In the Dark, in a Beesuit, in a Pond

I was traipsing as quickly as I could through the fields and trees in the pitch black darkness. It was difficult in my big boots and bulky beesuit with veil and gloves, while carrying buckets and an extra beesuit. My sense of direction is bad at the best of times, but now it was non-existent. Stumbling over rocks and roots and then through cassava mounds and ditches in my disorientation, yes, I questioned my sanity. But the beekeepers were waiting for me.

I was at Mama Maria's with the beekeeping group in Malya. We had come in hope to harvest some honey. But one of the beekeepers realised before we got started that a rat had eaten the veil, so I had gone back to the land cruiser to fetch a spare suit. It had been easy getting to the vehicle by following the small light coming from Maria's house. But finding my way back out to the hives was another story! I knew I had gone wrong but was still trying to head in the right general direction... when suddenly … SPLASH!!

In the darkness I ran straight into a pond and was, with a shock, up to my thighs in murky water. The only good thing about it was that the beekeepers heard the splash and my startled scream and I could then hear them call me in the right direction!  

Last week was not an easy week! Bhatendi and I spent the first three days in Malya and the next three days in Kayenze, working with the two beekeeper groups in the hopes of harvesting honey. This was the second time to harvest with the groups and the plan was for them to do the harvesting work while I observed and assisted only when necessary. We didn't get off to a good start as none of the beekeepers turned up at the arranged meeting spot and it took 2 hours to get organised. Then we were against some insanely crazy bees and while we managed to harvest some good honey from the first hive at Maria's, soon after starting the second hive, it was just me and the group leader left. We had planned to go on to work at more hives, but we were all fairly finished! It was rather discouraging. The next night after a busy day with the mamas group making beeswax balms and then a very late beekeeper group meeting, we went to Mathias' hives. One of them had collapsed its top-bars and was insanely overcrowded with bees and took over an hour to sort out. But in it all, we did manage to harvest some honey and propolis! Our visits to the hives at Bageshi and Ema's were less fruitful. Again, Bhatendi and I fell into bed hungry and tired at 1am.

Night-time beekeeping with the red flashlight … about to start!

A few tired beekeepers waiting to go to the next hive

It was hard again in Kayenze! I won't go into all the challenges, which seemed to come one after the next! First, we were simply too early with most honey not yet capped, then there were hive trees cut down, hives burned, smoker troubles, roofs blown off, some crazy four-wheel driving in the bush… I will just jump to end of our last night. We had just arrived at Alphonse's after a fruitless time in the hills at Amos'. We were all incredibly well layered, with some wearing two beesuits just for protection from these crazy bees! But we had barely taken a few combs of honey when the rumbles of thunder got suddenly louder. As drops started, we quickly started closing up the hive. But as we put the rocks on the roof, the heavens opened with the ultimate thunder and lightening show! Once again, stumbling quickly through the dark fields, this time completely drenched. We could not get rid of the wet bees who clung to our suits! It took almost two hours for the rain to ease and us to clear the bees. Soaked to the skin through layers and layers, we were tired and hungry in the middle of the night, with no place open to sell us a bowl of beans! Once again flopping on my bed, listening to the rats scratch and the huge buzzing crunchy insect whizzing about my room, smelling the stinky pile of soaked muddy clothes on the floor and the drop pit behind the door that didn't close, yes, again I questioned my sanity. 

Beekeeper Group members sharing their stories of the 

good things God has done!

Suiting up

Preparing the smoker

Double-suited

So at the end of it all I did truly question what we are doing with this beekeeping project! Why?! It is so ridiculously hard in so many ways! But at the end of the day, those groups still did harvest some honey which has been processed, bottled, labelled and some already sold! And there is the hope that after a few weeks all the uncapped honey in Samson's five hives will be ready to harvest. At the end of the day, these groups are still wanting to carry on, still dreaming of being famous in Tanzania for their honey! Yes, they are making mistakes and still have a long way to go, but a couple of them are really good at the hive now and my hope and prayer is that they can carry the groups forward now. It takes a long time for new ideas to get accepted … but the conversations have started. Conversations they are having in the villages about saving trees doomed for the instant short-term benefit of charcoal to keep instead for the long-term benefit of fruit and honey. Conversations about the benefits of hives in fields for crop yields. And conversations about our wonderful Creator God! In Ngudu, the new community beekeeping group formed by the church has placed hives in a forestry reserve area alongside other beekeepers. Amazingly, the group hives have colonised very quickly … more so than the others. Other people have been asking why our group's hives colonise when theirs don't. The pastor was very clear in replying that the number one reason is because the group has prayed for God to bring the bees to these hives! And number two, they have baited the hive with wax and protected it with greased wires. And number three they are keeping the area around the hives free from weeds and branches.

And working with the beekeepers last week gave us opportunity to be with the women working in Malya with beeswax. The profits they get from this work are not huge, but it all helps. This has been a particularly dry year and for many their rice has simply dried up and died. They are left with nothing to harvest. But together these women are managing a group garden for vegetables and using group money to buy a goat and soon start a chicken project. We were also able to meet with one of the women in the Kayenze conservation agriculture group. She is looking at a great harvest of beans after already harvesting her maize enriched by them. She was wearing rings from the witchdoctor, but we could pray with her to the Creator God of the harvest who truly hears her prayers and drives away fear.

With Mama Antonia and her jackbeans in Kayenze

So now the next time you enjoy a spoonful of honey in your tea or melt it on hot toast, take a moment to appreciate the effort taken to make it available! To appreciate the amazing wonder of creation that leads bees to plants and results in their intricate work of making honey! And then I think, even in the dark, in a beesuit, wet in a pond, even then, it's worth it … maybe.

The honey harvest

Harvesting Honey ... My Heart will Go On!

This has been such an exciting time for the Beekeeping Project! Finally, after two years of serious persevering, the beekeeper groups in both Kayenze and Malya have harvested their first honey to sell! And we also had a great harvest at the demonstration farm in Kisesa! Amazing!

With us for all this excitement, we had Sinead (Tim's cousin's daughter) from Ireland visiting us and Julian from Bees Abroad UK and also for a few days we were joined by our friend, Dorothea from Shinyanga! Together with John, our trainer and our groups of beekeepers in the villages, we traipsed across a lot of ground collecting honey from all the hives!

Beekeeper Fun with Sinead and Julian

Malya

We were first in Malya for three days. It wasn't all plain sailing. On the first day, unfortunately some nearby chickens got in the way of bees who were a little upset about our intrusion. They got in rather a flap; John was running about in his beesuit trying to chase them into a hut, but sadly three of them died in the incident. We decided then and there that we would now always work the hives at night reducing the risk to livestock and people!

When we could drive no further 

… we continued into the fading light, suited up on foot

Beekeeping in the Moonlight

So late into that night and the next, we were stumbling about in the darkness finding hives. And then by the ethereal glow of our special red flashlight, we took out the honey. Did you know that bees cannot see red light? This meant that they remained pretty relaxed while we intruded! We had a rather surreal moment when the phone of one of the beekeepers went off in his pocket under his beesuit… his ringtone was "My Heart Will Go On" from Titanic. Celine Dion sang on and on while we worked with the bees in the moonlight! I thought maybe we should always work the hives to soft romantic music … a bit like learning to Mozart or milking to moo-d music maybe?

Red Light Success! Back in the Land Cruiser after exhilarating success at the hives!

After late night hivework, we were up bright and early for meetings with the beekeepers. They were delighted to weigh up the buckets of collected honey. We also did some wax processing and I met with the women's group to make more wax products! The women in Malya are doing really well, selling their tie-dye fabric and making balms and also using profits to buy seeds to plant a group market garden and save up for goats.

Julian and John talking to the Beekeepers as we weigh the buckets of honey

Wax processing with the group

Reading the Bible together with the Malya mamas after making balms

Kayenze

The following week was more of the same with three days in Kayenze. Again it was not all plain sailing. This time, we had frustrations with one of the beekeepers who has not pulled his weight in the group. He was asked months ago to hang a hive. We have been asking for many weeks if it is colonised and get the consistent answer: "not yet." Well, we discovered why. After much fishing about and insistence on visiting his home, we found the hive in quite a sorry state in his house with some of the top bars burned for fuel. We cleaned it up, carried it through the fields back to the land cruiser and took it to relocate at another group members' farm. No honey there. (But the great news we heard today is that this hive has now been colonised!)

Rescuing the lost hive

Taking the hive to a new location

It was quite a trek back to the Land Cruiser!

We had quite an audience by the time we got to the Land Cruiser!

The other disappointing discovery in Kayenze was that the timing for harvesting comes earlier than Malya. We arrived too late for a few of the hives. Once full of bees and honey, we arrived to find an empty queen cell hanging in a honey-less hive. The colony had obviously absconded only a few days early. But despite the disappointments, we were all still so encouraged with the harvest we managed to get! Then it was back to our house with all this honey ….

Processing the Honey

The plan is to have a Honey Processing Centre in town. Here, honey will be collected from all the village groups, filtered, bottled and labelled ready to sell. A great plan. But not existing in real life. So in real life, we suddenly found ourselves at home with over 100 kilograms of honeycomb. I'm not sure I really thought it would actually happen!

It doesn't get better than this!

My goodness, the crazy weeks that followed! With visitors staying and in the midst of an Introduction to Beekeeping Seminar and Mamas Group beeswax work... our kitchen became re-named "The Hive." As we filtered bucket after bucket of honey and bottled it all into jars, it seemed all the bees in Mwanza came to join in on the action. It got to the point that you had to suit up in the gear to get to the oven. I moved to using a single gas burner outside the "hive." Honey drips were stepped in and sticky footprints were all over. Wax was dripping on the floor and then on my bare toes … jumping, I landed on a bee. Ouch! I felt like I was walking on a ping pong ball for two days. Enough was enough and the honey processing centre was moved to a container in the garden. This became the new "Hive" and suiting up in the container was even worse in the heat of this small space! Melting wax on the gas burner made things even hotter! Bucket after bucket of wax and debris was melted and filtered. Until there were only empty buckets. Whew!

John and Julian filtering the wax in the kitchen

Bottling the honey

Louisa helps out!

Wax processing at night in the dark, in the container

End product!

Waggle Dance Honey!

And thus ends the latest beekeeping saga. I don't imagine that beekeeping will ever make a quick and peaceful story. But this one had a very happy ending. The honey is delicious... and we have an amazing variety of honey: set, runny, dark, light! And most importantly, the honey is being sold! Each group's honey is separately bottled and all is sold under the name "Waggle Dance Honey," so named for the figure-eight dance of the scout honeybee to show the way (and tell the distance) to other members of her colony to good nectar sources!

The beekeeper groups are delighted, excited and encouraged. Plans are underway for more hives for the existing groups and for a new group to start.

Waggle Dance Honey for Sale!

(Big thanks to Peter Mitchell for his help with the labels!)

(Please join us in praying for a Honey Processing Centre and a honey press… I am not sure my sanity can cope with another honey harvest otherwise!)