Entewahsestaró:roke - We Will Collect Honey

On Friday, October 13, Áse Tsi Tewá:ton Horticulture and Traditional Foods, presented the "Entewahsestaró:roke" (we will collect honey) workshop. Tekonwakwenni, Konwarikonnienni and Tehahonkotha guided us through the lifecycle of the né osti'nahkontahkwá:ne (bees), iotshá:ni (she is a hard worker - worker bee), rá:tsihn (male drone) and the io nonti:io (queen bee); all living in a complex three-caste society. Each bee's function in the bee colony makes the story of beekeeping so interesting, dating back thousands of years where not much has changed in beekeeping inclduing the tools and the harvest.

The presenters shared the wide-ranging medicinal health properties of different products of raw honey, bee pollen and bee propolis. Master Teacher, Dr. Mary Arquette was there to assist.

Honey is considered by many to be the perfect food because of its medicinal properties and its unique characteristic of never needing any specialized storage.

The presenters brought three frames from their apiary to harvest. In three simple but carefully handled steps the honey was ready to bottle. The first step was is to carefully remove the frame from the box, and then uncap the frame (honeycombs) with a heated knife designed for this purpose. Once the frame was uncapped, the frame was inserted in the extractor. In the extractor, its centrifugal force extracts the honey. The honey settles on the bottom of the extractor and pours out of the spigot. All parts of the honey making process is used, the honey itself, the pollen and the beeswax.

Globally there are more honeybees than other types of bee and pollinating insects, so it is the world's most important pollinator of food crops. It is estimated that one third of the food that we consume each day relies on pollination mainly by bees.