Page 4 August 31, 2017 TORRANCE TRIBUNE
TerriAnn in Torrance
Let It Bee: They’re Working Harder Than You Think
By TerriAnn Ferren
The honeybee (Apis mellifera) lives only a
few short weeks but is ultimately responsible,
I found out, for every third bite of food we
consume. That’s right. Bees pollinate our
fruits, vegetables and grain. Because the
food of animals is ultimately grown through
pollination by bees, even our eggs and meat
are the result of bees. The most I knew about
bees was that they produce honey and they
can sting, so I decided it was time to learn
more about this wondrous creature.
First, I headed to the Torrance Farmer’s
Market and spoke with 26-year-old Jonathan
Poto of Honey Pacifica (www.honeypacifica.
com) who is a third-generation beekeeper.
Jonathan said, “It started in 1978, I think,”
he recalled. “We have three main locations--
Seal Beach Naval Weapons Base and Wildlife
Preserve, land in Hemet, and we have some
land in the Santa Clarita Mountains. We
move the hives around. We winter in Seal
Beach, and in the spring and summertime
we will move them [the bees] around to
better locations.”
Jonathan confessed he doesn’t enjoy being
stung and prefers selling the honey more
than harvesting. He told me he has been
stung about 20 times, but that is nothing
compared with his father and grandfather.
“Dad gets stung probably every time he
goes out…main thing is to get the stinger
out before the poison gets pushed in. Their
stinger is attached to their abdomen, which
is like a pump. He is good with bees,” added
Jonathan. Then Jonathan told me something
very interesting, “When you are eating raw
honey, you are also eating raw pollen and
when you are eating local honey, you are
getting immunity to different pollens that
are in the honey.”
Bees gather nectar where they live and
eat pollen and honey. When it comes to
honey, some say more interesting flavors
come from a single flower source. What I
can’t figure is how do you know? Do they
have bee GPS? Jonathan told me his family
searches for locations where certain types
of flowers are blooming. “Like buckwheat
in the mountains, in the late spring [bees]
make almost a chocolatey honey that is a lot
thicker and drier…and up in the Mammoth
area, we make pine tree honey which is really
pine sap that the bees will store when there’s
not enough vegetation for them to feed off
of. The wildflower honey--even though it
has more flowers--it averages out to a basic
honey taste,” shared Jonathan. When I asked
Jonathan what his favorite honey was, he
said avocado honey, which he noted has
a very strong, caramel molasses taste and
this year it is exceptionally strong. He said
it almost tastes like licorice this year and
is nearly a completely black liquid honey.
Sounds interesting. Okay, after hearing about
this luscious liquid, I couldn’t help but stop
and taste it. Amazing! Jonathan is right.
The honey tastes like molasses, but better.
Simply perfect!
Honeycombs are also available for sale
from beekeepers. Jonathan said you can eat
the wax, but most people don’t. He suggested
honeycomb for desserts because it has quite
a delicate taste.
“This year was really good for the
beekeepers because all the rain brought out
vegetation. There is a colony collapse disorder
which beekeepers and scientists haven’t
pinned down the exact cause, but having rain
and a lot of vegetation really strengthens the
hive. Hopefully, when they do research into
the neonicotinoids [pesticides], they can find
out if that is a major contributor because
Part of an ancient Egyptian beekeeping relief at Pabasa’s tomb. (Image via Gene Kritsky).
that is a big concern. Also that development
won’t wipe out too much of our open land,”
added Jonathan.
After visiting Jonathan Poto, I headed
toward LaCanada~Flintridge and caught up
with Klausesbees, (www.klausesbees.com)--
another expert beekeeping company producing
raw, unfiltered, natural, California, local, 100
percent Grade-A honey. They also offer honey
soap, pollen, propolis [bee glue], bee wax and
candles. I found owner/founder Klaus Koepfli,
who started the business in 1968, and Erika
Wain Decker, owner/marketing, selling their
liquid gold. Erika took time to speak with
me about their bees. Erika told me Klaus
began beekeeping locally in La Canada, and
later moved into the mountains and started
pollination in Blythe (below Palm Springs).
“He did the melons and the goods down
there that were exported to Japan. Then he
started doing almonds in Shasta, just outside
of Bakersfield. We had a contract there for 40
years…he did avocados in Carpenteria. We
did Carpenteria until six years ago when we
stopped all pollination because interestingly
enough, when the parents owned it [land]
there was minimal to no spraying. When
the children took over with their degrees
and all masters in agriculture, the helicopters
came in and the planes and everything was
sprayed. At which point we said no, no, no,”
said Erika. She went on to tell me that the
last time they were in the avocado groves, a
plane flew over them and completely dowsed
them with spray.
Erika told me, “It isn’t the spray itself.
The spray itself is a fungus--which is fine.
It doesn’t affect the bees and should be done
usually in the late afternoon…or early in the
morning. But it is the mixture. The spray
companies do not want to have that extra
‘burden’ of cleaning out the tanks, so you
come in, you have emptied tanks, you have
residue in the tank obviously, and then they
put in the next compound and of course now
you have the deadly cocktail and that is the
end of everything, isn’t it?”
Erika and Klaus stopped doing the organics
and now only do honey flow, placing their
bees where there is no spraying. The six
alfalfa field sites Erika and Klaus used to
frequent are gone and have given way to
solar panels and windmills. She told me,
“Since California supplies 43 percent of
the world earth food and 82 percent of the
almonds of the world…the bulk of the food
for the planet is here.” We have been told
California is the breadbasket of the world
and Erika echoed that claim.
Speaking with Erika also gave me an
appreciation of what beekeepers go through
acquiring sites where they can place their
hives. She told me they have been wanting
another site in the mountains, but the forestry
has changed drastically and they have waited
10 years for the form to request permission.
At that point, they were told that it probably
would be another 10 years for approval, so
they dropped the effort.
Erika told me after the big fire in the
mountains in 2009, the entire forest burned
down and reseeding never happened. So in
an area where there used to be beautiful
flowers, an invasive ground cover grew up,
overtaking everything in its path (introduced
into the forest by way of the tires of fire
trucks) that left the area completely submerged
and strangled.
This amazing couple also visits other
beekeepers throughout the world, keeping up
with all the bee news. Erika told me a story
when she and Klaus visited Paris in 2009
and met with Jean Paucton, prop master (and
beekeeper) for the Paris Opera House who
kept his bees on the roof, selling the honey in
tiny jars to patrons of the establishment. Can
you imagine? Can you see someone setting
up hives on top of the Dorothy Chandler
Pavilion? Only in Paris!
Speaking with Erika and Jonathan was an
education for sure. Backyard beekeepers?
Well, the beekeepers I spoke with asked me
why someone would want to have bees. It is
a tremendous responsibility and a lot of hard
work. Don’t attempt backyard beekeeping
unless you are dedicated and willing to
sacrifice a lot of time, energy and money.
And what about African Bees that arrived
in the ‘80s? That is a whole other story…
One thing Erika told me that especially
hit home was when she emphasized that
we, California that is, grows a tremendous
amount of food for the world--and we need
to remember bees are necessary for the
pollination of the plants that produce the
food we, and animals, eat.
A good friend reminded me that bees have
been busy since they were created. Caves in
France have some of the first drawings made
by man depicting workers taking honey from
bees. And don’t forget the beekeepers in Egypt
who moved their clay hives up and down the
Nile. But as is true through much of history, the
wax was almost more important than the honey
for the cosmetics so special to the Egyptians.
And remember the mead--that sweet honey
wine--made courtesy of our friend, the bee.
Had any honey lately? If not, visit the
farmer’s market and indulge in plain honey,
whipped honey, or a honeycomb. Try it in
ice cream, on a cracker with cheese, or in
a cocktail! And the next time you see bees
buzzing around, smile and remember how
much they do for us and how hard they work
in their short lives. •
Klaus Koepfli and Erika Wain Decker owners of Klausesbees. Jonathan Poto, age 26 from Honey Pacifica.