I just finished a wonderful book, Queen Bee (2019) by Dorothea Benton Frank. The setting is the low country of Sullivan's Island and takes the reader on a side jaunt to Vegas. Immediately I was drawn to the beach scenes. Queen Bee is a matriarch and the story unfolds in a timely manner with so much drama, and fun, and romance. The book is infused with characters so real I felt I knew them. Queen Bee's added bonus contains fascinating facts about how important honey bees are.
I taught school age children in summer day camp at public school many years ago. My students ate lunch picnic-style on the sidewalks and lawn. On the days we had honey ham sandwiches, I would show the children how if they placed a tiny piece of ham on their open palm and waited, a honey bee would come along and take a nibble and fly away. The kids were amazed and learned not to fear honey bees.
Sad that honey bee populations are waning. But delighted to hear about Morgan Freeman's efforts to maintain their population. Devastated that the current administration has removed protections for bees.
Freeman imported 26 bee hives from Arkansas to his ranch in Mississippi. There, Freeman works to feed the bees sugar and water and has help planting bee-friendly magnolia trees, lavender, clover, etc.
I taught school age children in summer day camp at public school many years ago. My students ate lunch picnic-style on the sidewalks and lawn. On the days we had honey ham sandwiches, I would show the children how if they placed a tiny piece of ham on their open palm and waited, a honey bee would come along and take a nibble and fly away. The kids were amazed and learned not to fear honey bees.
Sad that honey bee populations are waning. But delighted to hear about Morgan Freeman's efforts to maintain their population. Devastated that the current administration has removed protections for bees.
THANK YOU MORGAN FREEMAN for donating your 134 acre farm to the bees. In an interview Freeman talked about the motivation as to why he began beekeeping. "There is a concerted effort for bringing bees back onto the planet…We do not realize that they are the foundation, I think, of the growth of the planet, the vegetation..."
Freeman added that he never wears a bee suit or a bee hat and they haven't stung him yet. He only feeds them and has no intention of harvesting honey or disrupting the beehives.
4 comments:
Linda--The book sounds like a great summer read. Finding a novel with characters that come alive in the story is a rarity.
And I didn't know that about Morgan Freeman... but I did know that about our current administration. I enjoy watching Freeman in the movies he's in. Now I admire him for what he's doing for the world.
I would like to have bees as i don't like honey much I have a influx of bees when the spring there is a buzz all over the back yard..
Merle.........
We have big bumbling wood bees that like to eat the insides out of the support posts of our porch. Morgan Freeman can come pack them up for a trip to Mississippi any time he wants.
Kudos to Freeman for his efforts to save the bees. Sounds like a great book.
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