“And now for one moment, maybe two, sheltered by the holly, which also pricks my thighs, I forget where I am. Forget the house that doesn’t feel like home yet, and the hectic work schedule. This is when the idea arrives. Here is where the bees would be, I think, and then catch myself thinking it.”

— Helen Jukes

A Honeybee Heart has Five Openings

By Helen Jukes

This book caught my attention back in December, and I was immediately interested in getting my hands on a copy and reading it. So, when I joined a book club a couple of months ago and was asked to nominate a book, I did not hesitate to put this one forward. And it was accepted! Now I had an excuse to order myself a copy and spend a day reading it. Yay!

Why this book?

I have had a growing interest in bees - honeybees in particular - for a while now. I guess the start of my awareness of bees and their importance to our ecosystem was The Bee Movie (cue the horrified screaming).

But that was several years ago. So when a swarm of bees settled themselves into the walls of my sharehouse in Wollongong back in 2017, I knew very little more than that they were pollinators and endangered.

Of course, we couldn’t leave them to build their hive in the walls of the house. Although, maybe it would have been cool to knock down the wall of my bedroom a year later and just grab some honey. Still, it’s not really good for the house. So we called a beekeeper. Who immediately came and killed all the bees. Which was devastating - they weren’t harming anyone! They just couldn’t be where they were.

Anyway, that was when I knew I wanted to learn more about bees. But I had no idea where to start and I was too unwell to look into it without any kind of guidance. So, I set it to one side and figured I could come back to it at a later date.

Which brings us to last December. My mother and I were road-tripping to Coober Pedy and we stopped in Adelaide for a few days. While there, we - naturally - visited Dymocks. Whilst browsing the shelves, I came across this book and was intrigued, but unable to purchase it at that point in time. So I snapped a photo on my phone and continued hunting for other books to add to my list. Because that is all I do. If you follow me on Goodreads, you’ll probably see that.

I then forgot about it for a few months. Then in May, just a week or two before the opportunity came up to join the book club and nominate a book, I came across the photo in my phone, look up the book and decided I had to read it.

The rest, as they say, is history.

What is the book about?

This book is an autobiographical year-in-the-life. Helen Jukes, an English writer, shares very personally about her first year in Oxford, which became her first year of beekeeping.

She breaks the book down into the different stage of beekeeping over that year, and then further into each month. This means it is clear and straightforward to follow the progression from her first thought about getting bees, her research into the history of bees and beekeeping all the way through to the end of the first twelve months and her first honey harvest.

My thoughts on the book

I loved this book! Which is, of course, why I chose it for the inaugural post of this section of the blog.

Helen Jukes’s writing was clear, straightforward and elegant. I found myself absorbed in her world and her excitement and fascination with honeybees. Whilst this book is technically an autobiography, it felt more like reading a love letter. Her passion and love were all on display, and it was hard not to get caught up in her joys and her disappointments.

As well as being incredibly personal, this book was overflowing with information about bees and the history of their relationship with humans. Here, Jukes’s strengths as a writer and communicator really shone through, as with another writer, this may have veered into the tedious. Instead, Jukes remained clear and engaging throughout, and instead of growing bored, I found my own interest and fascination with honeybees growing. I am also incredibly grateful for the books she references - I now know where to go to keep learning about these amazing little creatures!

I also found that, for me, reading as a Christian, it was such an amazing encouragement to slow down and watch God’s creation more closely, more carefully, instead of acknowledging it from a distance and moving on. Jukes herself is not religious, but I still found her reflections on nature to be edifying.

In short, this book was engaging, personal and informative, and I strongly encourage people read it. If only to learn a little more about these tiny, but vital, animals.

How this book affected me

I personally don’t believe there’s much point in reading if what you are reading isn’t influencing your life in some way or another. Sometimes, it’s emotionally, as a book helps you process or understand your emotions more. Sometimes, it’s mentally as you learn and your thinking evolves. Sometimes, it’s practically. That was the case with this book.

After the incident with the swarm of bees at my home, I became curious about the role of beekeepers. This book was eye-opening and increased my interest further. I am no longer satisfied with simply reading about bees and beekeeping. So, I reached out to my local Amateur Beekeeping Association to ask some questions, and to see if I can attend a meeting or two. They responded and said I would be very welcome! Sadly, I don’t think it will be possible for me to attend this month’s meeting, as it is the day after my book launch (Amidst the Ash, coming July 13). I suspect that I will be in desperate need of some rest that day, and probably for a few days afterwards. Still, I am hopeful that I may be able to attend next months meeting. If things go well, I may even be able to start getting involved with beekeeping by helping out with caring for their hives.

I am extremely excited for this opportunity. Who knows? Maybe one day I’ll be able to keep a hive or two myself!

This book also grew my appreciation not only of bees, but also of honey. Seriously - honey is incredible! And, as with bees, I now want to learn so much more about it. I am also starting to use it more in my food and my teas. Mostly my chai.

At the end of the book, after Jukes and her friends have harvested the honey, she makes a honey cake. Which, naturally, made me start craving honey cake. So, I jumped onto my trusty old Pinterest and found this recipe. I’m pretty sure it’s not the cake that Jukes made, but it scratched where I itched and was delicious! I fully intend to make it again!

Did you know…

Honeybees have undertaker bees? According to Jukes, one of the many roles that worker bees can fill over the course of their life is that of undertaker. And yes, it’s exactly what it sounds like! Their job is to take care of the dead. When a bee dies inside the hive, the undertakers make sure that the body is taken outside and moved a safe distance away from the colony.

Isn’t that so cool??