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PAGE 14 11 WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER e 201 O'
Local farmer creates a [jM^Z bees
Lauren Ramsdell
Arts and Entertainment Editor
At his table at the Elon
Community Church farmers’
market, Mike Ross displays boxes
of tart muscadine grapes, bags
stuffed with turnip greens and
boxes of okra. A full half of the
table is dedicated to squeeze
bears and Mason jars topped
with sticky, amber honey.
Mike Ross has been a farmer
all his life. His father and
grandfather were farmers, as
was his wife’s family. Ross is a
regular at the Elon Community
Church farmers’ market and at
farmers’ markets in Gibsonville
and Burlington. Ross said people
will come up even in the wrong
growing season asking for
favored produce.
Ross gradually added honey to
the list of products he wrests from
the soil of Alamance County. By
his estimate, he started keeping
bees around seven years ago.
“It’s a lot of fun and a lot of
work," he said, “It’s a lot to take
care of them."
Ross has 40 colonies of bees.
With an average hive population
of 15,000-20,000, there are about
68,000 bees buzzing around his
farm at any given time.
Every now and then a hive
will get too big, packed too tight
with workers and drones. Then
a swarm happens, where about
half the colony will pick up and
move, scouting out a new hive
location. They take the old queen
with them, Ross said, and the old
colony will create a new queen.
“Bees make more honey than
they need," he said. “You harvest
the surplus so they still have
enough to live on."
The production season for
North Carolina honey bees
is from April to June. This is
when bees start setting aside
extra honey and still have plenty
left over. Ross said he usually
harvests five to 10 gallons of
honey per season. He can store
the honey almost indefinitely,
because it never spoils unless
contaminated with water..
Ross can also rattle off a
list of the benefits of honey.
Honey never spoils, unless it
gets contaminated with water.
It is good for regional allergy
sufferers because they eat the
honey, are then exposed and
grow resistant to whatever pollen
they are allergic to. It is even used
in medical settings — microbes
cannot grow in honey, Ross said.
“There’s a kind of honey.
manuka honey, that’s used in
hospitals in Australia," he said.
“It’s been used to treat MRSA.”
There’s no exact science as to
why honey can be so useful.
“That’s just how it works,”
Ross said.
In recent years, there has
been a fear that honey bees
in North America are dying
out. An introduced species of
parisitic mite called the varroa is
attacking bees, Ross said. But his
thousands of bees are helping
pollinate wildflowers througout
the county.
Though beekeeping is against
the pet policy of Elon University
and surrounding student
apartments, interested students
can take a 10-week class on
beekeeping offered by Alamance
County. The class starts in
January and meets on Tuesday
nights.
Ross took the class years ago
and is now involved with the
Alamance County Beekeepers,
an association of apiary-minded
residents.
During *the regular 3:30-6:00
p.m. time of the Elon farmers'
market on Oct. 7, Ross and other
beekeepers plan on showing off
their bees as well as varieties of
honey and recipes.
LAUREN RAMSDELL | Photogfaplief
Area farmer Mike Ross sells honey and other produce at the Elon Comunity
Church farmers’ market. Ross began keeping bees around seven years ago.
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Via
The Fat FrogG. Elon. NC.
Tickets $20 Presale