May I have your attention, please? The following
is not the real Jeff Fox review If you think
it's your fault every time you get stung by a
bee You might be a beekeeper If when robbing
is going on at your house, but you don't call
the police Well, you might be a beekeeper. If
you have enough beeswax lip balm to last your
family for 300 years, you might be a beekeeper.
Welcome, welcome to Be Love Beekeeping presented
by our great friends over at Man Lake. Today's
episode is going to be completely dedicated to
apotherapy or the use of honeybee products for
medicinal or health benefits. Our guest is Ross
Conrad who's a New England beekeeper and extremely
knowledgeable on the topic. This is a longer
discussion than usual so we're going to jump
right in after we give a quick but hearty thank
you to V2B Health for their support of this podcast.
Vita's Varroa Control Ranger products includes
Apistan, Apigard, and now Varroxan, Extended
Release Oxalic Acid Strips. Thanks guys. Now,
all things Apotherapy. We have with us today
Ross Conrad, coming to us all the way from Vermont.
And Ross, good morning. How are you? Good morning,
Eric. Doing well, thank you. It is great that
we could finally connect. And just to let our
listeners know, we're going to be talking about
a cool subject today, which is apotherapy, something
that you know a lot of. But first, let's find
out who Ross is and what are you doing in Vermont
and what's beekeeping like there. So jump right
in anywhere. I started beekeeping by working
with some local commercial beekeepers, Bill and
Charlie Meraz. And Charlie Mraz was a world -famous
beekeeper. Between the two of them, they were
father and son. They had over 100 years of beekeeping
experience. That's how I got my education. And
Charlie Mraz was known as the father of apotherapy,
who first actually brought the use of bee products
and bee venom to the United States and really
pushed hard to try to get the medical establishment
interested in... the benefits of bee venom therapy
and apitherapy in general. Beekeeping in Vermont
is great. I'm in the Champlain Valley, which
is the best place to keep bees in all of New
England. Been a little bit more challenging of
reaching years, but haven't given up and keep
working at it. Hopefully beating the odds. Good.
And pretty tough. I don't know if you've heard
recently this past nine months had one of the
biggest guy -offs they're estimating. well over
a million colonies of bees died just in the last
nine months here in the United States. Yeah,
we have talked all about it on this podcast,
had Chris Hyatt on a couple of episodes ago to
give us a good explanation. And we're waiting
like everybody else to see what the cause is.
Nobody really knows yet. Well, it's interesting
for me, this winter had really mixed results.
I had some bee yards I've lost really high, you
know, 46, 50. 100 % of my bees died and other
bee yards, well, I lost none or had less than
10 % loss. And so it strikes me that, you know,
if it was something that beekeepers were doing
or myself, you know, because they treat all my
hides the same, I managed them all the same.
So if it was something that I was doing wrong
or not doing, then I would expect to see more
consistent losses in all my bee yards. But the
fact that some of them get hit hard and some
of them don't at all tells me that it's something
outside the bee yard that's affecting them. And
do you have any speculation on what that might
be? Oh, of course. Everyone's got speculation.
But we're doing a sweepstakes here. Whoever gets
it right wins. So go ahead and put your two cents
in. Well, unfortunately, I believe it probably
if not partially, if not wholly responsible is
the pesticides and the inadequate regulation
of pesticides that goes on in the United States,
especially. And now that they're also finding
that a lot of the forever chemicals, the PFAS
and stuff are in the pesticides as well. Yeah.
And the bees are being exposed and we know it
harms them. The neonics are a big problem because
they're systemic and you can't prevent the bees
from being exposed and be farmers are using them
even when they don't even have a pest problem.
I got a feeling that that's it. But, you know,
I'm holding back and waiting for the results.
I know there's over a dozen researchers, all
taking samples and looking into this to try to
figure out what's going on. So I'll be looking
forward to seeing the results. Yeah, me too.
And I love that you brought all of that up about
the chemicals and the forever chemicals. And
whether that explains this year's particular
die off or not, it's got to be a long term problem.
And I'm on board with you. We need to do something
about it. This episode is going to come out either
late March or early April of 2025. What's it
like in spring where you are as far as how you
take care of your bees? Do they need a lot of
food or what's going on right now? Well, no,
if I do everything right in fall, I don't have
to do a whole lot in the spring. But there's
often, you know, a hive here or there that for
some reason have used more honey than I anticipated
or expected. And so they might eat some feeding.
The best feed for a bee, there's honey in the
comb. So I will take honey. The first thing I
do is take honey from Hodgson. have died over
the winter and if as long as they haven't died
from diseases contagious I'll use that honey
to feed my bees rather than feed them sugar syrup
or high fructose corn syrup or god forbid or
whatever because that's just going to make them
healthier and so mostly it's just nowadays trying
to guess when spring is the weather patterns
are shifting and changing or the last two years
I've gotten into my bees way earlier than ever
before usually it was toward the end of April
now it's Last couple years, it's been the beginning
of April, first, second leak of April, I've gotten
into them. We'll see what happens this year.
I appreciate all of that info and let's jump
right into it. I want to learn more about apitherapy.
You mentioned that you were mentored by someone
that was really into this. Is that how you got
into it or did you learn in other ways? No, no,
that was my exposure through Charlie Maraz and
going to some of the meetings of the American
Apotherapy Society, which she was a founding
member of, and just learning of it or learning
about it. Having him teach me how to do it, reading
his book on it, appreciating of all the gifts
the bees provide, you know, that everything about
a beehive is so healing, not just for the environment,
but for humans as well. Literally everything.
Honey, the propolis, which is the tree resins
the bees gather and create a The most powerful
antimicrobial substance found in nature, pollen,
royal jelly, and the bee venom, even the beeswax,
everything has uses for healing and health. And
so if you have access to a beehive, you got access
to a cornucopia of healing and healthy materials
and products that are affordable and will remain
affordable because the pharmaceutical companies
can't patent them and control their distribution
and charge a ton of money for it. Anyone with
a beehive can have access to these things. Unfortunately,
that's part of the reason why there hasn't been,
until more recent years, a huge amount of research
into the effects of the bee products and their
health healing properties, because there's just
not a lot of money in it that can be controlled.
For the masses, I think that's just a great inexpensive,
accessible source of health and healing products.
And that's going to be especially important,
I think, as we go forward here in the future.
The way things seem to be going, we keep getting
more and more chaotic weather, which is creating
destabilization in society. And if for some reason
you don't have access to health care when you
need it, but you have access to a beehive, you
could be saving your life or the life of loved
ones or even just friends, neighbors, people
who need help if you have access to a beehive
and you're aware of what the properties of the
bee products are. Let's talk about some of these
things individually. Let's start with propolis.
We beekeepers know what it is. It can go anywhere
from sticky to crunchy. What is the best way
to harvest it, and what ways do you suggest that
we use it, and for what? The best way to harvest
it, it depends, you know. It depends. There's
always more than one approach. Because propolis
acts as an extension of the honey bee's immune
system, I purposely do not harvest propolis from
my hives intentionally. which would be to put
a some kind of a propolis trap in the hive something
that is has holes in it is rough surface or something
and and allows air or light through maybe you
put it up and replace the inner cover with it
and the bees will because they use propolis as
a building material as well as a way to sterilize
the inside of the hive they will feel those holes
or that rough surface with propolis typically
people will use some kind of a plastic or nylon
material that's easy to twist and bend after
it's been frozen because propolis as you mentioned
very sticky when it's warm but get hard and brittle
when it's cold so you would take that propolis
trap after it's been filled with propolis put
it in the freezer let it get hard the propolis
get hard and brittle and then you take it out
of freezer and just kind of tweak the bend the
plastic or the mesh or whatever you use and the
propolis quacks and breaks off and then you can
reuse the trap. But myself, I only harvest the
propolis that I come across in chunks when I'm
harvesting my honey. So on the frames or in the
supers there's often propolis and I will harvest
that because I'm not really looking to take the
propolis from the bees. They need it to be as
healthy as possible and that's possibly part
of the problem. I mean, there's a lot of factors
going into the current state of health of the
bees and why they're suffering so much. And one
of them is that over the years beekeepers bred
bees for those that didn't produce a lot of propolis
because it's bee glue, you know, is one of the
things the beekeepers call it as a nickname for
it because it glues everything together and makes
it hard to manipulate the frames and take things
apart. And so beekeepers have preferred bees
over the years that didn't. produce much propolis,
but now we've been learning thanks to Mala Spivak
and her work, a lot of the work that was done
at the University of Minnesota, propolis is really
important for healthy bees and it's really important
for healthy people in that regard. And that's
why I do collect it and then I'll use it and
make, usually I'll make a tincture out of it,
but you can also find it ground up in capsules
or you can just use it straight raw. grape of
sore throat. How do you tincture it? What's your
recipe for a tincture? I don't know if you're
familiar with herbalism and stuff. Most herbalists
will use like 80 proof alcohol, you know, like
vodka or something to soak their herbs in and
remove the medicinal properties. But the propolis,
because the majority of it are these tree resins
that are very dense, 80 proof alcohol, just 40
% alcohol, is not enough. to dissolve it. You
actually need a minimum of 70 % alcohol, or 130,
140 proof. If I do it, I just get the pure grain
alcohol, 95, 100 % alcohol, and I use that, and
I prefer organic, so I avoid any chemical contaminants
that might get into it. And that, I find, makes
the best propolis tincture. X amount of propolis,
put it in a pint of this alcohol, let it sit
for a couple of months. How do you do it? Yeah,
that's basically it. I'll fill up the jar most
of the way with propolis and then pour in the
alcohol and, you know, let it sit for a minimum
of two weeks, shake it once a day. And by the
end of that, all the propolis is pretty much
dissolved. There'll be some gunk along, I find,
along the bottom, which is usually the beeswax.
other stuff that's in the propolis that the bees
use when they create the propolis, and then you
can pull off the propolis -infused alcohol. That's
one way. Other people, there's other ways of
making it. There's a water, you know, non -alcohol
way of doing it, because some people have issues
with alcohol or it's drawing to the skin or whatever.
But I think, personally, I think the alcohol
makes the best tincture, gets the most of the
material out of the propolis and into the tincture.
and it preserves it the best. So what do you
use it for personally? And I know we can't speak
as medical advice here, we'll get in trouble,
but what does Ross use it for? I find when I
have a sore throat, really great for just knocking
it right out. I'll put a dropper full, coat my
throat before I go to bed at night and again
in the morning and usually within a couple days,
sore throat's gone. Very good for external, any
kind of external infections and things, wounds.
Or quite frankly, Because I tend to be one that
as much as I appreciate the modern medical system,
especially when it comes to physical things,
I find that they have a real challenge when it
comes to any degenerative diseases. They haven't
really figured that stuff out. And so I'll turn
to a lot of I might do what the doctor recommends,
but I'll also do my own more natural supplements
and food products in herbal fox and populous
whenever I'm dealing with a any kind of viral
infection, bacterial infection, or anything like
that, fungal. I will often take populous as part
of the protocol. Let me just take a minute here
to thank our presenting sponsor, Man Lake. One
of the things I love about Man Lake is their
commitment to education because that commitment
shows how much they want you to be successful
at beekeeping. One great resource is their mobile
app. You know, it's not just for shopping. It's
packed full of all kinds of helpful information,
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and plant bee healthy plants for their area.
It's free, so download the Man Lake app today.
And speaking of shopping, don't forget your discount
code MLBlove10. It's in the show notes. For $10
off your first $100 Now, back to the guest. Numbing
areas. In fact, because our glaciers are melting
at such a rapid pace, there was a recent discovery
of a, they called him the Ice Man, some guy that
had died hundreds of years ago, frozen in ice,
finally got uncovered as the glaciers receded.
And when they studied his body, they found dental
problems. and his teeth and he had stuffed populace
and beeswax in the cavities to fill the areas
that had opened up in his teeth. Populace had
been used as kind of a dental approach to helping
deal with dental issues. Populace has been used
for a long, long time. There has been studies
that recommend more modern studies that indicate
that it could be beneficial even today. So internally
or topically it sounds like you can use it. Yep.
Yeah, it's very rare for anyone to have an allergic
reaction to propolis, but if you do, usually
it's just, you know, you have some skin reaction
and you just cut back the propolis and the skin
clears up. It's pretty darn safe, as far as I
know. Let's jump around. Tell me more about royal
jelly and how people use it. Well, royal jelly
is kind of a milking substance that the bees
produce in glands in their bodies that they feed
to all the young bees when they're first hatched
from the egg. All the larva gets royal jelly
for the first three days or so and then after
that the worker bees the female worker bees and
the drone the male drones they get switched over
to a mix of the royal jelly with some honey and
pollen mixed in but the queen bee she only gets
royal jelly fed to her her whole life. which
is tend to be why they call it royal jelly. Unfortunately,
to get royal jelly, you have to remove the queen
from the hive. So it's pretty stressful on a
colony to produce royal jelly. It's also basically
very labor intensive. This is why most if pretty
much not all of the royal jelly available on
the market comes from China, because that's the
only place where they can basically pay people
hardly anything to produce this royal jelly because
basically what happens is in each queen cell
that the bee when you remove the queen from the
hive the bees start building new queen cells
to start raising new queens to try to replace
her and they deposit in a glob of royal jelly
in every one of those wax cells to feed the developing
larvae And then before that wax cell gets capped
for the larva to go through its pupation to develop
into a fully mature queen bee, you have to go
in with like usually they use a little suction
device to suck up all those little globs of royal
jelly. So it's very, very labor intensive and
kind of stressful and hard on the bees. But it
does have apparently a lot of pretty powerful
medicinal benefits. One of the primary differences
between a worker bee that can live for maybe
five, six, eight weeks during the summer at best,
and a queen bee that typically should be able
to live for five years. That diet makes the difference,
and this is powerful bee food. It comes from
the bee's body. It's got all kinds of bee hormones
and enzymes and lots of bee vitamins and protein
and has its own antiviral, antifungal properties.
Way back in the older days in Asia, the emperors
were given royal jelly because it was believed,
after observing the queen bees in the high, that
it would help the emperor to not only live long
but be sexually virile and vibrant in his old
age to help keep the genetic family line going.
Personally, I don't use raw or jelly a whole
lot just because it is so stressful to the beehives.
All right, we're going in no particular order.
I'll give you a heads up, Ross, though I want
to save bee venom for last. That's something
I'm super interested in. Let's talk about pollen
next. Pollen is considered a superfood because
it's so packed with vitamins and protein and
minerals. The pollen that the plants produce
in the area around the hive, the bees gather
it up as they fly through the air to actually
build up a static electric charge on their bodies
so the pollen grains will stick to them kind
of like a balloon sticking to the wall after
you rub it on your hair. And the bees will, they
actually have kind of the comb -like hairs on
their legs that they can use to groom themselves
and comb that pollen into a little ball that
they carry on their hind legs. back to the hive
and that is the primary source for all their
fats, protein, vitamins, and minerals. They actually
will ferment that pollen by adding a little bit
of nectar or honey to it. In the honey or nectar
is this beneficial bacteria and when they add
it to the pollen it mixes with the pollen will
cause the pollen to ferment after it's been placed
in the cells of storage. And that's the long
-term storage because pollen is actually highly
degradable. It's perishable. And so the bees
know that you ferment it as a way of storing
it for long -term use, like, for example, during
the winter, and they have no access to the pollen
outside. And for people to use, there are various,
quote, pollen traps that beekeepers can get,
put in a hive, collect some pollen. Would you
tell us two things? One, How do people make sure
they're being careful not to collect too much
pollen so that it's hurting the colony? And then
two, how do people use pollen and what for? So
yeah, that's a good point. You know, if you take
too much pollen from the high that's going to
harm them, because that's their primary source
of food for the young. They primarily use pollen
to feed and raise the young dees. And when you
have a high that's... you know could be raising
one over a thousand new bees every day during
the peak of the summer. That's a lot of pollen
that gets used. How do we know that we're not
taking too much? Should we put a pollen trap
in maybe one day a week and take it out or what
would be safe? Yeah something like that you know
one or two three days at the most but then take
it out so they get some in. Sometimes the bees
figure it out on their own. I've seen bees that
you had a pollen trap on the hive and then the
bees started gathering smaller pellets of pollen
on their legs that they could slip through the
trap and get it in because the way the pollen
trap works basically it creates an opening that's
so small at the entrance to the hive the bees
kind of have to squeeze through it to get in
and it knocks the pollen off their hind legs
and it falls through a screen where you can collect
it in a tray and the bees have learned to sometimes
gather just enough so they can squeeze through
and still get the pollen into the hive. With
any other openings than where the pollen trap
is, they'll use that opening to get the pollen
into the hive. If the bees aren't able to figure
it out, the beekeeper needs to definitely assist
them and make sure that the trap isn't on full
time and that it's taken off with enough guns
and with enough space and period of time to allow
the bees to bring in. the food that they're going
to need to feed their young and keep developing
the colony through the season as they need to.
Yeah, that is super important. OK, health wise,
what do you use it for? Well, it's just it's
a super food. It's got actually better, higher
quality protein, some pollens, than beef, quite
literally. So it is a pretty powerful. It kind
of depends though, you got to remember pollen,
it's being gathered from the flowers in the area,
so much of the quality of the pollen is going
to depend on where the bees have been foraging
and what flowers they've been visiting. But basically,
it's just powerful nutrition. Any kind of issues
you have with nutritional deficiency, the resource
of the problem, the pollen has the potential
to help alleviate that because it is such a powerful
nutrient dense food. Can it help with allergies
like honey can? Interestingly enough, a lot of
people have found that it does. It's based on
this basic idea that immunization shots are based
on where you get exposed to something and if
it doesn't kill you, right, then your body gives
up an immunity to it. And so that's the idea
when it comes to pollen. A lot of times, you
know, beekeepers will, you know, or you hear
that it's raw honey that you should eat. But
that's just a way to sell more honey. The reality
is raw honey is not filtered or heated. So it's
still going to have the pollen in it. A little
bit of pollen from the flowers that the bees
gather, the nectar from to create the honey.
There's going to be some pollen that gets in
there. And that is if you have an allergy to
that pollen, but you consume very small amounts
of it, it can actually help your body to build
up immunity so you don't get those kind of hay
fever symptoms as often people experience in
spring or fall. It's not really the raw honey
that's doing it, it's the pollen. And so the
best perhaps treatment, if you will, or approach,
you'd want to get pollen from the plants that
you are allergic to. Whether it's goldenrod or...
you know dandelions or whatever and then there
is a protocol that's been established through
the American Apotherapy Society where you take
you know one half of one of those little pollen
balls that has been collected from the bees that
you can buy in like health food stores or whatever
and and you eat that one day and then the next
day as long as you're not getting a bad reaction
or something maybe you'll eat a whole one whole
pollen ball and then the next day after that
you double it so then you have two and then the
next day you have four, and then the next day
eight, and then 16, and then maybe a quarter
teaspoon, and half a teaspoon, and a full teaspoon.
And usually after that, you know, 10 or 14 days
of taking the pollen like that, people find they
can, they don't have the kind of reactions that
they normally would have. So the first thing
that got me interested in beekeeping years ago
was for this purpose for seasonal allergies and
I had read a lot about it and I didn't know much
but just what I had read and the advice was have
some kind of a an amount that you take every
day a teaspoon or whatever of raw honey from
your area. So I went out, bought some raw honey
from a beekeeper that's about 150 miles away
from where I live, but relatively similar terrain
and vegetation and that kind of stuff. Now, I
don't know if that beekeeper filtered their honey
or not. All I know is I set up my own protocol.
I took a little honey every day for months. Here
came spring and I was just as bad as usual and
I just said okay. Well, this doesn't work until
I read that this really is a hyper local kind
of thing and Since I have had my own beehives
on my own property and I do that and my allergies
are Significantly better now. They're not gone,
but they are way way better than they used to
be Well, that's an interesting experience because
personally, I'm not so sure it needs to be that
hyperlocal. In theory, if the honey is gathered,
where the nectar is gathered to make the honey,
from flowers that you have allergies to, it should
work. Whether those flowers are in your backyard
or 150, 350 miles away in the general area or
region. And I don't know if they were the same
flowers or if that honey was being sifted. For
some reason, it didn't work for me. Sure. That's
part of it. And that's part of the problem in
beekeeping and in the marketplace. There is little
to no policing of label claims. So people can,
there's no definition from the government on
what raw honey actually is. And I know for a
fact, there are beekeepers out there that heat
their honey and they filter it and they put raw
on the label. And no one questions it or consumers
don't know the difference. To me, an egg that
is soft -boiled is not raw. It's been exposed
to heat. It's no longer raw. It's not hard -boiled.
It's not fully cooked. But it's not raw. And
to me, the same thing with honey. beekeepers,
they only heat it to 120 degrees or only 160
degrees for a short near period of time or whatever.
To me, that's not real honey. Real honey is period
no heat added other than worse than room temperature
basically or high temperature. You're preaching
to the choir here. I couldn't agree with you
more. And there's also the term organic, which
I see a lot of people put on their honey. And
I know where their hives are, and there's no
way they can guarantee that that's organic. Well,
that that's interesting, because, you know, organic
is a federally regulated term. And you're not
legally, you're not supposed to put organic and
call your honey organic unless you need specific
criteria and have been inspected by a third party
to confirm the organic nature of your operation.
And so if you actually are seeing that, you can
report that to the regional organic certifier
who will correct that inappropriate marketing
and labeling. And I just think it's a matter
of not knowing and understanding that. I mean,
go to your local farmers market. Chances are
you're going to see a beekeeper that's done that.
And they just don't know any better. I don't
think they're trying to be colluding in some
big scheme or something or other. What else can
you tell us about honey besides allergies? Internally,
topically, what should we use honey for? Oh,
my gosh. What do you not use honey for? Yeah,
exactly. The first aid kit in a jar. Quite literally.
Let's talk about burns and cuts, things like
that. Yeah. Well, you see, honey is a unique
substance, even though there are people now trying
because the honey bees are dying. That's large
numbers every year. People are worried. And so
there's people that have started creating synthetic
honey, not real honey, but it's honey like the
honey is unique in that it is, first of all.
you know, it's got a pH level because of the
sugars that inhibits the growth of bacteria and
things. I mean, we've been using sugar to preserve
jams and jellies, for example, for eons, right?
But honey goes much farther than that because
honey is hygroscopic. That means the bees have
removed so much moisture from that honey, so
it's down to usually below 18 % moisture content
that the honey wants to Draw moisture to itself.
So actually if you leave a jar of honey with
the lid off just on your kitchen table For a
week or two it can draw enough humidity out of
the air to significantly raise the moisture level
of the honey in that jar but when honey is fully
ripened by bees with a moisture level below about
18 % then nothing harmful to humans can grow
in that honey because What happens is that honey,
it wants to attract moisture to itself. So any
bacteria, for example, that gets into that honey,
the honey will suck the moisture out of it and
destroy it and kill it, desiccate it. Honey also,
if it's raw honey and hasn't been heated, it
contains still the enzymes that the bees put
into that honey when they created it. Heat destroys
enzymes. if it hasn't been heated and it's raw,
one of the enzymes is glucose oxidase, which
when that breaks down on your skin, forms the
number of compounds, including hydrogen peroxide.
So if you have a cut or a wound and you put honey
on it, it will release the small amounts of hydrogen
peroxide continually as it breaks down, so it's
sterilizing the the wound. It's sucking the moisture
out of any bacteria it comes in contact with,
and it's just amazing really for healing of exterior
wounds. I know for myself, whenever I get a cut
or something and I don't really take care of
it properly and start to get reddened and infected,
I put a little bob of raw honey on it at night
before I go to bed and cover it with a band -aid
or a piece of gauze or something. And when I
wake up in the morning, when I take that band
-aid or gauze off, every time I've done it, the
red is gone. It's gotten rid of the infection.
And in fact, it's so powerful for healing that
in most countries, not so much here in the United
States, but like I said, we're all about money
here. You can't patent natural things like honey.
But in most countries, the preferred healing
modality for burns, as you had mentioned, is
honey. It just is superior to the silver dying
ointment or whatever it is that most hospitals
you hear in the US use. Because not only does
it prevent the site from getting infected, but
it keeps the wound moist and it actually feeds
the cells so they can grow back faster. And it's
a lot more humane, quite frankly. The modern
day version of the silver impregnated ointment
that they typically put on burn victims here
in the US it has to be scraped off each day and
reapplied and that's an incredibly painful process.
With honey you put it on and it just absorbs
in and breaks down naturally there's no scraping
off the next day you simply lift up the the wound
dressing and you apply the new honey and you
cover it back up. It works so much better also
because they find that when treated with honey
the typical discoloration of the skin that occurs
with burn victims is much less than in many cases,
there is no discoloration. It just heals so much
better. It's just astounding. It really is. But
unfortunately, it's not a big moneymaker, which
is why it's not really promoted and used as much
as it really should be in my view. Is there such
a thing as medical grade honey? Or can I take
honey right out of my hive and put it on a burn.
Well, there is medical -grade honey. Because
of all the research that was being done and the
experience in other countries here in the U .S.,
the Food and Drug Administration finally, after
many years, approved one certain type of honey
to be used. It's called Medihoney. And you can
get it now in hospitals, if they have it. You
probably have to ask for it. But it is from the
manuka plant. which is primarily in New Zealand
and Australia, and it's been, you know, highly
purified and elediated to kill any germs or viruses.
It's been treated to be medically acceptable.
But as you kind of pointed out, really, any honey
that is raw, unheated and unfiltered will work
just about as well. It doesn't have to be this
$35 an ounce honey that the medical establishment
uses. Your honey from your hive will work quite
well as well. It may not work as perfect, but
it will work most likely adequately and sufficiently
for your use. Thank you. Great explanation. Okay,
we've talked about using honey topically. How
about internally? What kinds of things can it
help us with? Well, one of the reasons why this
Medi honey was approved is because this manuka
honey actually in studies was the most effective
at killing the bacteria that causes ulcers and
So that's why it got accepted. But so yeah, there's
a bunch of different uses It can help with sleep
issues. It can help with weight issues. It helps
really great with sore throats In fact one study
that compared it to over -the -counter cough
syrups, for example with kids The kids liked
the honey better. It was less expensive and it
worked better than the over the counter stuff.
So yeah, there's all kinds, all kinds of, I mean,
I can't get into all the stuff that really the
American Apothecary Society will be the place
to go. If you or your listeners wanted to learn
more, they're just a clearing house for information
on the use of honeybee products for healing and
health. AAS, you can find them online, really
cheap to become a member. And if you become a
member, you get access to their international
list of apotherapists all over the world. People
who are using the products to help promote healing
and health. You can get help. Like, for example,
if you wanted to get bee stings, for example,
you could find sources for bees. You could find
maybe people that will apply the bee stings for
you, that type of thing. We'll put a link to
their website in the show notes so that people
can find it easily. All right. Lastly, since
you just brought up bee stings, Let's talk venom.
What can you get us started on with bee venom?
Well, that's the business end of the honeybee,
right? Yep, bees use the venom to try to discourage
predators. When a bee stings you, it actually
unlike all the other stinging insects, the honeybee
will die. The honeybee stinger is barbed like
an arrow and because your skin is stretchy. If
you get stung by a bee, that stinger that tends
to get caught in your skin, the bee will pull
so hard to try to remove the stinger, it'll rip
out its entrails, and within a fairly short period
of time, it will die. So it's not in the honeybee's
interest to go around stinging people for no
reason, right? First of all, people need to know
they're only going to sting if they feel threatened.
If you are really close to the hive or disturbing
their hive, if you are swatting at them or something,
it may feel personally like you're trying to,
and while you step on them or something, then
they'll sting you. But normally, honey bees,
they're really gentle creatures. They're not
looking for problems and trouble, and they're
not going to bother people. What are people using
bee venom for? Primarily for things like rheumatoid
diseases, like arthritis. and for multiple sclerosis.
It can help with shingles, things like that.
All these rheumatoid -type diseases seem to be
very effective. And there's some certain types
of cancers that have been helped with B -venom.
This is all kind of experimental, if you will.
There's no standard protocols that are approved.
And all these products, they're natural products.
Like I said, they're not patented or anything.
Mostly what they all do is they're about building
up the body's immune system so the body can heal
itself. I think any physician or health practitioner,
if they're honest, they'll tell you they don't
heal people. They try to create the environment
where the body can then do the healing that it
needs to do to deal with the situation. And that's
what apotherapy is about, building up the body's
immune response so it can start to heal itself.
and help the body get to heal. Is it the body
that does the healing, not the treatment real
ultimately, right? You just want to create the
environment for the body to be able to do that,
what it needs to do. I saw recently an article
from, I forget which country in Europe, where
they had set up a thing where people were breathing
hive air. They had like a tube that went into
the hive and a little face mask on the other
end and you could sit there and just breathe
hive air. Have you ever heard of that? Oh yeah,
yeah this is a kind of a newer thing. There are
even like beds that are above the hive and then
all the air feeds into this little room or kind
of that you you crawl into and you can sleep
there and get exposed to the the smell of the
hive basically. And you know, it's got the aromatic
compounds from the propolis. And primarily, it's
probably the biggest part of it. And it can apparently
help with certain things in certain conditions.
In getting back to the bee venom, if I may. Yes,
please. I just want to explain a little bit about
how it seems to work. When you get stung with
a bee, you know, it kind of hurts. That always
is the case. So typically, what you want to do...
If you're getting bee stings for therapeutic
purposes, you want to put some ice or something
frozen on the area that you're going to sting
ahead of time so that it kind of numbs the area,
and that way the bee sting itself doesn't hurt
as much. And then when you do get stung, of course,
all the blood rushes to the area, which is why
often you get swelling. Like with any treatment,
any kind of medical treatment, there's side effects
with bee stings. swelling, itchy redness, might
be sore and painful, that type of thing. And
the reason you get the swelling, of course, is
because all the blood is rushing to that area.
And that, though, is bringing the healing properties
that are in your blood to focus on the area that
you've stung. And those areas tend to be the
areas that hurt the most, is typically how Charlie
Maas would do it, which he explains in his book,
A Health and the Honey Bee, I think it's called.
Basically, he would press all around the joint,
just bothering a person, and find the places
that hurt the most, and with a pen, you know,
just a little dot on that spot, so he knew where
to apply the sting. And you apply the ice to
it first to numb it, and then he would reach
into a jar that he collected some bees in with
a pair of forceps, and grab the bee and touch
the tip of the abdomen, tune that spot, so the
bee would deposit its stinger. in the skin and
then leave it there for a good 10 minutes or
so to allow all the venom to be deposited into
the site. And one of the things that researchers
have found is that the bee venom stimulates the
body's production of cortisol. Cortisol is the
natural version of cortisone, which is the drug
that's patented. and provided to people who have
pain from arthritis, for example. It helps to
relieve that pain. Well, cortisol does that naturally.
That's the body's version. The problem is the
cortisone shot that you get, that chemical is
not exactly the same formulation as the cortisol
that your body produces. And when you get lots
of these cortisone shots over a long period of
time, it can cause real bad problems with the
liver. and it could potentially kill you after
a long period of time. But you don't get those
kind of side effects with the cortisol that your
body produces, because it is totally in harmony
with your body. Your body made it. It's meant
to be there. The production of cortisol by the
body, though, has been found to require a block
of vitamin C and B vitamins. And so people that
are going to be using bee stings for healing,
especially pain treatment, try to reduce pain,
symptoms, it's a good idea to be taking one to
two thousand milligrams of vitamin C and a multi
-B complex that has all the B vitamins in it.
Take one of those about an hour or so before
you get stung so that your body has all the raw
materials it needs to produce the maximum amount
of cortisol so you can get the best benefit.
Okay, I just learned two things because I've
tried this a little bit. First of all, I thought
you had to go for the full pain and I haven't
done the ice cube thing, which seems like a super
good idea. And second is the BNC vitamin. So
thank you for that. There's a lot more to it
too, which is why I recommend people get in touch
with the American Apitherapy Society. You know,
you got to take basic precautions. It's a good
idea to have an EpiPen on hand because even though
it's a true life -threatening Allergy, hyperallergic
response to bee venom is very rare in the population.
It could potentially happen. It's good to have
an idea, have an epinephrine injector pen handy
in case you go into anaphylactic shock, which
is a potential side effect from getting bee stings.
But also, because of the swelling that's involved,
if you're going to sting your hands or something,
remove your jewelry first. Take off your rings.
Don't wear those things because if your fingers
swell up in that... Ring is constricting it could
cut off the blood supply and cause problems common
sense. Sorry to laugh such a good good good advice
there Thank you Ross. Hey, we're running out
of time any last thoughts on this whole topic
before I let you go Well, if I said in the beginning,
you know everything from the beehive is so incredibly
healing for the world and that's why I'm really
distressed that how Bad the honeybees are suffering
these days and how difficult it is and how much
of a challenge beekeepers are having trying to
keep the bees alive. We're not being the kind
of stewards for this incredible world that was
inherited, that we should be. One of the things
that I've learned from the bees is that it takes,
they estimate, a honeybee working its entire
life gathering nectar to produce honey can produce
about one -twelfth of a teaspoon. of honey. So
12 bees working their whole lifetime can produce
one teaspoon of honey that you get to enjoy in
your coffee or your tea. But yet to get through
an entire year, such as in a place, a cold place,
especially like Vermont, the bees need 150 to
200 pounds of honey. And yet the bee itself can
only gather a twelfth of a teaspoon. that it
seems so insignificant and yet the honeybee doesn't
fall for the illusion that what they do is insignificant,
right? The bee is going to do what it can do
and it counts on all its other hive mates to
do what they can do and together they can make
miracles happen. Hundreds of pounds of honey
and so when people look at the challenges that
we are being faced with today and all so many
different areas from the the climate and the
environment and the economic system and our government
system and health care and energy and education
and everything often it can feel overwhelming
but the reality is everything you do can have
an effect be a power of one person can make a
difference especially when it's combined with
millions if not billions of other people's operas.
And so that gives me a lot of inspiration to
not give up and to do what I can every day and
do it now. The time has come for us to all start
doing what we know needs to be done and stop
putting things off or thinking someone else is
going to take care of things. We need to start
taking action ourselves to create the world we
want and be the change we want to see. So thank
you, Eric, for doing what you do. You've just
brought up so many things that we love about
honey bees, and that's what this show is all
about. And thank you very much, Ross. I appreciate
your time. You're welcome. Take care. Thanks
again for joining us here on Bee Love Beekeeping,
presented by Man Lake. Another great place for
more information on everything related to this
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remember, if you're not just in it for the honey
or the money, you're in it for the love. See
you next week.