Yes, I'm still at the SSSR conference in Baltimore. However, a few of us had to sneak out today to restore some sanity. It was absolutely amazing - people, people, everywhere! May be really a lot of people (though this looks a bit on the high-end).

And we definitely boosted this number with our presence - if only for a brief period of time (we had to come back for an afternoon session at the conference). You can see me on the left hand-side of the picture below:

And here is how it looked like from where we were standing - far, far, far, away from the stage:

And here are some Iranian-Americans for sanity:

Pakistan and Iran are so far away that for most Americans it probably doesn't matter who's who. So...I guess, you can count me in as an Iranian-American also... (close-enough):

How can you not like this rally?

Below here is Hans Henrik Hjermitslev (I'm so glad I only have to write his last name here, and not actually pronounce it) restoring sanity. When he is not attending rallies, he is usually working on understanding various creationist movements in Denmark. And yes, the crazy guy on the left is correct: "You are all mad":

And Hans and a few Fordham University sociologists/anthropologists for sanity:

Lesson 85: Special & Unusual Beekeeping Items
For those just getting started in beekeeping there is a learning curve involved. How do you pronounce “propolis”? Is the first vowel long or short. What is a frame? Do you call a hive body a deep hive body, a brood box, a deep super or what? But, after you’ve been in beekeeping a while, it’s old hat after awhile. Soon you sound like a university entomologist. But just when you think you have a good handle on the fundamentals of beekeeping essentials, suddenly you realize there are many more pieces of equipment that you’ve never seen or heard of before.

That’s because beekeeping is that way, like most hobbies…there is always more to buy. Obviously, the back yard beekeeper doesn’t need all of these specialty items. Some are a waste of money and really aren’t useful, but others are a big help and can save money in the long run.  So my wife encouraged me to write a lesson highlighting some of these strange and unusual items in beekeeping that aren’t so common among most beekeepers, but it’s fun to know what they are and how they are used.
My first piece of equipment is a funny round shaped item. A fellow beekeeper donated a large amount of equipment and this was in the mix. It puzzled me when I first saw it. I spent a few minutes wondering if it was part of a larger item or not.  What do you think it is? It was purchased from a Canadian vendor at a bee conference. Look at the photo and try to guess.
Okay, click on the video below as we walk into my apiary and look inside the hive to see how this item is used.

Video of Top Feeder

I always enjoy learning something new about beekeeping. This item is a top feeder that fits over the winter cluster. Fill the reservoir with 2:1 sugar water, then put the plastic cup around the center and then the plastic lid on the top and sit it on top of the frames as shown in the video. Works great and you can probably feed your bees this way until it becomes so cold that the sugar freezes.   In real cold weather I would advise placing your inner cover on your hive, and then placing this top feeder over the oval shaped hole on the inner cover. The inner cover will prevent the warmth the cluster is producing from rising up and away, but he hole in the cover will still allow the bees to access the feeder.
Our second item should be easier for most beekeepers to identify. Take a look. Do you know what it is? Looks like a hair pick. It' is actually a capping scratcher.   Some beekeepers use this tool to open up cells on sealed honey comb. Others use it in places where the heated knife did not cut open all the comb cappings. This stiff pick will open up all the sealed honey comb for extraction.
Here’s a harder one. What is this? It’s orange and has lots of holes that hold little cups.  Any idea?  It is a queen cell protector used in shipping queen cells. Almost ripe queen cells are placed in the small cups and the plastic cups are then placed in the orange holder. The bar is then placed in a shipping box with air vents, bees, water and sugar to care for the cells during shipment.
What in the world is this? Have you ever seen anything like it before. Can’t believe it would be used in a bee hive? It is. In fact, many beekeepers like these a lot. Do you know what it is?
It is a conical bee escape board.  Place it under your supers and above the brood area and the bees will walk through the small, red, conical (cone shaped) pieces but will not walk back in due to the opening being small at the tip. This conical bee escape has two rows of conicals with 5 on each side. Here’s a picture of the bottom and you can see how the bees can easily walk into the groove and out of the red conicals.  Keep in mind that the proper way to place this on the hive is with the red conicals down closest to the brood area.
It’s an effect way of clearing out the bees from honey supers before removing them from the hive.
Put on your thinking caps for this one.  What do you think this piece of metal could be?  Notice it is L shaped and has holes in it. It is not a frame rest. Ready for the answer? It is a mouse guard. You place it in the entrance of a hive and the bees can fly out and in through the holes but not mice.
Next item please. Look at this. All those little rails. What do you think about this piece of equipment. Some beekeepers love them. Some claim it prevents swarming. It’s called a slatted bottom rack or a slatted rack. It fits on the top of a bottom board just below the bottom deep hive body. Carl Killion used a similar idea to allow space for bees and extra ventilation. C. C. Miller believed in the idea but he simply made 2” bottom boards but found that the bees would build comb on the bottom of the frames to fill the extra space provided. But with a false bottom, the bees are tricked no to build comb.
People are always confused which way to place these on the hive because on one side the slats are close to the top and the other side they are a over an inch away. Place it on the hive with the slats as close as possible to the frames.
For our next strange and unusual item we have a metal item with a handle. If you’re good in the kitchen you may want to pick this up and use it like a cookie cutter. You are close, but it’s not a cookie cutter. Instead it is used to cut comb honey. It is sized just right to cut comb to fit into the plastic provided containers. It’s a comb cutter. Remember if you are going to make comb, use the then rib comb foundation or no foundation at all. Even most wax foundation has embedded wire. This will not be tasty for your customers to bit into a wire.
Here’s one that is sure to stump the biggest beekeeping know-it-all. What is this? Looks confusing doesn’t it. Complicated. Hmmm… Do you know what it is?
It is another bee escape! It is called the Triangular Escape Board.
You will not believe how it works. What I’m about to tell you is unbelievable, but it is true and tested.  Bees would not be able to be NASCAR drivers because they don’t like to go left when faced with a wall. I’m not kidding. The way this escape works is that bees will easily walk out by taking right turns, but will not go back in through the openings. It is another way to clear out a super of all bees before taking it off. Amazing!  Bees are amazing aren’t they. Place it on the hive hive with the screen facing the brood area.
My last item looks a lot like a regular deep hive body. But notice some things are different. There are three sections to this deep hive body. Why would a deep hive body have three sections? We started making these last year and it continues to be a popular item. It is a deep hive body that has been converted into three sections to either be a queen mansion where you can raise three queens in one box or you can have 3 separate 3 frame nucs in one box.
Take a look at the inside. Notice each section is completely sealed off from the other so the queens and bees cannot make contact. Their entrances are unique to their compartment around the sides and back so that each section has its own entrance. Also, it has a screen bottom board and this is important for small nucs in the summer heat.


We would like to hear from you!  We’d like for you to call us and speak to our answering machine on Saturday or Sunday and either ask a question or tell us why you appreciate what we do and then we’ll play it on our next podcast! 217-427-2678. Just call any Saturday or Sunday and leave your name (first name and state) and your message or feel free to ask a question. We’ll answer all questions on our next podcast.

Here’s our contact information:

Call us at 217-427-2678  (8:30-4:30 Central time Mon. – Fri.)

Recorded questions or comments for podcasts: Call Sat. or Sun. anytime and leave your message to be played on our podcasts
Email us at: david@honeybeesonline.com
Mailing address: Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, 14556 N. 1020 E. Rd,
Fairmount, IL 61841
I no longer check my dburns@tswireless.net account so please only use david@honeybeesonline.com if you need to email me.
Take care and until next time, bee-have yourself!

David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms

No one wants to have a bad time and so do I. But I couldn't escape it when it comes to me. I have no idea to deal with it. One evening, my friends just arrived home as soon as I realized that I hadn't buy anything for the mentor family potluck party. I changed my clothes and rushed outside hoping I can make it but they prevented me from going because it was too late at night and I would go alone.

Terbaca sebuah post yang amat menyentuh sanubari ini. Tulisan salah seorang penggerak dakwah daripada sayap akhwat. Menceritakan tentang sebuah masalah yang menjadi dilema para akhwat sedari dahulu. Yakni hal jodoh. Diri ini terpanggil untuk membicarakan soal ini. Semoga penulisan ini mampu membawa sedikit pencerahan buat kita fikirkan bersama.

Lambakan Akhwat

Seperti yang dinukilkan di dalam blog akhwatmedic, sememangnya fenomena akhwat tidak menikah sedangkan usia semakin lanjut merupakan masalah yang sedari dahulu dialami oleh para akhwat dakwah, boleh dikatakan daripada mana-mana jemaah dakwah. Bukannya mereka ini tidak laku, namun kerana terdapat beberapa pertimbangan.

Menanti jodoh daripada kalangan ikhwah yang sefikrah. Dengan harapan dapat meneruskan perjuangan dakwah dengan lebih baik dan tidak terganggu. Kalau bernikah dengan lelaki yang bukan sefikrah, mereka tidak tahu bagaimana bentuk perjuangan yang kita perjuangkan. Bagaimana masa akhwat kita perlu pergunakan. Usrahnya, programnya, dan lain-lain. Mereka sukar untuk faham, sehingga gerakkan kita bakal terhambat. Apatah lagi jika pasangannya tidak ditarbiyah langsung. Jauh lebih huru-hara.

Lalu wujudlah keadaan seperti ‘resume’ permohonan nikah daripada pihak akhwat berganda-ganda daripada daripada ‘resume’ ikhwah. Sepengetahuan saya, pernah resume akhwat yang diterima adalah 18, tetapi di ikhwah cuma 4!!!

Dan juga kes-kes akhwat muda lebih cepat naik namanya untuk dijodohkan berbanding akhwat yang berusia.

Punca-Punca

Fenomena ini akan terus berlaku. Ini adalah sesuatu fakta yang perlu kita terima. Faktor-faktornya terkait rapat dengan keadaan umat manusia masa kini, terutamanya Umat Islam di Malaysia.

Masalah kebenaran keluarga

Kebiasaannya wanita lebih mudah mendapat kebenaran berbanding lelaki. Untuk lelaki lebih banyak pertimbangan yang dikenakan oleh keluarga. Perlu tunggu habis kuliah dahulu, tunggu ada kerja dahulu, tunggu bermacam itu dan ini lagi. Namun untuk wanita, biasanya lebih mudah untuk dibenarkan menikah. Bukan mereka yang perlu menghidupi keluarga, tetapi mereka yang akan dihidupi.

Wanita lebih ramai daripada lelaki

Statistik menunjukkan bilangan wanita sering melebihi bilangan lelaki di setiap peringkat.

Fenomena ini berlaku pada peringkat sekolah menengah lagi. Jika diamati Laporan Rancangan Malaysia ke-10 (RM Ke-10), pada tahun 2008 enrolmen lepasan sekolah menengah memang dikuasai pelajar wanita. Statistik menunjukkan 65.9 peratus enrolmen pelajar ialah wanita manakala lelaki hanya 34.1 peratus.

RM Ke-10 melaporkan, pada 2008 jumlah pemegang ijazah pertama dikuasai wanita iaitu 62.3 peratus berbanding lelaki 37.7 peratus. Pencapaian itu diperkukuhkan lagi dengan 52.7 peratus pemegang ijazah sarjana adalah wanita manakala lelaki 47.3 peratus.

Populasi wanita di dunia melebihi populasi lelaki. Di Amerika Syarikat, wanita melebihi lelaki sebanyak 7.8 juta. New York sahaja mempunyai jumlah wanita yang melebihi lelaki sebanyak 1 juta, dan daripada populasi lelaki yang berada di New York, 1/3 merupakan homoseksual. Amerika Syarikat secara keseluruhannya mempunyai lebih daripada 25 juta homoseksual dan lesbian. Ini bermakna golongan ini tidak berminat untuk mengahwini wanita. Wanita di Great Britain melebihi lelaki sebanyak 4 juta. Wanita Jerman melebihi lelaki sebanyak 5 juta. Wanita Rusia pula, melebihi lelaki sebanyak 9 juta. Hanya Tuhan sahaja yang tahu jumlah wanita di seluruh dunia yang melebihi jumlah lelaki.

Secara logiknya, jika populasi wanita lebih ramai daripada lelaki pada suatu-suatu masa, maka bilangan wanita yang akan ditarbiyah berbanding lelaki pasti akan lebih besar.

Solusi

Solusi yang diberikan oleh Chayadi Takriyawan di dalam bukunya Di Jalan Dakwah Aku Menikah sungguh menarik dan baik untuk diaplikasikan. Ikhwah-ikhwah yang telah mendapat kebenaran menikah ini sepatutnya mengedepankan keperluan dakwah yakni membantu akhwat-akhwat berusia yang telah lama menunggu ini berbanding memilih mengikut keinginan diri. Sungguh itu adalah sebuah pilhan yang baik dan membuktikan cintanya kepada pasangan bukan didasari rupa paras mahupun pandangan nafsu, tetapi atas dasar cinta kepada dakwah dan islam.

Namun maaf saya katakan, solusi itu tidak mampu menyelesaikan permasalahan pokok, bahkan permasalahan-permasalahan lain yang dihadapi kita sekarang, seperti yang dibincangkan di atas.

Biarpun ikhwah-ikhwah sanggup menikahi akhwat yang lebih senior, jarang sekali keluarganya membenarkan. Biarpun dapat, tetap sahaja nisbah bilangan akhwat kepada ikhwah masih berganda banyaknya. Lambakan akhwat masih akan berlaku.

Di dalam Islam ada pemecah solusi yang dibenarkan. Pemecahan solusi yang merupakan sebuah sunnah. Apakah ia?

Dan jika kamu takut tidak akan dapat berlaku adil terhadap (hak-hak) perempuan yang yatim (bilamana kamu mengawininya), maka kawinilah wanita-wanita (lain) yang kamu senangi : dua, tiga atau empat. Kemudian jika kamu takut tidak akan dapat berlaku adil, maka (kawinilah) seorang saja, atau budak-budak yang kamu miliki. Yang demikian itu adalah lebih dekat kepada tidak berbuat aniaya.

[Q.S. An-Nisaa’, 4:3]

POLIGAMI

Ya, inilah solusinya. Para akhwat perlu mengikhlaskan diri untuk merelakan suami beristeri lebih daripada satu. Dan bagi akhwat yang masih belum menikah, perlu mengikhlaskan diri jika ditakdirkan menjadi isteri yang kedua, ketiga atau yang keempat. Inilah solusi rabbani yang telah digarisi oleh Allah SWT sejak lebih 1400 tahun yang lalu lagi.

Permasalahan Poligami

Poligami tentu sahaja membawa dampak buruk seandainya contoh masyarakat sekarang yang menjadi rujukan kita. Masalah ketidakadilan, ketidakharmonian rumah tangga, cemburu dan sebagainya seringkali tergambar dalam fikiran kita. Namun pernah kita lihat bagaimana contoh yang dibawa oleh baginda Rasulullah SAW dan para sahabatnya? Jika kita cuba senaraikan, hampir tiada para sahabat baginda yang tidak berpoligami. Mereka berpoligami namun mereka membuktikan mereka berjaya membentuk keluarga bahagia yang diidamkan. Dan generasi bagindalah yang kita cuba contohi dan sememangnya kita diminta untuk mencontohi.

Sesungguhnya telah ada pada (diri) Rasulullah itu suri teladan yang baik bagimu (yaitu) bagi orang yang mengharap (rahmat) Allah dan (kedatangan) hari kiamat dan dia banyak menyebut Allah.

[Q.S. Al-Ahzab, 33:21]

Ketidakadilan

Kita mungkin mengharapkan keadilan daripada pihak lelaki yang berpoligami. Dan itu sememangnya dituntut dalam Islam. Bagaimana untuk berpoligami andai tidak berlaku adil. Namun perlu diingat, kita mengharapkan keadilan daripada seorang manusia. Satu makhluk yang punya kelemahan. Sejauh manapun dia cuba berlaku adil dalam urusan nafkah dan keperluan-keperluan lainnya, masih terdapat kesukaran dalam membahagikan perasaannya kepada isteri-isternya. Kerana itulah Allah berfirman kepada Rasulullah:

Dan kamu sekali-kali tidak akan dapat berlaku adil di antara isteri-isteri(mu), walaupun kamu sangat ingin berbuat demikian, karena itu janganlah kamu terlalu cenderung (kepada yang kamu cintai), sehingga kamu biarkan yang lain terkontang-kanting. Dan jika kamu mengadakan perbaikan dan memelihara diri (dari kecurangan), maka sesungguhnya Allah Maha Pengampun lagi Maha Penyayang.

[An-Nisaa’, 4:129]

Rasulullah SAW sendiri menyatakan bahwa Khadijah RA merupakan isterinya yang paling dicintainya. Kemudiannya Aisyah. Adakah pengakuan ini merupakan sebuah ketidakadilan? Bahkan Rasulullah tetap mampu menyikapi para isterinya dengan seadil-adilnya. Malahan, Allah SWT mengakui bahawa Rasulullah SAW adalah manusia yang paling sempurna. Bagaimana pula kita sebagai manusia biasa mampu berbuat lebih baik daripada Rasulullah SAW. Malah mengikut kesepakatan ulama-ulama fiqh, keadilan yang perlu diberikan oleh seorang suami kepada para isterinya hanyalah daripada sudut zahir sahaja, seperti masa, nafkah, pendidikan/tarbiyah dan lain-lain.

Sebagai seorang yang ditarbiyah, sudah pasti seorang ikhwah itu akan cuba bersikap adil semampunya, tetapi kita perlu cuba memahami ruang lingkup keterbatasan dirinya.

Cemburu

Soal cemburu bukanlah sesuatu yang perlu diketepikan. Jika namanya manusia, cemburu itu pasti hadir. Sirah sendiri menunjukkan para isteri Rasulullah SAW sendiri berasa cemburu antara satu sama lain. Ini lumrah kehidupan berpoligami. Soalnya di sini adalah bagaimana kita mahu mengkedepankan hal yang lebih utama melainkan hal-hal perasaan semata.

Kesimpulan : Mari Berlapang Dada dan Menerima Hakikat

Saya pasti, ramai yang kurang bersetuju dengan penyelesaian yang diberi, yakni poligami. Pelbagai alasan dan argumentasi bakal dikemukakan. Namun saya ingin mengajak kita agar mengikhlaskan hati, bersikap matang dan berfikir secara objektif dan rasional, bukan emosional.

Poligami merupakan salah satu daripda syariat Allah SWT yang termaktub di dalam Al-Quran. Setiap daripada syariat Allah pasti punya hikmahnya yang tersendiri. Dan pastinya apabila syariat ini dijalani secara benar dan baik sesuai dengan keperluan dan tempatnya, psatinya hikmahnya akan tersingkap.

Allah SWT Maha Mengetahui apa yang bakal terjadi kepada umat akhir zamannya. Fenomena wanita lebih ramai daripada lelaki ini pasti punya solusinya. Dan perbahasan di atas telah menjawab permasalahannya. Tinggal kita sama ada ingin menyikapinya dengan terbuka mahupun persepsi. Hakikatnya poligami sememangnya syariat Allah SWT dan bilangan wanita sememangnya jauh lebih ramai daripada lelaki.

Saya yakin, mereka yang niatnya ikhlas dalam menegakkan agama suci ini pasti mampu membuktikan bahawa syariat Allah SWT merupakan sesuatu yang indah untuk diamalkan, dan dicontohkan kepada masyarakat. Syariat Allah ditentang kerana pembawanya yang tidak berlaku sesuai perintah-Nya. Islam seringkali ditolak kerana buruknya sikap penganutnya. Namun ia tidak akan pernah mengubah hakikat bahawa Islam itu sendiri adalah agama yang benar dan fitrah buat sekalian manusia.

Kepada ikhwah-ikhwahku, ana menyeru antum semua untuk berpoligami. Tetapi tentu, bukan tanpa mengambil kira kesan buruk yang mungkin terjadi. Sebelum melaksanakannya, kita perlulah benar-benar mengikhlaskan hati untuk melaksanakan poligami sesuai dengan sunnah Rasulullah SAW dan para sahabatnya yang mulia, dengan satu niat yang jelas. Mencari redha Allah SWT semata. Kita melakukannya demi membuktikan bahawa Islam mensyariatkan sesuatu yang baik, benar dan tepat. Kerana selama ini poligami dipandang serong kerana dilaksanakan oleh orang-orang yang tidak memahami Islam dan hanya menurut hawa nafsu semata. Masalah kemampuan sebenarnya boleh diusahakan.

Kepada akhwat-akhwatku, insya-Allah jalan penyelesaiannya ada. Tinggal sebuah pertanyaan, bagaimanakah kalian menyikapinya? Jika benar antunna bersimpati dan ingin membantu akhwat-akhwat lain, maka inilah masanya! Mari Berlapang Dada dan Menerima Hakikat!

~End Of Post~

I'm in Baltimore to attend the annual meeting of the Society for the Scientific Study of Religion (SSSR). I will try to post about some of the talks at the meeting. Our panel is tomorrow (Friday) - on Creationism in Europe. I will update soon.

In the mean time, here is a reliably interesting article by our friend, Scott Atran, How to turn the Taliban against Al-Qaeeda from yesterday's NYT. (Also see Scott Atran's Science & Religion lecture video: For Friends and Faith) Perhaps, the most interesting part of the article suggests that, because of the recent troops surge, many of the traditional Taliban leaders have been killed and replaced by very young, and far-more unpredictable commanders. In fact, this has even disrupted the traditional tribal code that binds many of the Taliban groups:

The United States claims to have killed thousands of Taliban in recent months, mostly foot soldiers and midlevel commanders. But those 25-year-old foot soldiers are being replaced by teenage fighters, and the 35-year-old midlevel commanders by 20-something students straight out of the religious schools called madrasas, which are the only form of education available in many rural areas.

These younger commanders and their fiercely loyal fighters are increasingly removed from the dense networks of tribal kinship and patronage, or qawm, and especially of friendship born of common experiences, or andiwali, that bind together the top figures in the established insurgent groups like the Quetta Shura and the Haqqani network. Indeed, it is primarily through andiwali — overlapping bonds of family, schooling, years together in camps, combat service, business partnership — that talks between the adversaries, including representatives of Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, and Mullah Omar, the Taliban’s ultimate leader, have continued over the years.

These new Taliban warriors, however, are increasingly independent, ruthless and unwilling to compromise with foreign infidels and their associates. They yearn to fight, and describe battle as going on vacation from the long, boring interludes of training and waiting between engagements. They claim they will fight to the death as long as any foreign soldiers remain, even if only in military bases.

AS with the older Taliban, their ideology — a peculiar blend of pan-Islamic Shariah law and Pashtun customs — is “not for sale,” as one leader told a Times reporter. But the new cohort increasingly decides how these beliefs are imposed on the ground: recently the Quetta Shura sent a Muslim scholar to chastise a group of youthful commanders in Paktia Province who were not following Mullah Omar’s directives; they promptly killed him.

It is hard to imagine that things can be worse for Afghanistan than the civil war that ensued after the Soviet forces withdrew from the region. To a certain degree it is almost surreal that we are talking about the old order of the Taliban as the more stable one and are dreading the new fragmented Taliban (please note that the term Taliban already denotes multiple groups on both sides of the Afghan-Pakistan border). So Atran's main message is to hold talks and drive a wedge between the traditional Taliban factions (Mullah Omar, the Haqqani group) and Al Qaeeda. This is actually quite possible - partly because the number of Al Qaeeda operatives has decreased significantly and the fact that Mullah Omar was never happy with Bin Laden (this has been actually documented by several people). Here is Atran addressing the latter part:

So why hold talks at all? Because there is a good chance that the Taliban can be persuaded to cut ties with Al Qaeda and offer some sort of guarantee that President Karzai won’t be left hanging from a lamppost when the Americans leave (as President Muhammad Najibullah, the puppet Afghan leader of the 1980s, was after the Soviets fled). The veteran correspondent Arnaud de Borchgrave recently told me that when he met with Mullah Omar shortly before 9/11, he was “stunned by the hostility” the mullah expressed for Osama bin Laden.

Indeed, there is strong evidence that in the late 1990s Mullah Omar tried to crack down on Mr. bin Laden’s activities — confiscating his cellphone, putting him under house arrest and forbidding him to talk to the press or issue fatwas. But then, as the Taliban were deliberating about how to “disinvite” their troublesome guest after 9/11, the United States invaded, bombing them into a closer alliance with Al Qaeda.

Likewise, it should be possible to drive a wedge between Al Qaeda and the Haqqanis. The group’s leader, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was once called “goodness personified” by Representative Charlie Wilson, the great patron of the Afghan mujahedeen. During the Soviet occupation, he was a principal conduit of funds between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence and the Islamic rebels, and remains a key link between Pakistan and the Afghan Taliban.

But instead of waiting, Atran believes that the time for negotiations is right now:

The smarter move would be to turn the current shadow-play about talks into serious negotiations right now. The older Taliban leaders might well drop their support for Osama bin Laden if Western troops were no longer there to unite them. The Haqqanis, too, are exclusively interested in their homeland, not global jihad, and will discard anyone who interferes in their lives. No Haqqanis joined Al Qaeda before 9/11, because they couldn’t stand Arabs telling them how to pray and fight.

The problem now, for the Taliban leaders, the Afghan government, its Western backers and Pakistan, is that the main “success” of the recent surge — killing thousands of Taliban foot soldiers and midlevel commanders — may create a whirlwind that no one will be able to control.

Read the full article here. Also, read this earlier post, Atran on Afghanistan-Pakistan Problem.

Hampshire College has launched a Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS). I will, of course, keep you informed about any events associated with the center. Here is the press-release:

Hampshire College Announces Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies 

AMHERST, Mass., Oct. 27 (AScribe Newswire) -- A center for academic research and scholarship related to science in Muslim societies has been established at Hampshire College.

         While research centers and academic programs for general study of Islam and Muslim societies exist at other colleges and universities, the Hampshire center is unique in its approach and focus on science, says Salman Hameed.

         Professor Hameed, who teaches integrated sciences and humanities and has been working on understanding the reception of biological evolution in the Muslim world, has been named director of the new Center for the Study of Science in Muslim Societies (SSiMS) at Hampshire College.

         "There is an increasingly urgent need for understanding and education about Islam and Muslim societies," said Hameed. "This is perhaps the only center focused on examination of intersections and interactions between science and Muslim societies, (both in Muslim-majority countries and in Muslim diasporas in the West). It will bring together scholars working across disciplines on a significant set of questions and issues."

         At a time when science is becoming increasingly important in everyday life and for economic development, it is important to understand how it is understood and taught, and the role it plays in various Muslim societies, where religion plays a significant cultural role, Hameed said. "This relationship with science is complex, and increasingly so, as science is freighted with issues of colonialism, modernity and progress, as well as moral and religious implications."

         SSiMS builds on and extends work already being completed at the college, which is a member of Massachusetts' distinguished Five College consortium (Hampshire, Amherst, Mt. Holyoke, Smith Colleges, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst).

         Hampshire College hosted an international conference on Darwin and Evolution in the Muslim World in fall 2009. A separate research project, funded by the National Science Foundation and being conducted by professors at Hampshire, Northeastern, and McGill University, is studying the acceptance of biological evolution and perspectives on science and religion among Muslim physicians and medical students in eight different countries. An ongoing Science and Religion lecture series at Hampshire brings top scholars to campus to speak on a wide variety of issues, with some of the lectures related to Islam and science.

         SSiMS research will be interdisciplinary, with a mission of building knowledge and understanding of how social, political, historical, and religious factors influence- and are influenced by - the methodologies and findings of science. Perspectives from science, the humanities, and social science will be integrated, with scholars working across fields.

         One goal of SSiMS is expanded course offerings in collaboration with faculty across the consortium, which offers a Five College Certificate Program in Middle Eastern studies. Another goal is to host young research fellows in a variety of fields who are interested in the study of science in muslim societies.

         "The center will build on Hampshire's existing strengths in science education and our interdisciplinary approach to research and pedagogy," said Hameed.  

For contact information, check out the press-release.

I'm back in the States, but Turkey is still on my mind. So first, here is an oped in yesterday's NYT: Turkey Steps Out. As usual, this is a calm and measured piece by Roger Cohen, looking at Turkey's foreign policy as pragmatic and perhaps very successful:

 Zero problems with neighbors lay at the core of Davutoglu’s influential book “Strategic Depth,” published in 2001. Annual trade with Russia has since soared to $40 billion. Syrian-Turkish relations have never been better. Turkey’s commercial sway over northern Iraq is overwhelming. It has signed a free trade agreement with Jordan. And now Turkey says it aims — United Nations sanctions notwithstanding — to triple trade with Iran over the next five years.

All this makes the anemic West edgy: The policy has produced 7 percent growth this year. There’s also something deeper at work: The idea of economic interdependence as a basis for regional peace and stability sounds awfully familiar. Wasn’t that the genius of the European Union idea?

Which prompts another question: Can it only work for Westerners? I don’t think so. And, having shortsightedly kept Turkey out of the European Union, the West is scarcely qualified to complain. As British Prime Minister David Cameron, Turkey’s strongest European supporter, said recently, “It is just wrong to say that Turkey can guard the camp but not be allowed to sit in the tent.”

Wrong indeed, and stupid, but that’s where Turkey is, with at least a foot outside the Western tent, and increasingly proud of what it has achieved in a transformed world. Nations have increasing options. They don’t depend as much on the United States. Congress can rail about that and it won’t change a thing. Turkish foreign policy, Davutoglu said, “is based on a realistic, rational analysis of the strategic picture.” Yep.

Read the full article here.

And then here is Hurriyet's article on the call for autonomy for the Turkey's top religious authority:

Turkey’s highest religious authority requires autonomy in order to continue to exist within an officially secular state government, its top official has said.

“The solution is to allow the religious institution to be autonomous. Turkey is ready for that,” Professor Ali Bardakoğlu, the head of the country’s Religious Affairs Directorate, told daily Radikal’s Ahmet İnsel, an atheist, in an interview published in the paper’s Saturday and Sunday editions.

As far as  I understand it, this is a bold move within the Turkish political system. Now there is a discussion of the toleration of other religious sects within Turkey, but then the teaching of evolution shows up in the interview. This again shows that, unlike other places in the Muslim world, the teaching of evolution has become a political/ideological battleground. The response from Bardakoğlu, unfortunately, is a bit wishy-washy. He could have just said that look, evolution is a scientific idea - like thermodynamics or plate-tectonics, and lets not mix science with religion. End of story. Instead, here is his response:

On the subject on evolution, Bardakoğlu said it could be taught in schools, but as a theory rather than scientific fact. Classes should deal with evolutionary theory and Darwinism not as an ideology but as a way that some people think.

Okay - so in the larger scheme of things, this is a relatively more reasonable statement than many of the Republican candidates in the US are making about evolution. Nevertheless, by bringing up the classic creationist trope, "evolution is just a theory", he leaves the political aspects of the debate alive. Look at the following statements:

“Evolutionary theory [and religion] should never be pitted against each other,” he said.

According to Bardakoğlu, a religious person always prefers religious knowledge over scientific knowledge when they are in conflict, but Islam has never blocked the path of science and progress.

“The purpose of religious knowledge is not making sure you produce more electricity or get better [medical] treatment,” he said. “It is to make a wide and metaphysical explanation of what goes on in this limited area of ours.”

Right - so just say that Islam and evolution should never be pitted against each other - and stop there. Yes, leave scientific matters to science - and I hope next time, Bardakoğlu focuses more on his last two sentences above. May be there is hope...

Read the full article here.

As much as a week before the marathon I wasn't sure I'd be able to run it. I had developed a nagging hip flexor strain that wasn't improving with time or rest or advil or ice. In fact, the discomfort (which had spread to my quad and my knee) got so bad it woke me up out of a sound sleep a week before the race.

I lay in bed and brought myself to tears thinking that all of this training and hard work would be wasted. But what brought on a rush of tears was the possibility that my sweet little girls wouldn't see their mommy cross the finish line. I wanted them to be proud of me, to see what hard work can accomplish. I envisioned my 25th mile, knowing that Ava and Anna in their sweet little voices would be cheering for me. I was crushed to think that wouldn't happen.

I steadied my breathing and as quickly as the tears came on, they stopped. I had a different realization.

Teaching my girls how to handle disappointment was just as valuable a lesson as crossing the finish line of a marathon. 


I felt peaceful as I mulled this realization over. I had been perceiving my injury as a personal failure. I had done something wrong, wasn't careful enough, wasn't "strong" enough to just run through it. I messed up.

In my mind, not running=failed.

I worked over the next several days on two things:

1. Receiving treatment on my injury from a sports-related physician.
2. Changing my perception and accepting that not running was not failing.

To help with #2, I asked myself these questions, "How would you want your daughters to feel if this were them? How would you want them to react? What advice would you give them?"

And this is how I answered it:

I would want them to feel peaceful. I would want them to not be discouraged and to not be hard on themselves. I would want them to love themselves and get the care and the rest that they need, trust in God's plan, and surrender the outcome. I would want them to smile big and say to themselves, as they say now when milk spills or the last bite of cake drops on the floor, "well, sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles." 

We all know how this story ends. I ran the marathon. Fast. I crossed the finish line.

And there, waiting for me at the end were two of the most beautiful and kind and sensitive and sweet little girls I have ever met in my life.

I am quite sure that surrendering the outcome (and having more tape on my body than a piece of Ava's artwork) had something to do with my readiness to run. I am resting the injury now, which isn't an easy thing to do. But I know I will be stronger on the other side of it and I am looking forward to moving my body in different ways while it heals and gaining new perspectives along the way.

Considering the pain and fear and challenges and illnesses that too many people are dealing with today, writing about a hip flexor injury seems rather insensitive. As does the disappointment of my daughters not seeing me cross a finish line. Whoopdeedoo.

But the underlying realizations it prompted in me--acceptance, gratitude, selflessness-- will have much wider and deeper application in my life. I promise you that.

This is a weekly post by Nidhal Guessoum (see his earlier posts here). Nidhal is an astrophysicist and Professor of Physics at American University of Sharjah

After 9/11, and especially after 7/7 (the London subway bombings) and other such striking terrorist acts, European governments came to the conclusion that Islam is now a reality in the west that cannot be ignored (millions of Muslims – each – in France, Germany, UK, etc.); moreover, while “integration” of Muslims into the western culture is a process that may not have succeeded much, one important factor that drew the attention of everyone was that the religious leaders for Muslims in Europe overwhelmingly come from the countries of the “immigrants”. Furthermore, indigenous European Muslims, though a small minority among the Muslim communities of Europe (for instance, in the UK there are only about 60,000 converts among the millions of Muslims), find themselves having to live a new socio-cultural life, in an environment that is characterized par a different language (Arabic, Urdu, Turkish) and different social norms.

The European governments thus moved to create a “European Islam”, by forming supervising bodies, task forces, institutes of Islam, etc., in the aim of developing a home-grown Islamic culture that would be more consistent with the (western) values of modernity, secularism, etc.

The French government created the CFCM (Conseil Français du Culte Musulman) and has recently set up the Institut des Cultures d’Islam, among other such ventures. Tony Blair in 2005 formed a governmental taskforce to examine the roots of Islamic extremism in the UK (with the now-famous and undeservedly controversial Tariq Ramadan invited to be a member). And now the German government (the Education Ministry) has announced that imams will be formed in theology departments of German universities.

One should note right away, that this is a significant development, not just at the socio-political level, but at the religious and academic levels too. Germany has long had a tradition of theological studies (as Pope Benedict XVI reminded us – in a very unfortunate way – a few years ago with his lecture at the University of Regensburg). Germany’s secularism is much softer than France’s, where it would be unimaginable for the government to set up (and pay for) a curriculum of education of imams, or any religious program. As the German president himself put it, “if Islam is (now) part of Germany, so it is part of German universities…” Indeed, Osnabrueck University has just opened a course for imams, with 30 students. The universities of Tuebingen and Muenster plan to launch training centers for imams a year from now; they both currently offer courses on Islam, but only as academic subjects, not as part of a training curriculum.

I cannot emphasize enough how important this may be for the religious culture of Islam. Indeed, imams have almost invariably been trained in special “seminaries”, not at universities, certainly not universities where free inquiry and debate are the prime rule. For instance, I wonder whether the “historical, critical” studies of the Qur’an (such as the Corpus Coranicum project, which was started in 2007 by the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities) will be part of any such curriculum. I also wonder how much modern science will be part of the curriculum and how much of an effect it will have on the theological paradigm the imams will be carrying and preaching.

How imams fully imbued with the western academic culture will view their religious tradition and their roles in their communities will be extremely interesting to watch. Already we can witness “culture wars” in Europe between Muslim scholars who want to uphold the traditional ideas and social norms and the new religious thinkers who have digested the western approach and the necessity to adapt to the multi-cultural and open landscape, not to mention the minority status of their community.

In addition to this, in some European countries (including Germany), the state’s curriculum includes religious education to all pupils who desire it, divided into parallel classes for Protestants, Catholics, Jews, and – in principle – Muslims. For the latter, however, not only does the state not have even a fraction of the teachers needed for such a task, but the community has rarely, if ever, requested it, preferring to provide its own religious education to its children, one that would be devised by the local religious leaders, who almost invariably come from “back home”; in the case of Germany they are, surprisingly enough, most often appointed and paid by the Turkish government.

The religious scholar Rauf Ceylan, whose Kurdish parents came from Anatolia, recently published a book in Germany examining the role of imams in the country (The Preachers of Islam: Imams -- Who They Are and What They Really Want). He stresses that "ultimately, they [the imams] will determine whether young Muslims will endorse a liberal, conservative, or extremist Islam [in Germany/Europe]."

I'm at the Istanbul airport - reading about UFO sightings as the front-page story of Hurriyet - Daily News (a mainstream newspaper). No - don't worry, there is nothing new. A retired Turkish General was recalling an event from 1983. Too bad, they again left without a trace.

By the way, I also missed an opportunity to visit The International UFO Museum in Istanbul. I've been to the museum in Roswell, so I wanted to get this international flavor. Next time.

In the mean time, here is the UFO story from Hurriyet:

Calling up a live television show Saturday during a heated debate about UFOs, Retired Gen. Erdoğan Karakuş said he and seven other pilots experienced a UFO encounter over the western province of Balıkesir in May 1983.

The UFOs were levitating using an unknown technique, Karakuş said, explaining that he was part of a group of eight pilots flying four Turkish jets to the southern city of Adana for a drill when one of the men spotted something in the air.

“[He] said, ‘I saw some objects, what I should do?’ and I said, ‘It may be a plane signaling for help; I am connecting to the Balıkesir frequency,’” the retired general said. “The flight-control tower in Balıkesir said it did not have any flights [listed]. I thought it might have been a civilian plane.”

The objects accompanied the pilots for 15 minutes as they passed from Balıkesir to the Aegean city of Denizli, Karakuş said, adding that he warned another pilot who wanted to fly toward them not to do so after deciding the objects did not look like planes.

“One of my friends meanwhile turned his [plane’s] lights off. This time [the UFOs] got close to the third plane. They moved on to the second one when the third one also turned its lights off,” Karakuş said, adding that when he looked to his left at that moment, he could not see anything other than a yellow beam of light.

“They moved to my left side when I also turned my [plane’s] lights off, the retired general said, adding that shortly afterwards, four to five lights resembling plane lights appeared. “Then they disappeared with a sudden [maneuver].”

Karakuş said the control towers at airports in Ankara, Istanbul and Konya also detected the UFOs that night. “We reported [the incident] and it was probably sent to NASA.”

By the way, I don't want to simply dismiss this whole experience. It is entirely possible that these pilots saw lights or something else. But again, the fallacy is jumping from unexplained experience to the claim of physical alien spacecrafts. For the latter claim to be credible, such an anecdotal evidence is simply not enough.

P.S. This is a note to those aliens who read this blog: Please quit playing with us. If you are visiting us, please, please, send us a credible signal to those searching for ET signals - may be close to the 1420MHz  hydrogen line. You are also welcome to make an exclusive announcement of your presence/existence on this blog. After all, your existence may lead to some theological reworkings in some of the world religions. Thanks.

At a recent talk, I had a slide that basic said that humans are a story-telling animal. This was just an aside as I was discussing humanity's attempts to answer questions about our origins - from earlier mythologies to modern science. During the Q&A, one person took exception to this and didn't like the fact that I had degraded humans to the level of animals. But I don't think this is a degradation as I see this as a wonderful connection with other species. Heck - our bodies are made up of similar elements and the same molecule drives life in all species on Earth - which I think is pretty cool! We all love it when it is pointed out that that we are all made of star-stuff. Well, guess what? All other animals are also made of the same star stuff - so we are all equally cool! 

I'm about to leave Istanbul, and I thought I'll leave you with an excellent and thoughtful recent article by Frans de Waal that emphasizes this connection and talks about the good in animals. I will only highlight one aspect of the article, but if you have time, you should read the whole article, Morals Without God? (also also check out the lecture by Barbara J. King, Gorillas and God):

Five centuries later, we remain embroiled in debates about the role of religion in society. As in Bosch’s days, the central theme is morality. Can we envision a world without God? Would this world be good? Don’t think for one moment that the current battle lines between biology and fundamentalist Christianity turn around evidence. One has to be pretty immune to data to doubt evolution, which is why books and documentaries aimed at convincing the skeptics are a waste of effort. They are helpful for those prepared to listen, but fail to reach their target audience. The debate is less about the truth than about how to handle it. For those who believe that morality comes straight from God the creator, acceptance of evolution would open a moral abyss.

Echoing this view, Reverend Al Sharpton opined in a recent videotaped debate: “If there is no order to the universe, and therefore some being, some force that ordered it, then who determines what is right or wrong? There is nothing immoral if there’s nothing in charge.” Similarly, I have heard people echo Dostoevsky’s Ivan Karamazov, exclaiming that “If there is no God, I am free to rape my neighbor!”

Perhaps it is just me, but I am wary of anyone whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior. Why not assume that our humanity, including the self-control needed for livable societies, is built into us? Does anyone truly believe that our ancestors lacked social norms before they had religion? Did they never assist others in need, or complain about an unfair deal? Humans must have worried about the functioning of their communities well before the current religions arose, which is only a few thousand years ago. Not that religion is irrelevant — I will get to this — but it is an add-on rather than the wellspring of morality.

...

If we consider our species without letting ourselves be blinded by the technical advances of the last few millennia, we see a creature of flesh and blood with a brain that, albeit three times larger than a chimpanzee’s, doesn’t contain any new parts. Even our vaunted prefrontal cortex turns out to be of typical size: recent neuron-counting techniques classify the human brain as a linearly scaled-up monkey brain.[2] No one doubts the superiority of our intellect, but we have no basic wants or needs that are not also present in our close relatives. I interact on a daily basis with monkeys and apes, which just like us strive for power, enjoy sex, want security and affection, kill over territory, and value trust and cooperation. Yes, we use cell phones and fly airplanes, but our psychological make-up remains that of a social primate. Even the posturing and deal-making among the alpha males in Washington is nothing out of the ordinary.

And here is the bit about animal empathy:

Even though altruistic behavior evolved for the advantages it confers, this does not make it selfishly motivated. Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals. For example, animals engage in sex without knowing its reproductive consequences, and even humans had to develop the morning-after pill. This is because sexual motivation is unconcerned with the reason why sex exists. The same is true for the altruistic impulse, which is unconcerned with evolutionary consequences. It is this disconnect between evolution and motivation that befuddled the Veneer Theorists, and made them reduce everything to selfishness. The most quoted line of their bleak literature says it all: “Scratch an ‘altruist,’ and watch a ‘hypocrite’ bleed.”[3]

It is not only humans who are capable of genuine altruism; other animals are, too. I see it every day. An old female, Peony, spends her days outdoors with other chimpanzees at the Yerkes Primate Center’s Field Station. On bad days, when her arthritis is flaring up, she has  trouble walking and climbing, but other females help her out. For example, Peony is huffing and puffing to get up into the climbing frame in which several apes have gathered for a grooming session. An unrelated younger female moves behind her, placing both hands on her ample behind and pushes her up with quite a bit of effort, until Peony has joined the rest.

We have also seen Peony getting up and slowly move towards the water spigot, which is at quite a distance. Younger females sometimes run ahead of her, take in some water, then return to Peony and give it to her. At first, we had no idea what was going on, since all we saw was one female placing her mouth close to Peony’s, but after a while the pattern became clear: Peony would open her mouth wide, and the younger female would spit a jet of water into it.

Such observations fit the emerging field of animal empathy, which deals not only with primates, but also with canines, elephants, even rodents. A typical example is how chimpanzees console distressed parties, hugging and kissing them, which behavior is so predictable that scientists have analyzed thousands of cases. Mammals are sensitive to each other’s emotions, and react to others in need. The whole reason people fill their homes with furry carnivores and not with, say, iguanas and turtles, is because mammals offer something no reptile ever will. They give affection, they want affection, and respond to our emotions the way we do to theirs.

And here is the religion connection, and he is referring to several studies that suggest a sense of fairness in other animals: 

Such findings have implications for human morality. According to most philosophers, we reason ourselves towards a moral position. Even if we do not invoke God, it is still a top-down process of us formulating the principles and then imposing those on human conduct. But would it be realistic to ask people to be considerate of others if we had not already a natural inclination to be so? Would it make sense to appeal to fairness and justice in the absence of powerful reactions to their absence? Imagine the cognitive burden if every decision we took needed to be vetted against handed-down principles. Instead, I am a firm believer in the Humean position that reason is the slave of the passions. We started out with moral sentiments and intuitions, which is also where we find the greatest continuity with other primates. Rather than having developed morality from scratch, we received a huge helping hand from our background as social animals.

At the same time, however, I am reluctant to call a chimpanzee a “moral being.” This is because sentiments do not suffice. We strive for a logically coherent system, and have debates about how the death penalty fits arguments for the sanctity of life, or whether an unchosen sexual orientation can be wrong. These debates are uniquely human. We have no  evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not affect themselves. The great pioneer of morality research, the Finn Edward Westermarck, explained what makes the moral emotions special: “Moral emotions are disconnected from one’s immediate situation: they deal with good and bad at a more abstract, disinterested level.” This is what sets human morality apart: a move towards universal standards combined with an elaborate system of justification, monitoring and punishment.

At this point, religion comes in. Think of the narrative support for compassion, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, or the challenge to fairness, such as the Parable of the Workers in the Vineyard, with its famous conclusion “The last will be first, and the first will be last.” Add to this an almost Skinnerian fondness of reward and punishment — from the virgins to be met in heaven to the hell fire that awaits sinners — and the exploitation of our desire to be “praiseworthy,” as Adam Smith called it. Humans are so sensitive to public opinion that we only need to see a picture of two eyes glued to the wall to respond with good behavior, which explains the image in some religions of an all-seeing eye to symbolize an omniscient God.

...

Other primates have of course none of these problems, but even they strive for a certain kind of society. For example, female chimpanzees have been seen to drag reluctant males towards each other to make up after a fight, removing weapons from their hands, and high-ranking males regularly act as impartial arbiters to settle disputes in the community. I take these hints of community concern as yet another sign that the building blocks of morality are older than humanity, and that we do not need God to explain how we got where we are today. On the other hand, what would happen if we were able to excise religion from society? I doubt that science and the naturalistic worldview could fill the void and become an inspiration for the good. Any framework we develop to advocate a certain moral outlook is bound to produce its own list of principles, its own prophets, and attract its own devoted followers, so that it will soon look like any old religion.

Read the full article here.

After the longest journey I'd never taken before, finally I arrived in a nice apartment complex which would then become my home away from home. I was actually supposed to go out and feel this new world I've just reached. However, I was soooo sleepy because I couldn't sleep well during my flight. So, while the sun shined brightly outside I went to have a good night sleep. Several hours later I

Hello from David & Sheri Burns at Long Lane Honey Bee Farms in central Illinois. In today’s lesson, Sheri will be giving insights into cooking with honey. Now that it’s fall and the holidays are approaching and holiday meals to plan out, why not spice things up with some honey?
Then I’ll share some techniques to mouse proof your hives. Mice in the hive can be a real problem, so be sure to put up a good defense. You can have great bees that are healthy and ready for winter, but the mice can take them out.
We are in the news again. FULL ARTICLE
 








In this photo I’m talking with Dr. Jeff Harris of the USDA BEE LAB at Baton Rouge, La.  Dr. Stu Jacobson, Phil Raines and myself continue to lead the way for the Illinois Queen Initiative, a program designed to promote the development and adoption of disease and mite resistant honey bees and queens that survive well and are productive under Illinois conditions. We had our yearly meeting at the Grand Bear Lodge in northern Illinois over the weekend and we enjoyed Dr. Jeff Harris as our main speaker. Jeff first worked on the Suppress Mite Reproduction (SMR) honey bee along with Dr. Harbo, which are now called VSH, Varroa Sensitive Hygienic bees. These bees are able to detect mites under sealed brood and remove the mite infested pupa. Jeff continues to preserve and research the VSH queens.



LESSON 84: FALL COOKING WITH HONEY & MOUSE PROOFING YOUR HIVE FOR WINTE
Hi, it’s Sheri and I want to talk to you about cooking with honey.
Don’t you just love this time of year? The leaves are turning brilliant colors, pumpkins and colorful gourds adorn porches, the fields are being harvested and the sky is crystal blue and the air crisp. You, the beekeeper, have just finished extracting that liquid gold. You have gallons of it. What do you do with it now? Sure, you know it’s great in your coffee, tea, and toast, but what else?
October autumns are a great time to talk about cooking with honey. This time of year comes with lots of special treats like apple cider, pumpkin pie and caramel apples. Some of our most favorite foods for this season can easily be made with honey. Any recipe that calls for sugar can be substituted with honey. It isn’t an exact ratio, i.e.: if your recipe calls for ½ cup sugar, then you use ½ cup honey. But with a little tinkering, or a really good cookbook, you can make delicious fall-time foods.
Honey, in its unadulterated, raw, pure state is a superior food. It is all natural, loaded with great enzymes and antioxidants (as long as it’s not heated up), tastes sweeter, and makes foods more moist. Foods made with honey also last longer and freeze nicely.
Give the trick-or treating kiddies a treat with these popcorn balls:
¾ c sugar
1 tsp salt
½ c water
¾ c honey
3 quarts popcorn
Cook sugar, salt and water (stir until sugar is dissolved) to a very brittle stage of 300 degrees. Add honey slowly, stirring until blended. Cook again until thermometer registers 240 degrees. Pour over popcorn and form into balls. Wrap in heavy waxed paper.
Who doesn’t love pumpkin pie? Piled high with whipped cream, it is the symbol of autumn. Try this one at your next gathering:
½ c dry milk powder
½ tsp ground ginger
1-1/2 c cooked pumpkin
1-1/4 c water
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3 eggs beaten
1/3 c honey
Mix dry ingredients. Add pumpkin, eggs, water, honey and vanilla. Pour into unbaked pie shell, bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 30 – 35 minutes longer.
Baked Boneless turkey breast
Boneless Turkey breast
½-1 c honey
breading of your choice
Pound turkey breast until thickness desired. Roll in honey. Coat with breading. Bake or fry as desired.
Turkey marinade
½ c honey
½ c brown sugar
2 tbs mustard
½ c ketchup
Juice of 1 lemon, or orange
¼ c olive oil
Mix all ingredients. Feel free to add other ingredients as you wish, such as salt, pepper, parsley, onion flakes and chives. The more the merrier when it comes to marinade.
This is great grilled!!
Experiment with honey instead of sugar in your favorite wheat bread recipe. Chocolate chip cookies made with honey instead of sugar are moister and keep longer. Add it to Greek yogurt or drizzled over ice cream. Heat up a mug of spiced cider with honey. Experiment this winter with your fudge and candy recipes. Whatever you do, it’s good!
Thanks Sheri, and now you know why I have to run 3 miles a day to stay in shape. Sheri is certain one day to have her own cooking show.
While Sheri’s been cooking great fall treats, I’ve been working out in the bee yard getting the hives to bed for winter. One of my “must do” chores is to secure the hives against mice. Why do mice love hives so much? A hive is a cozy winter shelter and bees and honey makes for a nice snack on cold winter days.
Occasionally, mice co-exist and do not bother the winter cluster of bees. However, that usually is not the case. It is more common for mice to chew up comb, eat honey, bees, and pollen, then eventual kill the hive. Mice will urinate on the combs which will discourage the bees from using that comb again. Comb that has been chewed by mice is usually repaired by the bees, but made into drone sized cells.
Mice will use hives to raise their young, usually nesting on the bottom board and slightly up into the comb. If the bees remain healthy through the winter, they will take revenge on the mice in the spring and run the mice out of the hive. 10 – 20 stings will kill a mouse. But during the winter, bees are too cold to defend the hive against the mice. I’ve heard some say that in the spring if a hive cannot remove a dead mouse from the hive they will mummify the mouse with propolis, encasing it to prevent any bacterial growth in the hive.
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. So now is the time to keep the mice out. The most effective way to prevent mice from entering the hive is to restrict the entrance.  Entrance reducers (cleats) substantially reduce the entrance restricting mice from entering. Choose the smallest size opening on your entrance reducer. There are many different styles of mice guards for hives. Some are made of metal and have small round holes where the bees can go in and out, but the holes are too small for mice.
When do you restrict the entrance? When nights get cold and fields are harvested, mice seek new shelter, so here in Illinois we have to place our reducers on the hive late September or early October.
WARNING: Be sure a mouse is not already in your hive before you restrict the entrance. You may have to choose a warm day and lift up the hive from the bottom board and verify that no mice are in the hive. They will hide between frames.

So be disciplined. Protect your hives from mice and enjoy your honey crop in some good fall food.
Hope you can join us here on December 3rd for our 2 hour course mentioned above. We’d love to meet you.
Bee-have yourself!
OUR WEBSITE: www.honeybeesonline.com
David & Sheri Burns
Long Lane Honey Bee Farms
14556 N. 1020 E. Rd
Fairmount, IL 61841
217-427-2678 or email us at: david@honeybeesonline.com