Jim Tom and the Sting of Pain

One of my favorite shows this winter has been Moonshiners, not so much for the characters but for the hints of technical knowledge. (To brew moonshine is quite simple... not that I'd try it myself. ;-)  ) Jim Tom is a seasoned veteran shiner lending a hand to Jeff and Mark at a new still site when they come across a ground nest of yellow jackets. This is when Jim Tom shares another of his marvelous tales... 

Homemade Cough Syrup

Homemade Cough Syrup Ingredients 3/4 cup raw organic honey 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil 3 lemons - juiced Instructions: Add all ingredients to a small pot over medium heat until steaming. Remove from the heat & let it cool. Place it into a mason jar or other container with a tight fitting lid. Store it in the fridge for 3 months, or on the counter top for 1.5 months. Tips: Use by the teaspoon or tablespoon, as needed. Stir & warm before using Use as soon as you feel a cold coming on. Also great for allergies

With the cold and flu season hitting hard in our part of the county, I thought I would post a recipe for homemade cough syrup. This simple recipe has been passed down for generations. All you need are three ingredients:

Olive Oil: Making a homemade cough syrup using olive oil will help you combat your cough as well as reduce reduce inflammation in the throat.

Honey: Honey helps with coughs, particularly buckwheat honey. In a study of 110 children, a single dose of buckwheat honey was just as effective as a single dose of dextromethorphan in relieving nocturnal cough and allowing proper sleep. You can use any type of honey you have on hand though.

Lemon: Because everyone knows that lemon & honey is the one of the best throat soother combinations.

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Another great soother for a sore throat is apple cider vinegar and honey. I heat a couple tablespoons of the vinegar in the microwave for a few seconds then stir in an equal amount of honey. Sip and feel better!

There's More to a Winter Bee Than Meets the Eye

I read the most interesting thing on honey bee biology regarding winter bees vs. summer bees, courtesy of the Association of Southern Maryland Beekeepers newsletter: 

The critical portion of a summer bee's life is the first 21 days when the young bees are performing hive duties. Their hypopharyngeal gland produces royal jelly and it is the young bees that feed it to the developing larvae. (Although all bee larvae receive some royal jelly, the future queen bee is fed this substance exclusively and in high quantities.)


The gland is not active throughout the whole bee's life but only about the first 30 days. That’s why you must have a continuous supply of young bees emerging in order to maintain brood development. This is why, it is hard to lose a queen and requeen if you wait too long to replace her. If the break in brood cycle is too long, you may not have enough young bees to feed the new queen’s larvae. That is also why adding sealed brood from another colony helps.

In the early fall, the queen lays "Winter bees" and the hypopharyngeal gland in these winter bees is active for a much longer time and is the reason why the colony can survive a break in the brood cycle that would not be possible in the summer season.