Thanksgiving

Plants produce nectar and pollen to attract bees and other pollinators. From a bee's perspective, protein-rich pollen is mostly for feeding to young, growing larvae, and to the queen, who is constantly producing eggs. Nectar is a solution of mainly sucrose (the same sugar we put in tea), which is to say a carbohydrate, a source of energy for the whole colony. Nectar is seasonal, so some of it is stored as honey, to see the colony through times of scarcity.

The bees make honey by mixing nectar in their honey-crop (the sac in their abdomen in which they transport nectar) with the enzyme invertase, which they secrete. Invertase converts sucrose to two other sugars, glucose and fructose. Finally, the enzyme-laced nectar is placed in cells in the honeycomb, and subjected to a drying breeze, created by the bees fanning their wings in harmony to create air currents through the hive. Water evaporates from the nectar; the solution of 'inverted' sugar is thus made more and more concentrated, until it reaches the point (below 18% water content) where it is too hostile an environment for bacteria or fungi to grow - it will not, therefore, mould, ferment or spoil

In fact, in chemistry terms, honey is 'super-concentrated' - so low in water content that it is not stable as a liquid - some of the sugar will eventually precipitate as solid crystals: the familiar process in which all (real) honey will change from "runny" to "set" over time. How quickly this happens depends on the mix of sugars in the honey and the conditions in which it is stored (never in the fridge, please, never!). Sometimes it takes a year or more to crystalise (borage honey), sometimes it happens in the comb in the hive, if the beekeeper is not very alert (oilseed rape), which makes it impossible to harvest in the normal way

What a very strange time to be writing about honey. I did not anticipate this. Our friends who visited for tea and cake today saw blackthorn in flower on their journey. Right on cue, the 'blackthorn winter' is forecast: frosts and some snow in the coming days. It will be three months before we can anticipate a first honey harvest. But this surprise present was brought to our door today.

Honey from a beekeeper in Kyiv - the local contact of the project that Mrs M helps out with - harvested last summer in the middle of a war and sent as a thank you for all that has been delivered. I'm tearing up even writing this; something about this simple gesture is incredibly moving. It tastes like sunshine and joy and freedom - I don't care if you think I'm being fanciful. It is from sunflower nectar - Ukraine is the world-leader in sunflower oil exports - you can see the sunflower on the lid, with the eye of faith

The green candle came with it. It was wrapped with a sprig of pine, or spruce, which had disintegrated but still smells nice. It is made from wax 'foundation' (a sheet of wax embossed with honeycomb shapes, that is placed in frames to get the bees started on new ones), rolled around a wick. I have no idea how or why it is green

We feed sunflower hearts to the garden birds; they get through a feeder full in a day. I will feed them with extra pleasure and gratitude in the morning