A Honey of a Harvest

Some assignments require going off the beaten path. This is one requires taking to the water. 15 miles upriver from Apalachicola, Florida, we have a plan to meet the man known for some of the sweetest Tupelo honey around these parts. George Watkins raises bees near the junction of the Apalachicola River and Little Brothers Creek.

Today George's boat is loaded with dozens of empty hives, ready for his reclusive bees to do their handiwork. George's bees are located on Forbes Island, owned by the state of Florida. He rents space on this raised dock, built several years ago by boat-based beekeepers that came before him.

The bees do their work on the island gathering nectar from the wealth of Tupelo trees that make up the foliage. Ask George what makes such good honey and he will tell you, "It's just the nectar that the blossoms put out. These are Tupelo blossoms and if you squeeze the blossom and taste the nectar, see how sweet that is?"

For about four weeks starting in April each year George and his buddy and business partner Jimmy Moses spend their days motoring up and down this river. There are several dozen hives on the dock, and bees flying everywhere. First order of business is to get the smoker going. That calms the bees as George and Jimmy work the beehive frames extracting honey into a small centrifuge which spins it into a bucket.

George says, "Within a couple of weeks all of the blossoms will be off of the tupelo trees and there won't be any more work for the bees to do here." George and Jimmy have to see how well they've done so far. They like what they see, "These bees on this river are kind of like people. They are in a nice place and they are not upset when they are out here. They are not mean. Not aggressive. And when we bring them up here they are coming out of the hot forest and they are more powerful. And once they get up here like this they kind of just become less aggressive. ..Mellow out a little bit."

Ask George what gets his bees upset and he'll tell you, "Noise is one thing that kind of gets bees upset. It triggers a chemical in their brain that gives them a sense that dangers near. So a lot of noise, hammering and beating around. bumping could cause trouble." George says be quiet and adds, "Be as quiet as possible." Then he smiles and says, "Don't growl or snort like a bear." We promise not to.

George will tell you that this kind of honey gathering, like most of farming, centers on productivity. "I guess we're farmers at heart. Just basically farming. You know we're producing food. We're food producers. But we go for the Tupelo because it's just like it's in the bank. Money in the bank. Like I said earlier, we've had two years out of sixteen that we didn't make a lot of Tupelo honey. Overall we've done pretty good."

George says that he started out as a shrimper. First in small then big boats transitioning from that into crabbing and flounder fishing. He started in honey in the early 1990's.

As wood beeswax frames from the hives are collected, they are put into a stainless steel cylinder. This cylinder with a hand cranked centrifuge spins the hive frames fast enough to force the honey to the edges. If you look down the walls of the cylinder, you can see the honey collecting on the sides. Spooning out a bit, George hands us some Tupelo honey for our taste test.

Ask him what he has to say to anyone who's never tried it, he says, "I'd tell them to taste it. We do. "That's good stuff. Oh yeah. That's a blessing. Lord's blessed us well here. Tupelo honey. Fresh from the hive!

www.apalachicolabay.org