- Title
- Our state
-
-
- Date
- June 1999
-
-
- Place
- ["North Carolina, United States"]
-
Our state
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tar heel profile
by Ralph Grizzle
photography by William Watts
Dance of the Worker Bee
In Moravian Falls, Steve and Sandy Forrest,
owners of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm, marvel at the most miraculous of all insects.
If you're beginning to think that life
is short on miracles, you should
talk to Steve and Sandy Forrest.
Owners of Brushy Mountain Bee Farm,
eight miles up a winding ribbon of
road from Wilkesboro. Steve and Sandy
live daily with miracles. These aren’t
the types of miracles you’re apt to see
on late-night ministries or read about
in supermarket tabloids. They’re of a
subtle nature, and they’ve been
happening for years. You've seen them
yourself if you’ve ever observed the
activity of what is arguably the most
miraculous of all insects: the bee.
Oh sure, you know that bees are
critical to pollination. And you’ve
probably heard about how eating
honey can help you develop resistance
to allergies and about the old folk
medicine belief that honey, when
combined with vinegar, is good for
digestion and can case the pain of
arthritis. You may even have heard
how honey was used to pack wounds
in World War 1 — bacteria couldn’t
live in it — and that bee pollen gives
runners more stamina.
But you may not have heard of “sting
therapy.’’ That’s right, there are people
who allow bees to sting them for a
therapeutic effect. Steve and Sandy had
just heard of it when, several years ago,
they suggested it to a neighbor. Sam
Handy, who complained of a severe
pain in his big toe. The pain, which
Sam says he later discovered was gout,
was so severe that he had cut a hole in
his hoot to keep the leather from
nibbing against his toe.
“When Steve told me that he wanted
to let a honey bee sting me in the toe. I
A honey of a home: More
than 20 years ago, Steve
and Sandy Forrest
bought a cabin built by a
fanner and his wife on
the crest of the Brushy
Mountains in IVilkes
County. Originally 1,000
square feet, the Forrests
hai>e remodeled and
expanded the house,
which is now about
4,000 square feet.
Moreover, this is where
the Forrests began their
business. Brushy
Mountain Bee Farm, out
of their kitchen.
I 8 Our State June 1 999