You get a satisfaction from good honey which you never get from the very best of jam, even your own home made jam. Is there something elemental in the bee and the whole process that goes into the final product? Certainly bees were around on this island among the first of our domesticated animals. Bee keepers, in a way, must be among the original Greens, finding a useful source of food, derived, indirectly it's true, from even the most despised of weeds and shrubs, as well as the fruit trees and other sophisticated plants.
And beekeepers, you learn from their magazine, An Beachaire, The Irish Beekeeper, have a sporting sense of controversy and good humour. Instance D.J. Deasy, PO, for he sent to this comer a copy of the magazine containing an article on hive cleanliness by him and - well marked in pencil - the furious reply from Risteard O Gallchobhair, in the later January edition. D.J.D. advised that November was the time to clean up around the hives and their surroundings. He prescribed herbicides. He said bees needed or preferred a free flight line into their hives. Then he wrote of applying a good wood preservative to the hives every two years. He did say that a mixture of creosote and waste motor oil, but the creosote must be insecticide free.
Wham. In the January answer R. O'G writes "Dear Editor, D.J. Deasy is one of the wisest men in Ireland - he keeps bees, doesn't he?" But then goes on to ask what is meant by "clean"? Not any where sprayed by herbicides. "If he must have a tidy apiray, would it not be more earth friendly to invoke the clippers or the lawnmower? "As to hives and wood preservative he tells us his hives are innocent of preservatives yet remain perfectly sound and dry "after five years of Kerry monsoons."
Honey is a wonderful substance and food. Use it, in particular, if you can get very early, mild honey or heather honey later in the year. Game often is lifted onto great heights after being marinaded in wine and honey. Greek yoghurt goes naturally with honey, as many travellers know.
Cakes, of course. In many sauces. And, of course, you can make booze out of it: mead. Bless the bees.