honey, using a machine and cheesecloth,” said Hernandez.
He and an assistant demonstrated how one machine strips wax from the top of a super, followed by the honey being manually dumped into a different machine. The second step uses centrifugal force to further separate honey from hive wax.
Once honey is drained from the second machine into five-gallon buckets, the second straining step occurs, using the cheesecloth to further refine the honey. Tellico sells honey in bulk to customers, who repackage it into smaller containers and retail to their customers. With the 2023 season being a productive one, many containers of honey remained ready for sale at the Tellico location. Hernandez shared that a bucket can sell for anywhere from $100-$300, depending on the type of honey. In addition to honey, beeswax is shaped and sold as candles.
This year’s early honey production was just beginning in June and Hernandez pointed out that it was a bit underwhelming. “We had some untimely rain in May, just about when wildflowers and [tulip] poplars are pollinated. That kept bees from being as active during a key two-week period and reduced honey production when poplar and blackberries were blooming.”
While not completely stymied, Hernandez admitted the peak of production for wildflower honey was thwarted due to the weather.
What’s the difference?
While most people have heard of many of the varieties of honey, the names are generally derived from the primary sources that bees pollinate. Some popular types are clover, alfalfa, buckwheat, orange blossom, manuka, and wildflower. Lesser-known varieties include dandelion, acacia, eucalyptus, and poison oak. In Western North Carolina exists yet another: sourwood.
“Wildflower honey is earlier in the season, around May. Sourwood honey is produced later, in June through August,” said Hernandez.
He said that the second summer-season honey production is due to sourwood trees being one of the latest blooming plants, and honey bees swarm to them. He also explained that basswood trees bloom around the same time, and while those could be included in production, the later honey is still labeled as “sourwood.” Harvesting will only occur twice during bee season – once around mid-June, for wildflowers, and again in August for sourwood.
Another difference found in types of honey is processed versus raw. Like it sounds, raw honey is straight from a hive into a container and consumed. It is not pasteurized (lowly heated) nor finely filtered. Raw honey also better preserves its flavors by maintaining the integrity of pollen, yeasts, and sugars.
According to Hernandez, processing happens to extend honey’s shelf life and prevent crystallization. While it does not eliminate the many benefits honey can bring, such as allergy relief and immune system boosting, it supposedly can reduce them.
“I don’t heat my honey, so it may crystallize … some people say it [pasteurization] can kill benefits of the honey, but I’m not sure if that is true,” he said.
Tellico Honey, which sells higher volumes, runs its honey through the pasteurization process of heating for at least 24 hours. Doing so will help the honey not to crystallize, which means the jarred honey has a longer shelf life.
Apiarist in the making
All the summertime buzz about bees and honey got 9-year-old Tobias Stockdale thinking. He wondered what it would be like to have honeybees and learn how the whole process worked.
“First, I thought it would be fun to learn about them,” he said. “Then I thought it would be fun to get honey bees and was surprised that my dad let me get them.”
Tobias’s dad, Luke Stockdale, agreed that his son got pretty excited at the prospect of being an amateur apiarist.
Luke and Tobias initially visited Henandez at his Saturday morning Franklin Farmers Market booth, where Brothers Honey is available for purchase, and they discussed how to go about obtaining some hives. Then, in late June, they made it happen.
Tobias was asked what he found most interesting about the process so far.
“I found it cool that they [bees] make entire sheets of wax and they put honey, royal jelly, and cells in them. It was interesting to see a bee hatch, also,” he said.
Tobias estimates they already have about 20,000 bees.
Of course, he is also learning that as with any undertaking, challenges are associated with being a beekeeper, like
“when your queen isn’t laying enough eggs!” Reflecting on his personal involvement in the labor, he concluded, “Also, when they are producing a lot of honey but not putting it in the right spot, it makes the frames hard to lift out.”
Bees wind down
When honey production season is officially over for apiarists, honey bees begin to be less active. Beekeepers will remove from the hives all the supers and only leave a couple of boxes in which the bees will live through winter.
“I’ll start feeding in September with sugar water. That way, they don’t use the honey they have in the hive and they save it for later in the winter to consume,” said Hernandez.
The queen will stop laying eggs around mid-November and will not begin new bee production until sometime around late February, when the whole process begins all over again.
If interested in learning more about beekeeping, The Macon County Beekeepers Association meets the first Thursday of every month from 7-8:30 p.m. at the Macon County Extension Office, 193 Thomas Heights Road, Franklin. An annual Beekeeping 101 class is held in February and March annually. Visit https://maconncbeekeepers.com/.
