Profile: Elaine McCall, amateur beekeeper
April 19, 2008 at 12:00 pm by Kelly Vines in Profile
(Photo Joeff Davis)
Elaine McCall has kept honey bees next to her Dekalb County home for four years. She harvests the honey for use in food and drinks.
Is it common for you to get stung by bees?
Actually, no. The bees are pretty gracious. I’ve only been stung about four times by my own bees. This will be my fourth season. No one else has been stung by my bees either. My kids are always out in the yard they’ve never been stung. Honey bees are very gentle
What is honey? Does it actually go through the digestive system of the bee?
They have a nectar stomach. It’s sort of a storage bin that’s actually inside their bodies. So they swallow the nectar and then bring it back up, but it’s not like we regurgitate things. It’s not bee vomit or anything. It’s just them bringing it out of their honey stomach and putting it into the cells. Then they flap their wings to evaporate all of the water out of it.
How do you extract the honey?
It’s really a nerve-wracking thing for me. If there’s ever a time when the bees aren’t going to be nice, it’s when you’re taking the honey out of the hive. My method probably isn’t that efficient, but it works for me because I only have one hive.
I’ll go in and see what hives are ready to be harvested. Then I take the bee brush and brush off all of the bees. Then I put the frame to the side and bring them in [the house] gradually to make sure that they’re aren’t any bees on them. It is important to get [the frames] inside, though. If you leave them outside, the bees are just going to come back and take the honey back to the hive.
How often do you extract the honey?
I usually get about three good harvests. There’s a difference between the taste of the honey depending on what the bees are working. It’s almost like the difference between light meat and dark meat. The honey from the spring is lighter in color and it’s sweeter. The fall honey, when they’re working more goldenrod, it’s more gamey. It still taste good, but it’s a lot stronger.
Are you allergic to bee stings?
Moderately. I’m not going to go into anaphylactic shock or anything, but when I’ve been stung on a finger, my whole hand will swell up and itch and burn.
I’m sure you’ve heard about African killer bees and how they’ve cross-bred with honey bees. Did you encounter any sort of negativity in the neighborhood due to this? Were people angry with you for raising bees?
African killer bees first came up from Brazil in the ’60s or ’70s and they came through Texas and headed West. They’re finding colonies down in Florida now. I’m not sure exactly what the exact numbers are. There were maybe six sightings last year or the year before.
I’ve seen people going out to work with africanized killer bees and they’re in these crazy suits with everything taped up and they have these huge smokers. Within 100 yards of the hive, the bees will come up and start poking you, whereas honey bees, they’re not even going to do that until you’re inside the hive.
For the European bees, for them to come boiling out of their hive in anger, you’d have to drop like a huge branch on the hive, or beat it with a stick, or do something really aggressive to get them that angry. The African ones will get that angry if you’re just there. They’re just very aggressive. They’re easily provoked.
They can take over hives, but they won’t. You can protect an area from becoming Africanized by having European honey bees around because they’re competitors. Sometimes they’ll cross-breed, but mostly the African bees are looking for their own territory. They can take over a hive very easily, but they’re more likely to look for their own area.
It hasn’t affected me. Colony collapse is the big thing that has eclipsed the African bees as the thing that people are most worried about. Because of colony collapse disorder, people are really appreciative of honey bees because everyone is so concerned about it.
What is colony collapse disorder?
Bear in mind, I’m not an entomologist. I’m just a hobbyist. All I know is what I’ve picked up from beekeeping meetings.
They’re not sure why it’s happening, but a lot of it is attributed to bad beekeeping practices or reusing the same frames a lot. It seems to happen a lot with commercial beekeepers who are traveling all over the country. Traditionally, bees are only supposed to work for one season. The ones that are being shipped all over the country are working for five or six seasons. It could be many things. They could just be overworked.
Do you put honey in your coffee? Tea? Other beverages? Do you think that honey is superior to sugar as a sweetener? Do you think that there’s a time to use one or the other?
I like honey because its so natural. We also use raw sugar and agave. I don’t use a lot of honey in baking, but I love honey on everything from tea to yogurt. I use it a lot on my salad and on sandwiches. I like it right out of the jar.
Is there anything that you use honey for that most people wouldn’t?
It’s great for glazes on meats and vegetables. It tastes really good with olive oil and balsamic vinegar on a salad.
What do you think about A Bee Movie? Do you know any bees that act like Jerry Seinfeld?
No, bees are actually not individualized enough to be neurotic. They have very much a group identity.
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