Beekeeping Field Trip

         On Thursday I am supposed to have ceramics class, but we've only had one so far, and I had to leave early to go to International Food. This Thursday, we were all getting ready for class, when it was announced that it was cancelled for the day. I was kind of bummed, but also I figured maybe I could take a nap or something. 

        Then Ananda mentioned that her class during that time--'Sustainability' or something like that--was taking a trip to visit a local beekeeper to learn about his business. Alina, Elise and I thought that sounded pretty cool, so we asked the teacher if we could tag along, and she said yes! We took three cars, and it was about a 20 minute drive. When we arrived, we took a short walk up to where the beehives were. Did I mention that it was also raining? A typical Norwegian day. 

        The beekeeper that we met was very nice, and he told us about how he only started last year, but now owns 10 or so hives, and sells his honey locally. He showed us how the hives work, and talked about the lives of the bees and their queens. Afterwards, he let us taste some of the honey that he had collected. We got to taste both raw honey--straight from the hive--and the honey that he sells in jars. I'm not quite sure what the difference is, because the translation that I got was a little funky, but the jarred honey has a bit more texture. 

        We then went to see his workshop, which was just in his home garage. He told us about how he takes the honey from the combs, and where he sells it, which is just a little box outside of his house. It's the honor system, so his neighbors and people driving by will stop, take a jar of honey, and send him money via Vipps--like Venmo. It was a really fun and unexpected adventure, and we all bought jars of honey before we left--a little something new for our *literal* daily bread.