A taste of sweet success for Michael

The Rathcabbin county councillor Michael O’Meara is topping the poll at beekeeping, recently winning first prize at the prestigious Tullamore Show for the honey produced by his hives.

Michael’s win at the country’s largest and most prestigious agriculture show follows an overall win at the same venue last year, and several other top prizes at previous shows.

His distinctive-flavoured natural honey, produced from bees harvesting nectar from the rich diversity of flora growing in Lower Ormond, has long been a top favourite with the experts, the judges again giving his product the Gold at the show on August 13.

BEGINNINGS

For a bit of fun, he enrolled with a friend whose father used to keep bees on a beekeeping course in Tullamore 14 years ago. He was so inspired that he got hooked and now making honey is a consuming passion.

“I’d be sort of fanatical about it, really,” he reveals. “Some people do yoga for therapy, but for me beekeeping is my therapy. Working as a councillor can be demanding and I find the bees a nice kind of relaxation from all that.”

Initially, he started off with just a few hives on his own drystock farm in Rathcabbin. “But as I got into it I found it totally fascinating,” he says. “It makes you much more aware of the whole realm and importance of biodiversity and gives you a great awareness of not just what bees need to survive, but what we as humanity all need.

“You get to know how important Snowdrop and Dandelion flowers are to bees early in the year when there’s nothing else blooming for them to survive on. You get an appreciation of the importance of many natural flowers to the survival of the bees, like Whitethorn and White Clover.”

BIODIVERSITY

What Michael has noticed over recent years is an increased interest in his own community in Lower Ormond of the importance of biodiversity.

“What I see now is not as many farmers cutting their hedges as much as they used to and leaving corners of their fields to grow wild. A lot of people, too, are not spraying their gardens anymore – they’re letting the dandelions and other wild flowers grow.”

Since starting to keep his own hives, he cultivates two acres of wildflowers on his holding every year - “specifically for the bees”.

“Every day is a school day in beekeeping and I’m no expert,” he stresses, before mentioning a few names of people he knows who are keeping hives for over 50 years.

DIVERSE FLORA

And yet, the judges seem to be really impressed by his honey, given its show ratings. He puts much of this success down to the diversity of flora in his area from which his bees collect nectar.

“The flavour of the honey from this part of the country is very good. Historically, Lower Ormond is home to a large number of big country estates where more exotic plants were grown. All this richness brings its own distinct flavour to the honey. We have many big old Lime trees that give a lovely taste.”

Michael says the taste of the honey he produces is quite distinct from, say, honey produced from heather flowers, which has a much stronger flavour and is a big pursuit of beekeepers in counties where heather is abundant.

Not alone is he producing nectar sweet natural food on his own farm, a a number of people in Lower Ormond with large wild gardens have also allowed him establish hives on their flora-rich sites.

It’s Michael’s belief that naturally produced honey harvested by beekeepers in Ireland is as good, if not better, than some of the far more expensive imported brands being sold in health food shops and supermarkets.

“My own is raw honey that comes straight from the hive,” he says. “It’s unprocessed and still has pollen in it and propolis, which is said to be a very good antiseptic.”

IN SHOPS

Michael has been supplying his honey - marketed as Saint Ruadhans Tipperary Honey after the Patron Saint of Lorrha - to a number of shops in Nenagh, Borrisokane and Birr for a number of years.

For those who want a taste you can get it in Nenagh in the Fruit & Veg Shop and O’Hanlon’s butchers in Kenyon Street, Horan’s Health Store in Pearse Street and at O’ Sullivan’s butchers in Borrisokane.

CLIMATE CHALLENGES

Climate change is a real threat to the future of the many different species of bees in Ireland, Michael asserts. “Bees all over the country are in danger. We have over 100 species of them in Ireland and we have to do what we can to make sure they survive.

“The absence of long cold periods in winter and increasingly mild and wet winters has definitely proved to be a big threat.”

He has noticed his own bees were active on Christmas Day last year, which, he says, is not natural. “We need colder winters so the bees can hibernate and in order for the queen in the hive to have a dormant period and not be laying eggs.

“Over the last number of winters the dormant period has been far too short and the bees are more susceptible to a mite call the Verona mite.

“So yes, climate change has had a huge impact, and a most definitely negative one on bees, making them more susceptible to a range of diseases.”

CAMPAIGN

Michael is a member of the Native Irish Bee Society that is seeking special protection for the native Irish Honey Bee, an indigenous species that has existed here for thousands of years, he says.

He is among those campaigning for the passing of a Bill being put before the Houses of the Oireachtas by Senator Vincent P. Martin to protect the native bee and ban the importation of non-native bees.

medicinal properties

Michael believes there are many health benefits to be gained from eating natural honey.

“They say it’s great if you’re are recovering from surgery and wonderful for your immune system. It’s also claimed that beekeepers never get arthritis because the stings protect them. Doctors actually use bee venom in the treatment of arthritis.”

Despite wearing a protective suit, Michael say he gets quite a few stings, but he’s used to them and they bother him little.

Indeed, surely as a local politician for two decades he must by now have developed a thick skin that makes him immune.

I ask which is worse, a sting from a bee or an angry constituent?

“Sometimes the two-legged bees can be worse,” he laughs.