LESSON 2: Anatomy of a Bee

Below is a description of the unique parts of a bee.

  • Pollen Basket: The pollen is scraped out of the pollen comb by means of the pectin, on opposite hind legs. From the pectin it is placed or scraped into the pollen basket. (Pollen basket is a cavity surrounded by hairs.)
  • Feelers: The organs of smell and touch.
  • Pic_BeeAnatomyTongue (Proboscis): This organ of taste has two parts, one long tube-like tongue to suck smaller particles at the bottom of a flower and another tube inside this long tube with mop-like attachments at its end to help gather the most minuscule particles of nectar and draw them into the food sac.
  • Eye: Can distinguish the hue of various flowers.
  • Abdomen:  Contains the wax glands and the stinger. The wax glands are where wax scales are secreted by eight wax plates under the abdomen of worker bees. It is liquid when first secreted and then dries into small flakes. The bees can only produce wax for a certain amount of time until the wax plates turn into a flat layer of cells. The stinger consist of three slender closely connected pieces forming the sharp piercing organ that projects from the tip of the abdomen.
  • Stomach: Bees have two stomachs. The honey stomach holds nectar or honey. The stomach mouth is where nectar goes first and the pollen is strained out before it goes into the honey stomach.
  • Wings: The two wings of the bee on each side are united to each other by a series of very small hooks so that they work together, and thus four wings are converted into two.
  • Salivary Glands: Located in the back part of the head and front of the thorax. The saliva glands affect the liquid food before it enters the mouth or it can be allowed to run down the tongue upon hard sugar in order to dissolve it.

LESSON 1: History of Beekeeping

Primitive beekeeping was a crude art, at best. Hives consisted of pottery, baskets and holes in rocky cliffs. Beekeepers knew very little about the bees and in most instances, the bees were killed after the season was over to harvest the honey. Early man did, however, understand the importance of honey as a food source. For instance, in Biblical days it was recognized that milk and honey were essential for baby formulas.

Pic_BeeHistoryThere is much historical data that indicates that beekeeping has been practiced for thousands of years. Below is a list of some important dates in beekeeping history. For more information on the history of beekeeping, check out the book "The Hive and the Honey Bee" from Dadant™ Publishing.

  • 15,000 BC: The oldest known record of primitive beekeeping paintings.
  • 3,000 BC: Written records on migratory beekeeping up and down the Nile river
    in ancient Egypt.
  • 2000 BC: Exodus 3:8 refers to Canaan as the “land of milk and honey.”
  • 900 BC: King Solomon speaks of honey and honeycomb in many passages. Proverbs 24:13 "My son eat thou honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste".
  • 384 BC: Aristotle, the Greek teacher, did a lot of research on beekeeping. His writings mention foulbrood and enemies of bees, and he was apparently the first to notice that honey bees don't visit flowers of different kinds on one flight, but remain constant to one floral species.
  • 70-19 BC: Virgil, a Roman poet and beekeeper, recommended clipping the wings of queen bees and spoke of shade and wind protecting.
  • 800-900 AD: It is thought that honey bees were first brought to America by Irish and Norwegian explorers, pre-Columbus.
  • 1850: West Coast bees were not introduced until 1850's when they landed in California and by wagon to Oregon.
  • 1851: Bees had colonized all over the world. Lorenzo Langstroth (The father of modern beekeeping) developed the moveable frame. Lorenzo was from the US and his work spread from here to England, Europe and finally around the
    world. His creation of the Langstroth hive is still the standard to this day.

GloryBee Foods Moves to New, Larger Facility

Eugene, OR—GloryBee Foods announced today that the company will be moving its distribution, warehousing, sales staff and factory store to a new, larger facility in June 2011. The new facility is located at 29548 B Airport Road in Eugene. Operations and production will remain in the company’s current headquarters at 120 N. Seneca Road in Eugene. “With this move, we will be condensing 5 facilities into 2, which will really help streamline our processes, handling and energy usage,” says Alan Turanski, vice president of GloryBee Foods. “Even better, we’ll be going from approximately 57,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space to 81,000. We may even be able to rent out space to other businesses.”

Moving to the new facility will allow GloryBee to purchase and distribute more local and regional foods, which is a long-term company goal. Buying directly from farmers often means that a company needs to store a whole year’s crop at once; the extra space in the new facility will allow for the additional storage. “Anytime you move, there are challenges,” Turanski adds. “Our biggest challenge will be that we won’t be shutting down operations, so we’ll be moving on the weekends. June will be a long month for the GloryBee team, but everyone is excited and we know it will be worth the hard work.”

About GloryBee
GloryBee® Foods started in the family garage of Dick and Pat Turanski in 1975 with a dream of providing natural, healthy ingredients for the people of their town. That spirit remains strong today, and GloryBee is still a family-owned and operated business in Eugene, Oregon. For more about GloryBee Foods, visit www.glorybeefoods.com.

GloryBee Foods Implements HACCP Program for Liquid Ingredients

Eugene, OR— GloryBee Foods announced today that they were recently recognized by the American Institute of Baking for implementing a HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point) program for their liquid ingredients.

According to the HACCP web page at www.fda.gov, “HACCP is a management system in which food safety is addressed through the analysis and control of biological, chemical, and physical hazards from raw material production, procurement and handling, to manufacturing, distribution and consumption of the finished product.” HACCP originally began as part of the space program; NASA developed the program to ensure that the limited supply of food sent into space for astronauts was safe.

The Quality Assurance department at GloryBee Foods implemented the program in a two-step process. First, they identified potential physical, biological and chemical hazards for each product. Next, they identified the critical control points—the point in the process that, if missed, would cause a potential food safety issue. “

Along with GloryBee’s other food safety programs, HACCP provides additional assurance that the company has taken the proper steps to eliminate physical, chemical and biological hazards from its raw materials”, says Gary Powell, Quality Assurance Supervisor at GloryBee Foods. “The next step for GloryBee will be to implement this program for our dry ingredients.” More information about the HACCP program can be found at http://www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/.

About GloryBee Foods

GloryBee® Foods started in the family garage of Dick and Pat Turanski in 1975 with a dream of providing natural, healthy ingredients for the people of their town. That spirit remains strong today, and GloryBee is still a family-owned and operated business in Eugene, Oregon. For more about GloryBee Foods, visit www.glorybeefoods.com.

GloryBee Foods offers Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals

Eugene, OR—GloryBee Foods announced today that Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals are now available in retail jars. Organic Coconut Sugar is made from sap collected from the freshly cut flower buds of organic coconut palm trees grown on small, sustainable farms. The collection of the sap is known as “tapping” and has been practiced for centuries throughout the Pacific Islands. Once a coconut tree has been tapped, its sap can flow continuously for decades, resulting in a sustainable harvest.

After harvesting, the sap is then slowly boiled and evaporated by hand in small batches. The cooled syrup is then broken up into free-flowing, naturally sweet granules. This minimal processing is done without the aid of sophisticated equipment such as vacuum evaporators and does not require any additives or enzymes. Coconut sugar has a lower glycemic index than refined cane sugar and is naturally gluten free. Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar can be substituted cup for cup in any recipe that calls for cane sugar.

Aunt Patty’s Organic Honey Crystals are made from organic honey and organic evaporated sugar cane. This free-flowing natural sweetener is instantly soluble and has a low moisture content. This product is ideal to use in recipes where a granulated sweetener is required and a honey flavor is desired. Aunt Patty’s Organic Honey Crystals can be substituted cup for cup in any recipe that calls for cane sugar.

Aunt Patty’s Organic Coconut Sugar and Organic Honey Crystals are currently available both direct from GloryBee Foods and at natural food retailers throughout the Western United States, and through UNFI and Nature’s Best distributors.

A Swarm arrives at GloryBee

On Earth Day, 2009, a swarm of bees landed in the parking lot at GloryBee Foods. Company president Dick Turanski moved into action, hiving the swarm in a temporary box. Dick's son Alan Turanski started a hive for the swarm bees at his home, where they produced a decent crop of honey their first year and survived the winter to produce another crop of honey in 2010.

GloryBee Foods Receives Lane Workforce Partnership 2010 Business Workforce Award

Eugene, OR— At an awards ceremony in Eugene on August 26, GloryBee Foods received the Lane Workforce Partnership 2010 Business Workforce Award. GloryBee Foods was presented this annual award as a Lane County business com¬mitted to helping the local community and providing quality employment for Lane County residents for over 30 years. GloryBee Foods won the award due to its long-term commitment to cultivating its employees’ physical, mental and social health by providing health incentive programs, supplementary job training, counseling, community involvement opportunities and more. A video shown at the awards ceremony highlighted many aspects of the company, from warehousing departments to the Factory Store. Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley sent letters congratulating the company on the award. The award is now on display in the front office at GloryBee’s main headquarters at 120 N. Seneca Road in Eugene.

GloryBee Foods Receives “Superior” Rating from AIB

GloryBee Foods recently underwent its annual audit by the American Institute of Baking (AIB) and received a “superior” rating, which is the highest rating awarded. This is the third year in a row that GloryBee has received a “superior” rating from the AIB.

AIB offers several types of audit programs. GloryBee participates in the “AIB Consolidated Standards for Prerequisites and Food Safety Programs” audit. Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP’s) are an integral aspect of this audit. GMPs are guidelines that describe the methods, equipment, facilities and controls required for producing safe products. They require a quality approach to manufacturing and distribution, enabling companies to minimize or eliminate instances of contamination, mix-ups, and errors.

The AIB audit offers an unbiased, third-party report on a variety of these practices, including sanitation, equipment maintenance, integrated pest management, operational and personnel practices, and food safety training programs. A “superior” rating in this audit shows that a company is especially well-rounded in its Good Manufacturing Practices.

GloryBee Foods Marks 35 Years In Business

2010 is a milestone year for GloryBee Foods, as the company celebrates its 35th anniversary. The company started as a small family honey business, operating out of the garage of Dick and Pat Turanski’s home in Eugene , Oregon.

Initially, Dick and Pat were the only employees, processing and selling honey harvested from the Turanski’s 25 backyard hives. As demand grew, Dick added more hives and then eventually began to purchase honey from other beekeepers in order to meet his customers’ demands. The Turanskis also sold beekeeping supplies, a portion of the business which increased dramatically after Dick taught a local beekeeping class.

Eventually, Dick sold his beehives—which had grown in number to 300—to focus on his growing business. GloryBee began selling unsulphured blackstrap molasses, which became the first Aunt Patty’s brand product, in 1983. In 1986, the company launched the original 5 flavors of HoneyStix. Over the years, the business continued to grow. In addition to honey, GloryBee Foods now sells many other natural sweeteners, oils, dried fruits and nuts, herbs, spices, beekeeping supplies, and supplies for soap and candle making. Today, GloryBee employs over 100 people in their Eugene facilities. The GloryBee trucks carry honey and other natural food products throughout the Pacific Northwest and HoneyStix are sold as far away as Australia.