When I lived in North Charleston, I set up a squirrel feeder outside my office window, in part to bring life to the stark suburban street. Mostly, though, I felt a kinship with the squirrels: I appreciated their energy and curiosity.
But then Anita Curry of Golden Bee Apiaries in Hawkinsville, Georgia told me about her honeybees—and it’s looking like I might have a new muse in the animal kingdom.
“It could be anything,” Curry said of the wildflowers that her bees visit to make the honey she packages in little bear-shaped containers. “It could be dandelion; it could be buckwheat; it could be zinnias. The list is long.”
Long, but not endless. According to Curry, not every undomesticated bloom “produces a nectar or pollen they enjoy. Some don’t produce a tasteful food for the bee.”
In other words, we’re all just out here trying to uncover what’s delicious. That includes the yield from Curry’s hives, which she doesn’t modify much before selling from her teeny-tiny honey hut (furnished with a lockbox for afterhours honey transactions.)
“I just pride myself in putting only wholesome stuff in it,” Curry said. “You can’t call it organic, because you just can’t, but it’s natural.”
Curry didn’t intend to launch a honey business when she started fooling around with bees. With plans to retire from the Georgia Department of Corrections after 27 years, she figured she needed a hobby. Now, she has 53 hives and a standing Saturday date at the Dodge County Farmers Market in Eastman.
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