The Bees' Knees in O Enredo do Abelleiro

If you're around Arzúa (a town on the Camiño de Santiago), follow the swarm of bees to the nearby Living Honey Museum--also known as O Enredo do Abelleiro. This passion project was started by a beekeeping enthusiast as a hobby. Now that he's 90 years old, his daughters run the place, although he still maintains 200 hives. The museum offer tours with explanations about bees and then an on-your-own walk around the various types of apiaries. We visited in fall which is not the best time. Rather than bees, we mostly saw those wretched Asian hornets. The invasive species is three times larger than honeybees and preys on them constantly. Because they aren't native and have no natural enemies, they are taking over and leaving the bees in a dire situation. But according to our beekeeping tourguide, going in fall wasn't a total loss: that way we could see the situation for ourselves and get angry on behalf of the bees!

The informative tour was the best part. Every time our tour guide the beekeeper said a fact, my jaw dropped again. One kilo of honey requires visits to at least 7,000 flowers! That means an enormous amount of miles flown. Also I never knew that bees stick to one species of flower until they finish. That's why you can buy Chestnut Honey or Oak Honey. I also learned something I had apparently been doing wrong when it comes to honey. I'm not a huge fan of the taste, but it works wonders as a home remedy with hot water and lemon juice. Apparently, though, honey should be consumed tepid rather than hot in order to conserve its qualities. Oops. 

About their living conditions, bees keep their hives around a sweltering 100ºF (37ºC). That's easy enough to achieve in summer, but in winter that means working less and cramming together. And being a bee is hard work. That's why their life span is a mere month and a half!  Each female bee (except the queen) goes through all of the work phases, depending on its age. As a larva, it is fed royal jelly 400 times a day. That's practically non-stop! Later they're on defense and later they are in charge of leaving the hive to bring back the goods. Bees go out in search of pollen, water, resin, and nectar. And you know what they do with those. Make the sweet stuff within their perfectly-engineered hexagonal honeycombs.

Traditional apiary

Another byproduct of bees (and one that I perhaps appreciate even more than honey) is propolis. I only discovered this antibacterial after living in Galicia a few years. Here it is quite commonly used for protecting the throat. In fact, half of the year I spray some daily to ward off against sore throats, the mortal enemy of a private English teacher. Our bee guide shared a fun story about propolis. One day after she was visiting the hives and taking notes, she realized she had lost her pen at some point. The next day while doing the rounds, she discovered it next to the hive, completely ¨propolized¨ (that is, covered in sticky propolis)! The bees had seen a foreign object and had used their propolis to halt any possible infections it may have brought. Really something!

On the way out, we stocked up on honey candies, honey-infused soaps, and some handmade candles. Unfortunately, the gift shop was out of mead because that would have been a treat! I really enjoyed my visit to O Enredo do Abelleiro and think it would be great to go with kids as well. In addition to the tour, they offer candlemaking classes or beekeeper-for-a-day activities. You'll leave with a newfound appreciation of bees if you didn't already have one.