September has been National Honey Month since 1989. Why is September National Honey Month? The answer is simple, this is when most honey is harvested.
Skeps are an ancient form of a beehive. They are domed baskets that are placed open end down with an opening toward the bottom to allow the bees to enter. Straw skeps were eventually replaced by wooden boxes. It was difficult to extract the honey from skeps because the bees attach the comb to the skep walls. To harvest the honey the bees had to be killed. Today’s beekeepers use wooden box hives so that the hives can be easily inspected for any diseases and pests.
Worldwide there are nearly 200,000 known species of bees, 4,000 are native to the US. The honeybee is an import from Europe. Utah’s nickname is the Beehive State, and its official seal features a bee skep. Even though Utah is the Beehive state the top 10 2020 honey-producing states are North Dakota, South Dakota, California, Texas, Montana, Florida, Minnesota, Michigan, Idaho and Washington.