Welcome To Honey Month (Or The Time I Cleared A Library Display)

It is honey month. I know this, because our library has round display tables and stands all throughout the building with collections arranged by topic. This month, there was a stand for honey bees.

Books and dvds abounded.

I wanted them all.

You see, I love honey. And I love honey bees.

I can't resist clicking on an article about Colony Collapse Disorder.
I'm concerned about living in a world that has less pollinators.
I sometimes think about how awesome it would be to keep bees.
(Not on a huge, professional scale, but just to have a few hives.)

So I started picking up books and dvds.

They all looked so good. The stack in my arms started growing.

"What are you doing?" Thomas whispered to me. It was a library after all.

"Look at all these great bee things. We are going to learn so much about bees! Here's a book Katarina can read for school, and the biography of a beekeeper, and more than one documentary we can all watch together." I responded, in a not-so-quiet whisper.

"You aren't supposed to take things off the displays. Or maybe just one thing. But not all the things."

"But. THE BEES, Thomas! Look at all the bee things."

Thomas wandered towards a librarian to ask a question about a book he had on hold (or possibly to get away from me and my bees).

As I stood near him, with a stack of bee things in my hands, I saw a women's history display. A book about female aviators for Katarina? Check. A book about Grace Hopper for me and another one about Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony? Check.

I now had two armfuls of books and dvds. As Thomas watched me pick up books from the second display, he just shook his head.

My arms started to feel tired.

"Are you seriously getting all of these display things?" he asked.

"Yes," I responded, and then to the librarian, " We are allowed to check out things from the displays, right?"

"Of course. Take as many things off of the displays as you want." the library replied, "We want people to check them out."

I shot a smile at Thomas, and picked up another bee documentary.

That night, I was doing some work, and Thomas and Katarina were discussing entertainment options. I heard her say, "We could watch a movie. Mom borrowed a lot of them from the library..."

Some rustling sounds followed as she looked in the library bag, "I think, I think these movies are all about bees."

Honey month, y'all. Go check out a book or dvd, and learn about bees.

It will be fun. I promise.

***************

One of the bee books I checked out was (affiliate link) The Beekeeper's Lament: How One Man and Half a Billion Honey Bees Help Feed America.

It is the mix of the biography of beekeeper, John Miller, who transports his bees around the country for pollination, and the history of bees and beekeeping. I really enjoyed this book, and even though I have some difference in opinion with the author about the bee plight, I learned a lot of interesting things.

Including this honey-buying tidbit: If you turn a bottle of honey upside down, the rate the air bubbles rise to the top lets you know how pure your honey really is. It those bubbles go up fast, the honey has probably been cut with corn syrup, water, and other additives, even though the FDA allows it to still be labeled as "pure honey" and those other ingredients are not necessarily disclosed on the label. So, when you are buying honey, look for slow-moving bubbles.

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