Happy National Honey Bee Day

According to Greek mythology, it was a mountain nymph named Melissa who hid Zeus from his cannibalistic father, Cronus. She cared for the young godling, feeding him on milk and honey and keeping him safe. When the titan found out about her deceit, he transformed the nymph into an earthworm. It was Zeus who took pity on her and transformed her into a bee. Mankind's association with the honeybee is an ancient one. In 2007 thirty intact straw and clay beehives dating back to the ninth century BCE. The hives were organized into rows of one hundred, showing evidence of organized apiculture in the ancient world.

Today beekeeping is moving back into the city and the presence of stinging bugs buzzing around suburbia has rubbed some people the wrong way. It's probably not surprising that there is a beekeeping organization lobbying to break bans and ordinances against the practice. That is the stated goal of National Honey Bee Day 2015.

Now that we've got the official stuff out of the way, what about a little music and fun? I'm Gonna Let the Bumble Bee Be isn't really a honey bee song, but it is a bee song. It came out in 1925 with words by Addy Britt and music by Jack Little. Little was born in Britain and his tunes featured in several movies of the era. He would eventually commit suicide two months after being name-checked in an episode of The Honeymooners.

A little dark there, let's lighten things up with a tune from Little's heyday.

Honey Season

September is honey harvesting time and in honor of that fact, here's a little ad from the 1949 issue of Life Magazine. Sioux Bee Honey later changed its name to Sue Bee Honey, purportedly to simplify pronunciation. In spite of the Native American motif of the ad the only connection the brand has with the actual Sioux is that the Sioux Honey Association is located in Sioux City, IA. That's a shame, in my mind I'd envisioned a collective of Native American beekeepers selling their wares and making a name for themselves.

Notice that the honey in the photo looks a lot more like mustard than anything you'd get from a beehive. Maybe it's a plate of honey mustard and biscuits? Maybe that's what you serve with corrugated butter?