Submitted photo Ronald Lanham checks on his bee hives. Lanham presented an education program about bees during the October meeting of the Emma Scott Garden Club.

ELKINS — Albert Einstein is sometimes quoted as saying, “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live.” It seems there is no real evidence that Einstein said this and it is not totally true, yet there is a bit of reality in this misquote.

The truth is that without bees the human diet would suffer because the variety of foods would diminish and the cost of others would increase. The following is a more extensive list of what could occur if there was a demise of the bee population: loss of crops, a negative impact on the economy, loss of biodiversity, loss of economic services, increased cost of produce, starvation and malnutrition of the human race, labor intensive and expensive hand pollination to attempt to keep plants alive.

During the October meeting of the Emma Scott Garden Club, local beekeeper Ronald Lanham,provided club members an abundance of facts about bees and bee keeping. Lanham has been keeping hives for 35 years. When asked why he did so, he simply related, “I enjoy it.”

During the informative session, Lanham exhibited the materials required to make a hive and the tools it takes to extract the honey, the wax and to keep the hive clean.

Start up costs for a hive are around $300, he related. The wax is a commodity used for such things as candles, lip balm, makeup and can be sold for $25 per pound. Of course, the honey is marketable, as well.

He reminded the club that only honey bees, of which there are many varieties, and bumble bees make honey. Yet, there are actually 400 natural pollinators in the United States. Honey bees were brought to America by Europeans and were not native to our country. The hive is a bustle of activity and contains the queen, the workers and the drones.

It is estimated that one bee produces 2 tablespoons of honey in its lifetime. Natural predators of bees are skunks, which actually eat the bees, and bears, who eat the larva for protein. Because of the drought this year, bee keepers had to resort to feeding their bees sugar water. The feeding of sugar water will result in a thinner honey. If there is good nectar flow, the hives can produce within three weeks to a month.

President Linda Shomo announced that ESGC had received two awards from the Tygart Valley District. The Garden Therapy award was given for the Mom and Pop Therapy Program that is conducted at Nella’s at Autumn on the Lake Healthcare. Members of that committee that were present to accept the award were Mary Higgins, Vickie Keller, Allen Moorefield and Ms. Shomo.

The Community Beautification and Involvement Award was presented for the rehab of the Blue Star Marker at the Elkins City Park. Present to received that award were Dr. Tonya White and daughters Ava and Aspen. Certificates of Merit were presented to ESGC from the National Garden Club for three poems submitted by students of the After School Program at the Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church directed by member, Monica Varchetto. The award-winning poets were Quinn Broschart, Addison Harris and Zenna Jones.

The evening was hosted by Mary Higgins and Tonya White with assistance of her daughters. Many of the refreshments cleverly reflected the bee theme.

The next meeting of the ESGC will be on Monday, Nov. 11 at St. Brendan Church Parish Hall at 181 St. Brendan Way. The program will be “Photographing Flowers” by Imre Barsy, club member.