Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Posts tagged ‘honeybees’

Just “Bee”

It’s okay to “Bee”
Just “bee” without any fret
Just “bee” contented

Release any pain
Let go all uncertainty
Turn over the keys

Relaxing is hard
Whence comes the ability
To just simply “bee”?

Psalm 42: 5-11

5 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

6 My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.

7 Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.

8 By day the LORD directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.

9 I say to God my Rock,
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why must I go about mourning,
oppressed by the enemy?”

10 My bones suffer mortal agony
as my foes taunt me,
saying to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”

11 Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.

To “Just bee” in peace
Gratefully receive God’s good
Live life without lack

Gratefully receive
The grace God is giving you
To see your blessings

“Just a little more”
Is not the way to JUST BEE
Praise God for your gifts

The real truth is
We have more than enough
To live gratefully

young woman sitting in apartment on second level with plants
Photo by Ksenia Chernaya on Pexels.com

Take a look around
You might just be overwhelmed
When you really see

See all your blessings
We are so much better off
Than most other folks

Let Us Pray
(from In Touch devotional by Charles Stanley)

God, it is easy to focus on that is wrong in my life
rather than what is right.

I find myself overwhelmed
by all the injustice, pain, and division in the world.

Forgive me for the times I’ve chosen to feed negativity,
to spread hopelessness among my friends and family.

But I’m not alone in my grief,
You are heartbroken by these things, too.

So Lord, I pray for Your guidance in sorrow.

I want to lament all that is wrong –
without being consumed by it.

Teach me to balance grief
with the assurance of Your love.

May my heartbreak, empathy, and faith
play a role in Your healing of the world.

Amen

So, let us just “bee”
Bee friends; Reach out to others
Live life without lack

We’ve more than enough
Of God’s love and compassion
Jesus gave it all!

Like a honeybee
Let’s distribute what we have
To make life better…

for everyone!
Let it “Bee”


To just make your world
“bee” a better place today,
What can you just give?

Love,
JanBeek

Bee Confident

Let’s bee confident
Bee in partnership with God
Ask for world peace

Let’s take a lesson
From our wise honeybee friends
Work for common good

Let’s circle our hive
Let’s make honey and not war
Let’s bee confident

Beelieve when we pray
That God hears and He responds
Know that He’s in charge

Matthew 7:7

“Ask, and it will bee given you;
search, and you will find;
knock, and the door will bee opened for you.”

People in Ukraine
Are questioning sanity
How can all this bee?

Why this aggression?
Last month they lived peacefully.
No one suspected.

How could anyone
Imagine atrocities
As bad as these are?

James 4:10

“Humble yourselves before the Lord,
and He will lift you up in honor.”

Lord, we are humbled
Bee merciful to us now
Hear our earnest pleas

Terrifying bombs
Are killing and destroying
Please send protection

PUTIN, take lessons
From our wise honeybee friends
Work for common good!

WordPress friends,
Pray to God, our Father, with me:

Let there bee peace
The peace that was meant to bee
I am confident

Confident, my Lord
That You can make peace to bee
Bring peace to Ukraine.


BEE at PEACE!!

Photo by Michael Hodgins on Pexels.com

Where two or more are gathered,
There our God is with us…
Working for our common good.

Praise God
from whom
all blessings flow…

Lord, thank you for our blessings.
Please bless the Ukrainians with peace.
Please.
Amen!

Embrace Swiss Beekeeping

In 2018 we were in Switzerland and our daughter, DeAna, arranged for our grandson, Michael Solioz, to visit a Swiss beekeeper with his Grampy Bob. Bob wrote up some questions ahead of time, and Mike translated them for the man who is the president of the Sion Beekeepers’ Club.

This video is so professionally done by Mike. I guarantee you will enjoy it. The beekeeper is such a delightful man – a retired physician!

So, what did you think of that?

If you have followed my blog for awhile, you know that Bob is a retired beekeeper… He did that for over 20 years after he retired from teaching/coaching.

Photo by FRANK MERIu00d1O on Pexels.com

No, that’s not Bob up there. He rarely dressed up like that! No suit, no gloves, just the hat and veil sometimes. He is the “bee whisperer” according to beekeeper hobbyists here who enlist his help with their hives occasionally.

Notice Bob’s short pants, bare hands, and hat without veil. Experienced beekeepers seem to know how to approach the bees with peaceful intentions that the bees can sense… unless they’re Africanized bees (that’s a whole other blog topic someday).

Anyway, it was fun to uncover that 2018 Swiss beekeeper interview. I hope you enjoyed it.

Bob & I wish you a Happy Monday
and a fun-filled, productive week.

Thanks for visiting JanBeek.
See ya tomorrow (God willing)

Can You Bee an Artist?

Can you bee an artist?
Maybe you already are!
How about beeing a bee artist?

We may not all be endowed with the skill to play the piano like this, or … (hang in there and keep listening)… another guy plays the Flight of the BumbleBee on several different sized trombones. It just gets more and more unbelievable. WOW!!! It’ll leave you smiling. How does he do that?

Maybe your artistic talent doesn’t lean toward music, but you’re good at painting and drawing. You can bee a bee artist like Luisa Fernanda Otero Prada. Isn’t this colorful art enchanting?

Here is another bee by artist Luisa Fernanda Otero Prada

Sometimes it’s not music or painting or drawing that makes us artists, but the ability to write – to put words together creatively for entertainment or education, inspiration or just to vent. I recently found a new blogger named Amy who wrote about bees on her post:

The secret of natural honey and good health

I wrote her and told her she was “spot on” about the health benefits of honey, but honey doesn’t make good candles! They’re ineffective and sticky and they don’t burn. Nope! It’s the bees wax, not the honey. She was kind and wrote back to say she believed me :o)

I have written on the subject of bees many times, too, because (as many of you know), my husband Bob is a retired beekeeper. With a name like Beekman (Bee-keeper-man), how could he bee otherwise?

Bob grew up on a “Honey Farm” and learned the relationship between natural honey and good health at a very young age. “Bee”ing a good beekeeper is an art of its own!!

I found some pictures from the family farm on this search: https://www.yelp.com/biz/beekman-and-beekman-hughson But discovered that internet site name is “unclaimed.” Hmmm… I know they have a website that has been claimed. I’ll have to keep looking.

This is definitely the honey that was produced by the bees of Bob & his brother, Bruce, (and now his nephew, Matt) and it is bottled and sold at the ranch in Hughson, California in their tasting room. Bruce’s wife, Ann, is the brains and creativity behind the Tasting Room/Honey House and the Beekman&Beekman label.

Matt’s wife, Sarah, is actively involved with him as a beekeeper. She raises queens (that’s a topic for a future blog) and she travels with him to North Dakota where Matt & Sarah take some of their bees for the summer. She’s a wonderful example of a mom who cooks with honey!

It’s an art to create an attractive label and an inviting “Honey House” and it is an art to be a good salesperson! It’s an art to take beautiful photos of people, products and places.

California sage – by Beekman and Beekman

Bee Honey Wise

I kept searching and I did find the actual Beekman family website at http://www.beekmanandbeekman.com … It’s been 15 years since Bob retired as a partner in this bee business, but honey runs through our veins after a lifetime with bees and beekeeping!

On the Beekman website I found a link to another way to Bee an Artist… Culinary Arts! There is a link to “Cooking with Honey” that gives you tips on how to do so successfully.

Go to the website and learn more!

Bob reminded me that Bruce & Matt are not the only Beekman beekeepers and that I should not forget to mention his nephew, Bryan, who is one of California’s largest beekeepers. He has over 10,000 hives that he places all over California’s central valley, mid-coast, and southern CA. Bryan and his wife, Michele, also have a honey sales room. In the area outside Fresno, CA, the Honey Hut is a unique place in Sanger, CA. You should consider visiting it if you are ever in that area. You can learn more about Bryan at http://www.fcfb.org/About-Us/BoardMembers/Beekman.php

Bryan and his cousin, Matt, are members of co-op, Sioux Bee Honey.

You can Bee an Artist in so many ways – with:

  1. Music
  2. Visual Arts
  3. The Written Word
  4. Culinary Arts
  5. Photography
  6. What can you add?
Bee Clever!!!

Have a BEEutiful Sunday.
Go to church and worship God!
Thank Him for all the artists who enhance our lives!

See ya later.
Love, JanBEEkman

Positive Mindsets

Today I read a wonderful post on this blog,

A Star on the Forehead, Blessed with a Star on the Forehead

Be a honeybee and not a fly

Today’s message included a You Tube video that caught my eye. It is worth watching. You can see her total post – and learn why this video spoke so loudly and meaningfully to her by clicking on the link above. And you can see the video posted below on this blog.

Learning from Bees & Flies

I was attracted to this video because (as many of you know) my husband is a retired beekeeper. Honeybees have been an important part of our livelihood – and Bob’s family’s income – for three generations. What can we learn about the importance of positive mindsets from honeybees and flies? Here’s the video:

The Choice is Ours

I think all of us would rather gather nectar and pollen to produce sweetness rather than choose to focus on the negative, gathering/spreading garbage and filth. The choice is ours!

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com
Live with positive purpose –
Gather nectar while you may!
Sweet thoughts
Sweet actions,
Sweet focus,

Good for your soul!
Good for others, too.
Photo by Leonidas Takao Ishikawa on Pexels.com
Garbage in –
Garbage out!
Photo by Nixon Johnson on Pexels.com
Pest, nuisance, scavenger
Not for me!!

Proverbs 24:13

“My son, eat honey, for it is good,
Yes, the honey from the comb is sweet to your taste…”

KEEP A POSITIVE MINDSET!

BEE a honeybee, not a fly!

What will you do today to gather
the nectar of love
and spread it to your
friends and community today?

I send you lots of love…
Virtual hugs,
And Honey for your soul today.

Bee well!!
See ya later.

Gotta Love Bees!

Gotta Love Honeybees

My husband, Bob, is a retired beekeeper. During the 25+ years that he worked with honeybees, he had as many as 2000 hives. I have a passion about saving these insects. It’s about saving our world!

Have you hugged a honeybee today?

Gotta love those little insects –
The fuzzy little gals who sting.
They are essential to us, you know.
Important all year, not just in spring.

No, I don’t recommend you hug ’em.
They wouldn’t like it any more than you.
But, I do recommend you protect them.
Just think of all that they do.

Producing honey is not all they do!

While the honeybee is out working
To gather nectar and return to her hive,
She is pollinating the flowers
To produce the food that keeps us alive.

Just look at those pollen packs!!

One out of every three bites of our food
Is related to the work of the bees.
As they move from flower to flower,
They pollinate ground crops and trees.

Entomophily is the scientific name
Of the pollination activity.
It is crucial to the production
Of many crops and their proclivity.

Celery, strawberries, beets and mustard,
Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and such
All rely on the honeybee for pollination.
Without their work, we wouldn’t have much.

Turnips and peppers, papaya and watermelon,
Oranges, coriander, cantaloupe, apples for you.
Squash and pumpkins, zucchini and quince,
Lemons, limes, and most fruit you love, too.

Alfalfa needs bees, and avocados do, too.
Lima beans, string beans and green beans,
Almonds and most of the nuts we eat…
I could go on, but you get what it means
To have honeybees in our world.
You can see why protection’s a must.
So, get the word out to love those bees!
They are essential to life; of that you can trust!

Get the word out!

Honeybees don’t want to sting you.
They have barbs on their stingers, you know;
So when they sting to protect themselves or their hive,
Their stinger stays in you – and they die. Oh no!

Don’t pinch the stinger out of your skin;
Just scrape it with your fingernail.
Get it out quickly so less poison goes in you,
And put ice on the spot. Don’t whimper and wail!

Bees create honey for their food

Bees are social insects who gather together
To divide up the work in hive and in field.
They create the honey for their own food,
And use the pollen like bread. Quite a yield!

A beehive is sterile – more clean than a hospital.
The bees line their entrance with propolis.
It sterilizes their feet when they cross the threshold.
They have a lot of tricks that would be good for us!

What flower would you want to bee?

You gotta love those honeybees!
They are essential to our life on earth.
If we don’t protect them and do the research,
Our lives here won’t have much worth!

The End!

Thank you, Roth Poetry,
for writing about our bees on your post!
It would be great if all my readers
would share this post with your friends.
Get the word out!
Gotta Love Those Honeybees!

See ya later, Honey!

Bees, Trees, and Water

Bees, Trees and Water

bees trees water

Bees, Trees and Water
Without them we would all die
Preserve them with care

 

All God’s Creation

“Loving One Another” is not just about loving people; it is about loving and caring for all of God’s creation. The plants and animals, and all of nature cry for our attention.

How do you show your love for God’s creatures?

Gotta Love Those Beekeepers!

My husband, Bob, is a retired beekeeper. But, like I say about teachers, “Once a teacher, always a teacher,” well, that’s the case with beekeepers as well.

Beekeepers may sell their hives, trucks, and forklifts, and retire from the work, but the spirit of the hive stays with them forever! We moved from California to Montana and took no hives with us. But there are bee hobbyists right here in Ennis – and it didn’t take long for Bob to find them. He was drawn to them the way a bee is drawn to a nectar source!

animal bee bloom blooming

And, as you know, honeybees have been in the news a lot lately. Bees world-wide are in peril. It’s called CCD = Colony Collapse Disorder. Researchers are busy trying to figure out why whole colonies are dying and beekeepers are losing sometimes up to 1/3 of their hives.

Great Interest in Veteran Beekeepers’ Knowledge

The hobbyist beekeepers, many of whom are new to the scene, appreciate the expertise of veteran beekeepers. Bob was more than happy to lend a hand and get himself back into the groove that was a part of his childhood and a huge portion of his working life.

Jana Bounds, a reporter with the Lone Peak Lookout, was asked to do an article in a local magazine titled, “The Loop.” She contacted Bob and interviewed him. He took her to the site of a local hobbyist beekeeper and spent time describing the situation.

What’s the Problem?

In a nutshell, (or honeybee cell, as the case may be), the problem of disappearing bees is complex, multi-faceted, and not easily labeled. In her article, Jana Bounds quotes my husband, Bob Beekman, as well as Alex McMenamin, PhD student at Montana State University. Both agree, factors like inadequate nutrition, habitat loss, agrochemical exposure, and pathogens are cause for high bee losses.

But, the greatest threat is the Varroa mite. They suck the blood of the larva and spread disease among the bees in the hive. Scientists continue to research, looking for solutions.

bee-article.jpg

 

bob-johnw-beekeeping.jpg

Check out “The Loop” Summer edition, 2019, pages 36 to 39.
It is published by our local Madison County newspaper, The Madisonian.

What Can We Do?

Not many of us are retired beekeepers who can help with hands-on experience. But, we can read and learn, and do our part to help lend support to our beekeepers.

  • Buy local honey
  • Plant flowers and trees that provide good nectar and pollen sources
  • Bees need to be near a water source – keep water pure – don’t pollute
  • Teach children about the value of honeybees (one in every three bites of food we eat is directly or indirectly dependent on bees and their gift of pollination)
  • Avoid use of harmful pesticides
  • Support bee-friendly legislation and research

Beekeepers never die – they just lose their stingers!
Hah! 😉

This is Bob in his younger, beekeeper days:

resendizbob

Bee Well – Bee Happy – Bee Sweet – Eat Honey!!

pexels-photo-887349
See ya tomorrow

 

 

Love, Light, Listening, Laughter

Welcome to Day #12,
the “L” Day
on the A-Z series,

Add Greater Meaning
and
Purpose to

Life

Ya Gotta Love Life

silhouette of people jumping

Photo by vjapratama on Pexels.com


Life is Light
and
Light is Life

pexels-photo-301599

Without Light, we’d all die

grayscale photography of human skull

Photo by ahmed adly on Pexels.com


Laughter adds Light to Life
It makes Life Lighter
Ya Gotta Listen for and Join the Laughter

IMG_5732

Need a little laughter today?
This one cracked me up!!

54799109_1211519559005835_8981993440300498944_n
I shared this one with my husband and got a chuckle outta him.
This could be my niece’s husband, Bill’s head:

58442118_1233559913468466_2871375805642964992_n

Maybe you’ll laugh out loud at this one:

56157323_1215950568562734_3340019311015100416_o.jpg

58717917_1234925809998543_6894752287789416448_n

Yes,
without Laughter, we might

be at a dead end!!

Love Life; Be the Light
Sparkle with Light and Laughter
Color my Purpose!

pexels-photo-977539.jpeg

Photo by Godisable Jacob on Pexels.com

People who sparkle with color that lights the path to my purpose are like angels.

Dr Jimmy Walters, a fellow blogger whom I admire and follow,
wrote about Michaelangelo yesterday in his blog.
He told in his article titled, Set Free Your Inner Angel,
how Michelangelo, the famous Renaissance artist,
approached sculpting as a process to “set free” angels.
Dr. Walters said, “He would pick the right block of rigid stone,
and through a discovery process,
chip away until he set the angel,
or statue, free.”
He went on to say,
“You are called to be the hero of your own life,
and as a result, a hero for others.
The road to the light begins with your dreams,
and accepting them as a mandate.
At times, these dreams are finally welcomed by you
because of a crack to your armor.
At other times, dreams are pursued
because you are finally ready to be your true self.”

angel-bee friends

My friend, Art, who is in our Madison Valley Writers’ Group,
shared a beautiful essay on the subject of LIGHT today.
In my estimation, he is a man
who has pursued his dreams and has set his true self free.
As I listened to Art, one sentence that brought
a beautiful image to mind was:
“I write with the fervor of a bee born to die.”

I write with that fervor, too. Do you?

purple flowers in bloom

My husband, Bob, is a retired beekeeper.
Today he is helping to install bees in a new observation hive
at our school here in Ennis, Montana.
He continues to find purpose in life by
teaching people of all ages
about the life of  honeybees.
Like all of us, bees are born to die.

Honeybees sting to protect themselves,
their queen or their hives.
Drones (male bees) have no stinger.
But, the female worker bees, do, of course!
If she stings you,
she dies.

Living to love, listening for/sharing laughter,
and learning to “Bee the Light,”
gives my life purpose.
What are you willing to die for?


Listen
for the ideas you love,
and let them add meaning to your life.

Will you share one of those ideas with me?

 

Bee a Joy-Bringer!

Bee a Joy-Bringer!
Why not spread lots of sweetness?
Plenty to be found!

animal bee bloom blooming

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

There are so many reasons
To be joyful every day.
Open my eyes, Lord,
To the smiles in my way.

Mountains to climb
I can carry all the troubles,
See the gloom and the doom,
Or I can listen to the birds
As their song fills this room.

animals avian birds branch

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

I can marvel at snow
Or complain of the drifts.

Open my heart, Lord,
To be ready for shifts.

Shift gears to the joy
Each fresh, new day brings.
Help me bee a joy-bringer;
Turn winter hearts into springs!

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