When talking about bee hives and raw honey people often think of having to scale a tree to get them. This is often not the case as several professional bee keepers have popped up around the globe and have their hives at ground level. This makes extracting honey from the hive easier, and safer. There is however still the risk of getting stung, but at least you don't have to worry about breaking your neck. Bee hives have been the primary source of raw honey since the dawn of recorded history. Archeologists have found cave paintings of people climbing trees to get honey out of suspended hives in various locations. History does not tell us when we started domesticating bees but we do know that we were actively practicing it around 2400 BC. Historical evidence shows that early bee keepers used logs, pottery, and even baskets for bee's to build their colonies in and raise young. Early beekeepers had to use crude methods of obtaining honey from bee colonies that they tended. In most cases, they suppressed the bees with smoke then smashed into the hive and ripped out the honeycombs. These were then mashed up and the honey was mixed with the larval eggs, the material of the honeycomb itself, and then crudely strained. This worked in getting the honey but destroyed the hive completely. Luckily, bee hives have evolved considerably since those times and extracting the raw honey does not harm the colony. Modern bee farmers use slide out hives that have a comb like structure that can easily be emptied, and then replaced. This ensures that the bee colony will be safe, and can produce more honey later. Honey that's harvested is then run through a complex system of filters to make sure it's clean, and safe for consumption. Until the 18th century, we didn't really know much about bees. What we did know revolved around superstition, folklore, and old wives tales. Scientists at the time had had enough of this and started actively dissecting and analyzing bee hives, bees, and the raw honey they produced. This laid the foundation for what we know about bees today. Insect behavior is quite complicated, even though it appears simple. Bees communicate with body language, pheromones, and sometimes a combination of the two. This can lead to some interesting activity if you have a colony with a glass window. People have been observing bees and other insects like this for decades and it never ceases to fascinate the curious mind. Not only do bees produce honey, but they are essential to the ecosystem of our planet. These sometimes-tiny insects can pollinate many hundreds of flowers in a day. These flowers then support a myriad of other insect and animal life that makes up our food chain. Even the smallest of bugs can have an insurmountable impact on our planet. At the moment, bee hives are still the only source of raw honey we have. Sure, you can try to imitate it with artificial flavors but nothing comes close to the real thing.  Honey is an integral part of breakfasts across the globe and many start their day with it. It also has many medical properties that make it highly sought after. Mail this post

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