Honey-Maker: How the Honey Bee Worker Does What She Does

Honey-Maker takes us into the beehive for a look through the lens of a bee-loving biologist. Beginning with an overview of the colony, which includes the queen, workers, and drones, the book then divides into sections that reflect the design of an insect: Head, Thorax, and Abdomen. We learn how the worker, the familiar bee we find on our lawns and in our gardens, makes wax and constructs honeycomb, tends the queen, raises all of the colony’s young, forages for and collects nectar and pollen, makes honey and bee bread, dances, grooms, swarms, and stings. We also see the capacity of the honey bee worker to cooperate with other members of her colony and to alter her activities and physiology to meet the needs of her ever-changing colony. Honey-Maker further speaks to our age-old relationship with the honey bee and suggests ways in which we all might contribute to a more habitable landscape. Additional information is available in the Beargrass Press Portfolio.

215 pages | 6 x 8.75 inches | Perfect-bound paperback | 2012