The Bee Expert

I was reading back over my post from yesterday, and I realized that I did not show our local beekeepers in the best light.  I have said many times that I have not met a bad beekeeper and I truly believe this from my experience.

Then I realized I had not posted about our previous beekeeper meeting.  I cannot believe I missed the opportunity!  But, all is not lost...I can rectify this with an amazing post about our local expert in bees!  How could I possibly do that after so many months?  How can someone who can barely remember what I went into the next room to obtain...remember back to a meeting in July?  Ha!  I took notes...he was so fascinating that I had to get his story down for others to learn about this awesome guy!  Which makes it even sadder to think I skipped out on this blog when it happened back in July.   So, here is the tale of a cool beekeeper and war hero...in his own words as much as I could type on my little iPhone...

Born in 1919, this now older gentleman sits before us because he does not have the strength to stand for long periods of time.  Garner might not seem interesting to some as he sits quietly in front of our group of beekeepers.  However, we have been told that he has been a hobby beekeeper for most of his life.

Garner had his first bee sting when he was only six years old, but it did not phase him much and he has had many more since then.  He has now become quite immune to the stings with just small bumps arising when stung today.

He remembers being on his family's ranch land looking for bee trees with his father.  They would start out near the water hold, so they could follow a bee back to its hive.  He tells us that that is how the phrase "make a beeline for home" came about.  He gives a little chuckle and you can tell that he is thinking back to that day with his father.

He also remembers before Africanized bees there were black honey bees in the area.

Garner came to talk to us about comb honey judging, but everyone is just interested in hearing him talk about growing up in a simpler time, when chasing a bee sounded like a fun way to spend an afternoon.  However, every once in awhile he remembers the goal of the evening.

He tells us that they did not have plastic comb in those days...only wax.  It was saved and if harvested well, it could be entered into contest.

In 1971, he had a bee hive to sell, so he joined the local beekeeper association.  At that time there was just a small group of 15-20 men.  Surveying the crowded room where our meeting was held that night, he gave that little chuckle again.  There were no women in those days.  Well, there was that one woman who had a song written about her.  However, over the years that changed and they became a family group much like we see today.

He went on to take more interest in the association, and he began attending state meetings.  This was in 1979 and he has only missed one meeting in all those years!

Looking back at his own beekeeping experience, he told us that he started out with a hive and would add hives as he could.

He remembers a time a man had decided to sell some of his hives.  Roy G had had a heart attack and was given a pacemaker, so he sold him 12 hives.  Garner was a young man at the time and had taken a trailer to load the hives.  Roy decided to help with the moving.  As they loaded the hives they realized one of the hive boxes was rotten, so they began to move the frames to a different box.  As Roy handed a frame to him, he collapsed.  Garner dragged Roy into the truck to get him to help.  The EMS were called but in an attempt to bring him back they gave him a shot not knowing he had a pacemaker.  Unfortunately, Roy died but Garner says he was doing what he loved and there was nothing anyone could have done to help him.

In 1994, Garner had his first heart attack.  I thought about the experience mentioned above and realized that Garner must have thought the same thing could not happen to him, as a heart attack did not stop him any more than it stopped Roy.  Garner started transporting bees from Nebraska with a man named Caldwell. He was found that he was outdoing the younger guys by hand carrying double hives!  Remember...he had just had a heart attack and was 75 years old!

He also went to East Texas to obtain brood so he could raise queens.  He was not successful with this so did not continue this venture.

At this point Garner decided to start giving bees away.  However, this did not stop his interest in bees.  Caldwell asked for his help again and they were off to pollinate watermelon with 650 bee hives in Eagle Pass.  They covered the fields with one hive per acre.

Oh yeah...speaking of honey...he has learned over the years that the best tasting honey in South Texas is mesquite honey.  And, the best honey comes around June or July.  When he started collecting honey for contests, he pondered how to keep that honey at its best for the contests that came in November.  Honey left stored will often go dark, which is not going to show well.  So, the trick is to pick out the nicest honey and freeze it.  Then take out the honey a couple of days before the contest to thaw.

The jars must be clean, which meant hand washing in the early days but a dishwasher works just fine today.  Then the jars are placed upside down and are not touched until needed.  The key to a good jar of honey for judging is to avoid black specks and bits of wax.  He spent a lot of time preparing a jar of honey for contest by taking out wax and other 'debris' with a toothpick.  It is also important to not have air bubbles in the jar.

Someone from the group asked, "How does the beekeeper strain the honey to remove debris?"  Garner chuckled his endearing laugh again.  He said he has fought with that for a long time,but the best answer was pantyhose!  He gave a hearty laugh...when we asked how he obtained his hose.  He bought his own...knowing not to take his wife's hose...although he was tempted!

He told us to remember that the honey is judged in the light, so it is also to ensure the jar does not have any defects.  The honey in the jar must be at an exact level to without any honey glaze from tilting the jar.

One of the keys to having prize winning honey is to make sure the honey has cured properly.  This means the moisture is pulled from the honey and it has not fermented or gone sour.

Even though the best honey is usually taken in the summer, he has seen bees with unsealed honey that was cured in December.  This was the best honey because he did not have to worry about brood or drones in the honey.  Since it was December the temperatures were just right and the comb did not need to be capped.

Garner married his sweetheart and remained married to her for over 65 years.  They had four children.  His wife passed away in 2008.  He did not dwell on this for too long.  You could tell he missed her.

He decided to tell us how he remembers meeting Windy Riggs and Ester Wright who got a wax award for being Queen Bee in Texas and later for the U.S.  He had the pictures for us to see in a book he brought along.

Garner also showed us pictures he had with George W. Bush and the U.S. Queen Bee holding a wax eagle statue.  He asked if he collected wax could he have one made, which had him collecting wax...over 10 pounds!  A lady from Minnesota made it it.

He also recalled a day when his friend Wendy asked him to enter the State Fair the day before the contest.  They grabbed a jar off his shelf and won Grand Champion and Reserve Champion.  Not bad...I guess it shows that he cared for all his jars with the same care regardless if it went to show!

He has had a few adventures as well...he told us about a time they found a wild hive on a cliff.  He decided to cut the comb out so he climbed down the cliff.  He said everything was going fine, except he asked the others who came along to help to stop sending down the rocks so he could get the job done!  LOL!

Of course, all of his adventures did not include bee hives.  He wrote a book (My Country Calls) about his time in the military.  For his service in the military during World War II,  He recently (June 2014) received an Honor Flight in Houston.  The night before the flight there was a banquet for all the men to tell their stories about Normandy and other bombing runs.  Garner spoke about his time in the Marine Corp and then in the First Division in China as part of an occupation tour.

At one time, he found himself the only American at sea to give directions to Shanghai.  I found it fascinating to listen to his stories...leaving us with cliffhanger endings to keep us wondering and wanting more.  I knew that I wanted to read his book to hear the rest of the story, as the cliche goes!