The Buzz Newsletter

Page 5

Featured Beekeeper of the Month

This month’s featured beekeeper, Stanford Matchie, known by his many friends as Johnny, was born in Marshalltown 82 years ago. He and his wife of 55 years now reside in Radcliffe, Iowa. They have 3 children, 6 grandchildren, and 1 great grandson. Johnny was fascinated watching bees go in and out of flowers in the yard and took up beekeeping in 1936. He has had as many as 16 hives. He has farmed, and milked cows all his life, except for his two years in the army during WWII. Other than beekeeping, his favorite hobbies are trapping, hunting, and fishing.

Johnny has belonged to the Iowa Honey Producers for about 50 years, and subscribed to The American Bee Journal or Gleanings in Bee Culture for nearly 60 years. Being an inventor make do sort of guy, Johnny says he made his first smoker out of a baking soda can and some leather. He also related a couple of stories about his early beekeeping experiences.

Johnny says when he was 14 he would go by a hickory grove with one basswood tree that had a colony of bees. He would stop and watch the bees. One day there was a big swarm hanging near that tree. He went home and begged his Dad to let him go get them. He made a box from an old orange crate and shook the bees down, getting lots of stings since he had no veil or gloves. The bees went back up the branch. Later he and his brother came back, one with pliers and the other with a side cutter. They cut the branch and put it and the bees in the crate. The following day, after a thunderstorm, Johnny and his Dad went back to carry the box of bees home. The thin orange crate boards had warped so bad from the rain the bees came out between the cracks and chased them away. Later they went back, put the box on a white sheet, tied all four corners together and carried it home on a stick. They had to carry the bees over fences and through a creek to get home.

On another occasion Johnny was working the fields and saw a swarm of bees on a tree branch. He stopped and cut it off with his pocketknife, held it in one hand and drove the tractor home with the other. When he got home he hung the branch and swarm on the windmill while he built a box to put them in.

Thanks for your stories Johnny and may you keep bees for another 50 years.

Submitted by Ron Wehr

Honey and Spice Pecans

3/4 Cup Honey
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/4 tsp. Nutmeg
1/4 tsp. Allspice
1/4 tsp. Cloves
2 1/2 Tbsp. Melted butter
1 Egg white, slightly beaten
8 or 9 Cups pecan halves and pieces

Combine the spices. Combine butter, egg white and honey. Stir well and add pecans. Stir until pecans are well coated. Spread on a lightly greased, foil-lined pan. Bake at 275o for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from pan and cool on waxed paper. Store the pecans in an airtight container.

Recipe by Donna Brahms