One of the most studied and continued studied insect is the honey bee. Every since honey was discovered and tasted, people have been trying to figure out how honey is made and how they can eat it – similar to Winnie the Poo and the honey pot. It turns out the bee collects pollen while at the same time allowing flowering plants to pollenate or have sex. It is beneficial relationship and depending on where the beehive is will determine the taste of the honey. It is one of those local taste and global taste all in one. The beehive is ruled by the Queen who after becoming queen lays millions of eggs for bees to go out and bring back nectar. The average worker bee uses a combination of smell and dancing to determine and show where the great sites for pollen are and fly incredible distances between the beehive and the flowers. It is complex and simple all at the same time and we get honey from it.

In a book by Holley Bishop title Robbing the Bees published by Free Press, NY, 2005 outlines he journey from being fascinated to learning about bees to having beehives in the country to enjoying the bees. In turns out a great way to think about honey is the same thinking about wine. The taste of honey is reflected in the local flowers the bees gain access to and provides a distinctive taste to it. As wine tastes can savor the local nature of the wines, so can honey tasters. Think about the past and consider most did not have access to sugar, but they had a sweetener in honey which is the reason you find honey cakes and to drink – mead.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the honey business has few barriers to entry – need some hives and one can learn how to harvest the honey for if you respect the bees and the fact over the years people have learned the best design to extract the honey from the beehive, it is possible to enjoy honey. To make a living at it, takes work to bottle the honey and sell it, but it is a local product and we expect bees to continue making honey for generations to come. For most of us we can learn from the honey bee and allow our investments to continue for years to come.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.