This time, we were to report on two things that we had never experienced. First, we would like to report Yamamoto-san who runs a bee farm (name of the farm: under the house).
As we can find and eat honey in our daily life, we went there with some interest. As soon as we arrived at Yamamoto-san's house, he took us to his bee farm. In the backyard, there were numerous bees flying about. Though we were afraid of being stung, we took a photo.
Then, we had a nice talk in his house.
"How did you come to start the bee farm?"
In the past, lots of houses farmed bees, but nowadays, most of them quitted the business due to lack of successors. As we live in this county-side, this is the first time to see the bee farm.
"We don't have a reason, but this is our family business, so I succeeded it naturally."
"How far do bees fly around?"
We were surprised about the long distance, and we were impressed that bees could return to their own combs without mistake.
"They fly with a radius of about 2 km, that is, they are within a 4 km diameter circle."
Yamamoto-san told us about the characteristics of bees.
When bees are cooped up in a small space, a strong group attack a weak group. So a wide place is needed to keep bees. When one group consists of 3K bees to 4K bees, we can take a good honey with a enough quantity. More bees might cause no honey group, and less bees might cause poor honey containing much water. A "hiving-off" is carried out in May to June. A good group can be hived off even in July. To get a good honey, he raises a bigger group and he doesn't try to increase the number of groups. Yamamoto-san farms bees in one place. But, some people change their farm from the south to the north with a cherry blossom front. In Yamamoto-san's house, they take other products, such as royal jelly. He served us fresh honey and royal jelly taken in the morning. As the honey was put in a beeswax, we tasted both honey and wax. They were very sweet and fresh. Royal jelly was sour and rough, so it was not good for us. However, Yamamoto-san said,"You cannot stop tasting after you try again."
Next, he explained about the effects of royal jelly.
When we tasted royal jelly, we found it not delicious. However, it's good for health. How about putting one bottle of royal jelly in your house as useful medicine. You may heard about the name of royal jelly, but lots of people don't know what it is from.
- Improve stomach ulcer by drinking it.
- Improve athlete's foot quickly by applying it.
- Apply it when you are stung by a bee.
- Good for injuries and spots.
- Shine hairs and smoothen skins when you taste it everyday.
"What is a royal jelly made from?"
It is difficult to take nectar by a centrifugal separator. In order to get good nectar, Yamamoto-san starts working at 4:00 am.
"It is produced by young hard-working bees. Only larvae that have the product can become queen bees. Only the queen bees can lay eggs."
"One queen bee lives in one group. Her lifetime is about 3 to 4 years or 5 years. When she dies, bees produce a queen again. But sometimes, 10 queen bees are born. At that time, they fight each other and the winner becomes a queen. First, working bees or a queen are determined depending on the feeding. This is a very mysterious."
"Last question, when do you feel tough for the bee farming?"
"I don't feel tough usually, but more flowers would be better. When there are full of flowers, bees are doing well each other, however, when there aren't enough, we have to put nectar taken in summer into beehives.
"Now we understand about how to fill nectar."
After this visiting, we felt that the knowledge on bees was deep. Yamamoto-san gave us a bottle of honey after we finished the interview. We tasted it at home and it was very good. Bees work so hard to produce good honey. By their efforts, we can have good quality honey. Every time when we see honey, we remember this experience. One more thing to say, Yamamoto-san's house was very wonderful. Our dream is there.
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